Best PlacesSawyers Bar, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sawyers Bar, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sawyers Bar ranks 43,477th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sawyers Bar
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Sawyers Bar's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sawyers Bar ranks high
- Short commute14.3 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 79% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 114 pleasant days a year, better than 77% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 71% of towns
Where Sawyers Bar ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sawyers Bar
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sawyers Bar home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $62,593, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Sawyers Bar's effective rate of 0.69%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sawyers Bar
Sawyers Bar runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sawyers Bar.
Who works in Sawyers Bar, and how
Work in Sawyers Bar centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Sawyers Bar
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sawyers Bar.
What the weather is like in Sawyers Bar, month by month
Sawyers Bar sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 37° | 32° |
| April | 68° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 95° | 75° | 57° |
| October | 70° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Sawyers Bar
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 196 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sawyers Bar
Schools across Sawyers Bar average a C, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Butteville ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Etna ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
- Junction ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Etna Union HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Weed HighC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sawyers Bar school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sawyers Bar measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Sawyers Bar against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sawyers Bar
Is Sawyers Bar a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sawyers Bar ranks 43,477th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, quiet, and a strong job market, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sawyers Bar expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $296,700. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $62,593 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Sawyers Bar safe?
Sawyers Bar is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $448 per resident a year.
Compare Sawyers Bar with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sawyers Bar. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sawyers Bar represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Sawyers Bar detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sawyers Bar: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sawyers Bar: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sawyers Bar: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sawyers Bar: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sawyers Bar detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.