Best PlacesSebastopol, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sebastopol, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sebastopol ranks 958th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sebastopol
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.
Sebastopol's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sebastopol ranks high
- QuietBetter than 99% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 86% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 78% of cities
Where Sebastopol ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Sebastopol
A household needs to earn about $268,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sebastopol home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $117,751, 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 Sebastopol's effective rate of 0.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sebastopol
Sebastopol runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sebastopol.
Who works in Sebastopol, and how
Work in Sebastopol centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Sebastopol
Sebastopol has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 25 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sebastopol and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sebastopol, month by month
Sebastopol sees roughly 132 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 72° | 56° | 42° |
| July | 86° | 65° | 51° |
| October | 81° | 60° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Sebastopol
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sebastopol
Schools across Sebastopol average a B−, better than 48% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sebastopol Independent CharterA− · 57% proficient
- Monte Rio ElementaryC · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Analy HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Tomales HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sebastopol school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sebastopol 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 Sebastopol against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Sebastopol suits
Retirees
The weather beats 76% of cities, health care access beats 86%, and it is quieter than 100%.
Common questions about living in Sebastopol
Is Sebastopol a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sebastopol ranks 958th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on quiet, clean air, and health care access, and lowest on internet speeds and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sebastopol expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,050,485. The overall cost of living runs about 43% above the national average. Set against a $117,751 median income, cost of living beats 35% of cities.
Is Sebastopol safe?
Sebastopol is safer than 37% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $402 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sebastopol?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 38. That works out to about 132 pleasant days a year, more than 76% of cities.
Is Sebastopol good for families?
Schools beat 48% of cities, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $1,041 a month.
Compare Sebastopol with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sebastopol. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sebastopol 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.
Sebastopol detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sebastopol: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sebastopol: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sebastopol: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sebastopol: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sebastopol 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.