Best PlacesShaver Lake, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shaver Lake, 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.
Shaver Lake ranks 36,926th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shaver Lake
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.
Shaver Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shaver Lake ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 148 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Household income$93,074 median, better than 80% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 77% of towns
Where Shaver Lake ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute44.0 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,382 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shaver Lake
A household needs to earn about $129,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shaver Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $93,074, 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 Shaver Lake's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Shaver Lake
Shaver Lake 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 Shaver Lake.
Who works in Shaver Lake, and how
Work in Shaver Lake centers on agriculture & forestry and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 47%
- Work from home 44%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Shaver Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shaver Lake.
What the weather is like in Shaver Lake, month by month
Shaver Lake sees roughly 148 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 51° |
| July | 102° | 86° | 70° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Shaver Lake
The nearest airport, Fresno Yosemite International, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shaver Lake
Schools across Shaver Lake average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine Ridge ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Foothill ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sierra Junior HighB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Sierra HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shaver Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shaver Lake 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 Shaver Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shaver Lake
Is Shaver Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shaver Lake ranks 36,926th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, an educated workforce, and quiet, and lowest on summer heat and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shaver Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $504,427. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $93,074 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Shaver Lake safe?
Shaver Lake is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $529 per resident a year.
Compare Shaver Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shaver Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shaver Lake 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.
Shaver Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shaver Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shaver Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shaver Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shaver Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shaver Lake 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.