Best PlacesSoda Bay, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Soda Bay, 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.
Soda Bay ranks 32,826th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Soda Bay
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.
Soda Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Soda Bay ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of towns
- Household income$93,737 median, better than 80% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 120 pleasant days a year, better than 80% of towns
Where Soda Bay ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Short commute34.7 minutes each way, better than only 15% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Soda Bay
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Soda Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,737, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Soda Bay's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Soda Bay
Soda Bay runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Soda Bay.
Who works in Soda Bay, and how
Work in Soda Bay centers on utilities and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Soda Bay
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Soda Bay.
What the weather is like in Soda Bay, month by month
Soda Bay sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 74° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 98° | 76° | 56° |
| October | 82° | 61° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Soda Bay
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Soda Bay
Schools across Soda Bay average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kelseyville ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Lucerne ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Kelseyville HighD · 22% proficient
- Lower Lake HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Soda Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Soda Bay 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 Soda Bay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Soda Bay
Is Soda Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Soda Bay ranks 32,826th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, big-city access, and cell coverage, and lowest on summer heat and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Soda Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $350,456. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $93,737 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Soda Bay safe?
Soda Bay is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $495 per resident a year.
Compare Soda Bay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Soda Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Soda Bay 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.
Soda Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Soda Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Soda Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Soda Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Soda Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Soda Bay 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.