Best PlacesSwanton, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Swanton, 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.
Swanton ranks 16,777th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Swanton
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.
Swanton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Swanton ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 199 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$111,771 median, better than 91% of towns
Where Swanton ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,701 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Swanton
A household needs to earn about $239,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Swanton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $111,771, 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 Swanton's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Swanton
Swanton runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Swanton.
Who works in Swanton, and how
Work in Swanton centers on education and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 18%
Life in Swanton
The coast is about 9 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Swanton, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Swanton, month by month
Swanton sees roughly 199 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 51° | 44° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 49° |
| July | 76° | 66° | 59° |
| October | 74° | 63° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Swanton
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 26 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Swanton
Schools across Swanton average a B, better than 62% of towns.
Top high schools
- San Lorenzo Valley HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Swanton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Swanton 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 Swanton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Swanton
Is Swanton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Swanton ranks 16,777th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, quiet, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Swanton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $944,800. The overall cost of living runs about 36% above the national average. Set against a $111,771 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Swanton safe?
Swanton is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $591 per resident a year.
Compare Swanton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Swanton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Swanton 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.
Swanton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Swanton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Swanton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Swanton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Swanton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Swanton 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.