Best PlacesTomales, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tomales, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Tomales ranks 12,620th 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 Tomales
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.
Tomales' strengths and weaknesses
Where Tomales ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 198 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$147,658 median, better than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
Where Tomales ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,211 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tomales
A household needs to earn about $389,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tomales home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $147,658, 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 Tomales' effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Tomales
Tomales runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tomales.
Who works in Tomales, and how
Work in Tomales centers on agriculture & forestry and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 45%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 24%
Life in Tomales
The coast is about 9 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Tomales, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tomales, month by month
Tomales sees roughly 198 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 63 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs July through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 51° | 46° |
| April | 57° | 51° | 47° |
| July | 63° | 55° | 51° |
| October | 63° | 55° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Tomales
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tomales
Schools across Tomales average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- NicasioC− · 29% proficient
- Tomales ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Tamalpais HighA− · 64% proficient
- Tomales HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tomales school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tomales 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 Tomales against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tomales
Is Tomales a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tomales ranks 12,620th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, heat safety, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tomales expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,551,489. The overall cost of living runs about 50% above the national average. Set against a $147,658 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Tomales safe?
Tomales is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $653 per resident a year.
Compare Tomales with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tomales. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tomales 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.
Tomales detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tomales: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tomales: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tomales: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tomales: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tomales 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.