Best PlacesTulelake, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tulelake, 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.
Tulelake ranks 45,267th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Tulelake
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.
Tulelake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tulelake ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 148 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 81% of towns
Where Tulelake ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tulelake
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tulelake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $51,726; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Tulelake's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Tulelake
Tulelake runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tulelake.
Who works in Tulelake, and how
Work in Tulelake centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Tulelake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tulelake.
What the weather is like in Tulelake, month by month
Tulelake sees roughly 148 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 62° | 45° | 29° |
| July | 90° | 70° | 47° |
| October | 67° | 47° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Tulelake
The nearest airport, Rogue Valley International/Medford, is about 79 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 224 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tulelake
Schools across Tulelake average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Alturas ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Butte Valley ElementaryD− · 12% proficient
- Tulelake Basin ElementaryD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- Modoc MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Tulelake HighD · 20% proficient
- Modoc HighD− · 17% proficient
- Butte Valley HighD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tulelake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tulelake 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 Tulelake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tulelake
Is Tulelake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tulelake ranks 45,267th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and transit, and lowest on civic engagement and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tulelake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $208,966. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $51,726 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Tulelake safe?
Tulelake is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $442 per resident a year.
Compare Tulelake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tulelake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tulelake 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.
Tulelake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tulelake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tulelake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tulelake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tulelake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tulelake 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.