Best PlacesUpper Lake, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Upper 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.
Upper Lake ranks 31,795th 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 Upper 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.
Upper Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Upper Lake ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 126 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
Where Upper Lake ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Upper Lake
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Upper Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $92,887; 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 Upper Lake's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Upper Lake
Upper Lake runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Upper Lake.
Who works in Upper Lake, and how
Work in Upper Lake centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Upper Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Upper Lake.
What the weather is like in Upper Lake, month by month
Upper Lake sees roughly 126 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 Upper Lake
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 77 miles away.
The best schools in and around Upper Lake
Schools across Upper Lake average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Upper Lake ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Lakeport ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Upper Lake MiddleD− · 17% proficient
- Terrace MiddleD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Clear Lake HighC− · 27% proficient
- Upper Lake HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Upper Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Upper 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 Upper Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Upper Lake
Is Upper Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Upper Lake ranks 31,795th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, transit, and biking, and lowest on summer heat and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Upper Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $396,168. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $92,887 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Upper Lake safe?
Upper Lake is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $590 per resident a year.
Compare Upper Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Upper Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Upper 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.
Upper Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Upper Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Upper Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Upper Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Upper Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Upper 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.