Best PlacesVallecito, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vallecito, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Vallecito ranks 23,756th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Vallecito
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.
Vallecito's strengths and weaknesses
Where Vallecito ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 143 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of towns
Where Vallecito ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Vallecito
A household needs to earn about $137,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vallecito home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $86,632, 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 Vallecito's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Vallecito
Vallecito runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Vallecito.
Who works in Vallecito, and how
Work in Vallecito centers on education 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 80%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Vallecito
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Vallecito.
What the weather is like in Vallecito, month by month
Vallecito sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 43° |
| July | 97° | 79° | 61° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Vallecito
The nearest airport, Stockton Metro, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 75 miles away.
The best schools in and around Vallecito
Schools across Vallecito average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mark Twain ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Albert A. Michelson ElementaryC+ · 35% proficient
- Columbia ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Avery MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Sonora HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vallecito school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vallecito 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 Vallecito against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Vallecito
Is Vallecito a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vallecito ranks 23,756th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vallecito expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $541,648. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $86,632 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Vallecito safe?
Vallecito is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $323 per resident a year.
Compare Vallecito with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vallecito. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vallecito 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.
Vallecito detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vallecito: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vallecito: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vallecito: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vallecito: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vallecito 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.