Best PlacesValley Ford, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valley Ford, 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.
Valley Ford ranks 7,614th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Valley Ford
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.
Valley Ford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valley Ford ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 202 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Household income$172,483 median, better than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
Where Valley Ford ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,193 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Valley Ford
A household needs to earn about $295,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valley Ford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $172,483, 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 Valley Ford's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Valley Ford
Valley Ford runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Valley Ford.
Who works in Valley Ford, and how
Work in Valley Ford centers on agriculture & forestry and real estate. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Valley Ford
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Valley Ford, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Valley Ford, month by month
Valley Ford sees roughly 202 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 Valley Ford
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Valley Ford
Schools across Valley Ford average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tomales ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Tomales HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valley Ford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valley Ford 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 Valley Ford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Valley Ford
Is Valley Ford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valley Ford ranks 7,614th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and heat safety, and lowest on taxes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valley Ford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,159,279. The overall cost of living runs about 46% above the national average. Set against a $172,483 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Valley Ford safe?
Valley Ford is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $542 per resident a year.
Compare Valley Ford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valley Ford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valley Ford 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.
Valley Ford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valley Ford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valley Ford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valley Ford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valley Ford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valley Ford 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.