Best PlacesWasco, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wasco, 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.
Wasco ranks 2,080th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Internet speeds pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on the weather.
The best neighborhoods in Wasco
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.
Wasco's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wasco ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 174 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 75% of cities
- Short commute23.4 minutes each way, better than 68% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 68% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 56% of cities
Where Wasco ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Wasco
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wasco home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $57,064, 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 Wasco's effective rate of 0.81%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wasco
Wasco runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wasco.
Who works in Wasco, and how
Work in Wasco centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wasco
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wasco.
What the weather is like in Wasco, month by month
Wasco sees roughly 174 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 51° | 40° |
| April | 80° | 65° | 51° |
| July | 102° | 88° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 69° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Wasco
The nearest airport, Meadows Field, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wasco
Schools across Wasco average a D, better than 3% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Pond ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Maple ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Teresa Burke ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Palm Avenue MiddleD · 20% proficient
- Mcfarland Junior HighD− · 14% proficient
- Earlimart MiddleF · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Wasco HighC− · 30% proficient
- Robert F. Kennedy HighC− · 29% proficient
- Mcfarland High School Early CollegeD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wasco school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wasco 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 Wasco against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Wasco suits
Common questions about living in Wasco
Is Wasco a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wasco ranks 2,080th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and short commutes, and lowest on internet speeds and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wasco expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $272,574. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $57,064 median income, cost of living beats 1% of cities.
Is Wasco safe?
Wasco is safer than 35% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $402 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wasco?
July highs average about 102 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 40. That works out to about 174 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of cities.
Is Wasco good for families?
Schools beat 3% of cities, crime safety beats 35%, and childcare runs $1,172 a month.
Compare Wasco with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wasco. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wasco 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.
Wasco detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wasco: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wasco: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wasco: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wasco: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wasco 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.