Best PlacesWillow Creek, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willow Creek, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Willow Creek ranks 45,110th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Willow Creek
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.
Willow Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Willow Creek ranks high
- Short commute10.2 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 76% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 75% of towns
Where Willow Creek ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Willow Creek
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willow Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $50,407, 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 Willow Creek's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Willow Creek
Willow Creek 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 Willow Creek.
Who works in Willow Creek, and how
Work in Willow Creek centers on construction and admin & support services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 47%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 30%
Life in Willow Creek
The coast is about 52 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Willow Creek, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Willow Creek, month by month
Willow Creek sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 65 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 59° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 65° | 57° | 51° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Willow Creek
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 190 miles away.
The best schools in and around Willow Creek
Schools across Willow Creek average a D, better than 15% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Green Point ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Burnt Ranch ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- Blue Lake Union ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Arcata HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Mckinleyville HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willow Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willow Creek 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 Willow Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Willow Creek
Is Willow Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willow Creek ranks 45,110th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, quiet, and transit, and lowest on crime and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Willow Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $475,477. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $50,407 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Willow Creek safe?
Willow Creek is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $856 per resident a year.
Compare Willow Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willow Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willow Creek 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.
Willow Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willow Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willow Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willow Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willow Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willow Creek 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.