Best PlacesWindsor, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Windsor, 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.
Windsor ranks 827th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Windsor
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.
Windsor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Windsor ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of cities
- BikingBetter than 88% of cities
- Household income$129,392 median, better than 82% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 131 pleasant days a year, better than 75% of cities
- Short commute22.9 minutes each way, better than 72% of cities
Where Windsor ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 18% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 23% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Windsor
A household needs to earn about $204,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Windsor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $129,392, 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 Windsor's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Windsor
Windsor runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Windsor.
Who works in Windsor, and how
Work in Windsor centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Windsor
Windsor has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. The coast is about 38 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Windsor and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Windsor, month by month
Windsor sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 72° | 56° | 42° |
| July | 86° | 65° | 51° |
| October | 81° | 60° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Windsor
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Windsor
Schools across Windsor average a B−, better than 45% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mark West ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Healdsburg HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Windsor school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Windsor 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 Windsor against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Windsor suits
Retirees
The weather beats 75% of cities and health care access beats 58%.
Common questions about living in Windsor
Is Windsor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Windsor ranks 827th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, biking, and high incomes, and lowest on internet speeds and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Windsor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $781,844. The overall cost of living runs about 27% above the national average. Set against a $129,392 median income, cost of living beats 60% of cities.
Is Windsor safe?
Windsor is safer than 49% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $336 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Windsor?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 38. That works out to about 131 pleasant days a year, more than 75% of cities.
Is Windsor good for families?
Schools beat 45% of cities, crime safety beats 49%, and childcare runs $1,041 a month.
Compare Windsor with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Windsor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Windsor 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.
Windsor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Windsor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Windsor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Windsor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Windsor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Windsor 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.