Best PlacesYolo County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Yolo County, 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.
Yolo County ranks 491st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on biking and transit. The weaker spots are childcare costs, taxes, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Yolo County
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.
The best areas in Yolo County
The parts of Yolo County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
El Macero
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Woodland
More adults hold degrees and crime runs lower.
Winters
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Davis
Schools score higher and transit reaches more jobs.
Esparto
More homes sit empty and health outcomes score lower.
West Sacramento
Homes cost less, though prices have run up more.
Yolo County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Yolo County's strengths and weaknesses
Yolo County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Biking is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Transit and population health follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and civic engagement also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Yolo County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 98% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of counties
Where Yolo County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,550 a month, better than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Yolo County
A household needs to earn about $170,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yolo County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $100,902, 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 Yolo County's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 Yolo County
Yolo County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Yolo County.
Who works in Yolo County, and how
Work in Yolo County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Yolo County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Yolo County.
Is Yolo County growing, and who is moving in?
Yolo County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Sacramento, CA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Yolo County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Yolo County, month by month
Yolo County sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 49° | 42° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 95° | 75° | 58° |
| October | 80° | 64° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Yolo County
Sacramento International sits about 10 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Yolo County
Schools across Yolo County average a B−, better than 70% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Freeman ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Sacramento Valley CharterB · 47% proficient
- Zamora ElementaryD− · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- Winters MiddleD− · 15% proficient
- Esparto MiddleD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Davis Senior HighA+ · 89% proficient
- Da Vinci Charter AcademyA · 68% proficient
- Pioneer HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yolo County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yolo County 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 Yolo County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Yolo County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Yolo County
Is Yolo County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yolo County ranks 491st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, transit, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Yolo County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $654,989. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $100,902 median income, cost of living beats 55% of counties.
Is Yolo County safe?
Yolo County is safer than 28% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $441 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Yolo County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 42. That works out to about 162 pleasant days a year, more than 95% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Yolo County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are El Macero, Woodland, and Winters. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Yolo County good for families?
Schools beat 70% of counties, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $1,550 a month.
Is Yolo County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 55% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 77% of counties. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Yolo County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yolo County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yolo County 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.
Yolo County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yolo County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yolo County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yolo County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yolo County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yolo County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.