Best PlacesYucca Valley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Yucca Valley, 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.
Yucca Valley ranks 41,387th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Yucca Valley
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.
Yucca Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Yucca Valley ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 191 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
Where Yucca Valley ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Yucca Valley
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yucca Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $67,114, 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 Yucca Valley's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 Yucca Valley
Yucca Valley's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Yucca Valley.
Who works in Yucca Valley, and how
Work in Yucca Valley centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Yucca Valley
Yucca Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Yucca Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Yucca Valley, month by month
Yucca Valley sees roughly 191 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 107 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March, April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 50° | 38° |
| April | 84° | 69° | 53° |
| July | 107° | 93° | 78° |
| October | 87° | 70° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Yucca Valley
The nearest airport, Palm Springs International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ontario International, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yucca Valley
Schools across Yucca Valley average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Landers ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Yucca Mesa ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Twentynine Palms ElementaryD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Twentynine Palms Junior HighD+ · 27% proficient
- La Contenta MiddleD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Twentynine Palms HighB− · 45% proficient
- Yucca Valley HighC · 32% proficient
- Black Rock Alternative/continuationF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yucca Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yucca Valley 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 Yucca Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Yucca Valley suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Yucca Valley
Is Yucca Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yucca Valley ranks 41,387th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and fast internet, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Yucca Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $374,076. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $67,114 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Yucca Valley safe?
Yucca Valley is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $451 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Yucca Valley?
July highs average about 107 degrees, and January highs near 65 with lows near 38. That works out to about 191 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of towns.
Is Yucca Valley good for families?
Schools beat 18% of towns, crime safety beats 24%, and childcare runs $1,252 a month.
Compare Yucca Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yucca Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yucca Valley 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.
Yucca Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yucca Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yucca Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yucca Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yucca Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yucca Valley 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.