Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 66,110, settled in 1868.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Davis grades B overall, 130th of 841 graded towns in California. Few places in the country are easier to get around without a car. Its schools outperform 89% of the state's and the median household earns $90K. The trade-off is money: homes are expensive, about $828K for a typical one and 8.5 times the Sacramento metro’s $97K median household income. 77% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Davis, above both California’s towns (29%) and U.S. towns (29%). Davis is home to University of California-Davis. On civic life, just 43 of California’s 463 towns do better.
Where Davis beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Pioneer Elementary | K–6 | 572 |
| Birch Lane Elementary | K–6 | 571 |
| North Davis Elementary | K–6 | 552 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Davis is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 1%), so the B overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 441 in 1880, 66,850 in 2020. The archive holds 7 old photos and papers going back to 1928 and 7 maps from 1907 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Davis. Close and well known come first.
27 mi LakeLake Berryessa
14 mi Stadium & arenaARCO Arena
15 mi State parkSutter's Fort
39 mi Theme parkSix Flags Discovery Kingdom
14 mi State parkGovernor's Mansion State Historic Park
13 mi MuseumCalifornia State Railroad Museum500K visitors a yearLake Berryessa: Unknown, Public domain · ARCO Arena: CLopez63, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Sutter's Fort: Ian Howard, CC BY 2.5 · Six Flags Discovery Kingdom: Tinned Elk, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Governor's Mansion State Historic Park: Mark James Miller, CC BY 3.0 · California State Railroad Museum: The original uploader was Swampyank at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Davis, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Davis.
Davis is shaped by its college students, has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns and has less no health insurance than most of California.
That grade comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $828K.
Of its 20 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason. Its public schools are run by the Davis Joint Unified school district. The 6 public schools in Davis teach 3,220 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–6 | Grades K–6 | 572 | – |
| Davis Senior HighLargest public high schoolGrades 10–12 | Grades 10–12 | 1,755 | A+ |
| Da Vinci Charter AcademyTop results in townGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 562 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with California is no health insurance: 6.1% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 10.6% statewide.
Two figures for adults in Davis: 23% have obesity, 7.8% have diabetes. CDC measures, 32 in all: Davis beats California on 18 and trails on 3. For adults in the town, the share who have been diagnosed with depression is 24%.
| Davis | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 31% | 35% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 29% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 7.8% | 12% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Davis | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.1% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 7.8% | 11.7% |
| More adults with depression | 24.4% | 20.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The biggest park or preserve is Mace Ranch Community Park, at 28 acres. Trails run 9.4 miles in 34 parks and preserves. For Davis, the concentration of trails is 1.0 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Arroyo Community Park | 0.3 mi | 19 |
| 2. Toad Hollow | 0.3 mi | 15 |
| 3. John Barravetto Park | 0.3 mi | 9 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Jobs based here fell from 26,469 in 2013 to 15,293. The average commute for its 23,789 working residents takes 22.3 minutes, against 28.7 across California.
Half the trips to work are shorter than 15 miles. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Davis dropped by 11,176, to 15,293. Just 16% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. The share of residents in Davis who live below the poverty line: 27%.
| Davis | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 27% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 23% | 14% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Reported crimes fell from 1,980 to 1,446 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The level of property crime for Davis comes to 19.6 per 1,000 residents. Within California, it does better than 46% of towns.
| Davis | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 19.6 per 1,000 residents | 13.3 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.9 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
July afternoons average 94.2°, hotter than in 95% of U.S. towns; January nights average 39.2°.
Davis’ midsummer high is 94°F. Snow is a rarity.
| Davis | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 94°F | 89°F | 85°F |
| January low | 39°F | 41°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA puts 53% of Davis’s expected hazard losses down to earthquakes, and 44% to inland flooding. On expected storm and flood damage, Davis sits above 64% of U.S. communities. Flood insurance has paid out on 15 claims in the town since 1982.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
68.6% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 55.3% across California.
A home in Davis typically sold within 12 days of listing. The typical home value locally is about $828,000, down 0.8% in a year, 9% above the California typical home. The going rate for rent in the town is $2,187 a month.
| Davis | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 44% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $2,187 a month | $1,895 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 69% | 55% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
3 within 15 miles of the center of Davis
College town 34 of every 100 Davis residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Where Davis’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
4 places in Davis on the National Register of Historic Places.
18 notable people were born in Davis.
City in California, United States
Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Davis, which was over 9,400 (not including students' families) in 2016. As of 2023, there were 40,850 students enrolled at the university, which is known as the biking capital of America.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Davis.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davis | #130 | B | D− | C | A | A |
| University of California-Davis | — | — | — | — | A | B |
| El Macero | — | — | — | — | — | — |
University of California-Davis reports no FBI crime data of its own. University of California-Davis and El Macero aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Davis with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Davis grades B overall, better than 61% of U.S. towns and #130 of 841 in California. It grades A for health, C for safety and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Within California, it does better than 46% of towns.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
18 notable people were born here, including Andy Weir and Alexandria Villaseñor.
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