Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Settled in 1896, this town now has 32,799 residents.
Plenty in its favour, and one clear drawback. Where it does best is health: it is healthier than 85% of U.S. towns. Fair Oaks’s overall grade is B, better than 61% of U.S. towns. That places it 133rd of 841 in California. Add walkability to its strengths: it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than just over four fifths of U.S. towns. The trade-off is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $612K, 6.3 years of the Sacramento metro’s $97K median household income. Fair Oaks’ density of trails is 3.6 miles per square mile, above both the California town median (1.0) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4). The biggest place to walk is American River Parkway, 1,362 acres with 31.2 miles of trail.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · OpenStreetMap.
Where Fair Oaks beats most towns.
21.7% of the town is conserved land, across 12 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Fair Oaks is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 23,294 in 1980, 32,514 in 2020. The archive holds 7 maps from 1902 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fair Oaks. Close and well known come first.
13 mi State parkSutter's Fort
14 mi Stadium & arenaARCO Arena
11 mi Stadium & arenaHornet Stadium
14 mi State parkGovernor's Mansion State Historic Park
14 mi MuseumCalifornia State Railroad Museum500K visitors a year
14 mi State parkLeland Stanford Mansion State Historic ParkSutter's Fort: Ian Howard, CC BY 2.5 · ARCO Arena: CLopez63, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hornet Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · 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 · Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park: M.Mierzwa. MCalamari at en.wikipedia, Public domain
Fair Oaks is unincorporated, so Sacramento County and regional agencies provide most services.
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 Fair Oaks.
Fair Oaks carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of California (mostly inland flooding), has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns and owes part of its health edge to its incomes.
Trails total 40 miles in 12 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. American River Parkway | 31.2 mi | 1,362 |
| 2. Phoenix Park | 2.6 mi | 64 |
| 3. Folsom Lake State Recreation Area | 0.9 mi | 761 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Public schools: the San Juan Unified school district. Of its 11 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason. 2 public schools serve Fair Oaks, with 1,045 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earl LeGette ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–6 | Grades K–6 | 622 | – |
| Bella Vista HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,939 | A |
| Meraki HighTop results in townGrades 8–12 | Grades 8–12 | 93 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Against the 6,164 U.S. towns with household incomes like Fair Oaks’s, it is healthier than 69%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
In Fair Oaks, nearly a quarter of adults have been diagnosed with depression. The town does better than the California average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 4. Two figures for adults here: 9.5% smoke cigarettes, 8.9% worry about having enough food.
| Fair Oaks | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 24% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.5% | 11% | 14% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 8.9% | 16% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 29% | 35% |
| What stands out | Fair Oaks | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.2% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.9% | 17.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.3% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 99% of California towns, with expected losses of about $186 per resident a year; that rating is what its A− for hazard risk is built on.
Flood insurance has paid out on 36 claims in Fair Oaks since 1978. Just over three quarters of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by earthquakes at 21%. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Fair Oaks after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2022.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For most workers, Fair Oaks is a place to come home to: only 4% work in town. In Fair Oaks, the average commute is 30 minutes. Since 2013, Fair Oaks has added 751 jobs, to 5,931 in 2023. Fair Oaks: 24% of workers work remotely from home.
| Fair Oaks | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 24% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $117,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 7.2% | 10% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
July afternoons average 95°, hotter than in 96% of U.S. towns; January nights average 38.8°.
Fair Oaks’ January low stands at 39°F. Snowfall is close to zero.
| Fair Oaks | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 95°F | 89°F | 85°F |
| January low | 39°F | 41°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Homes sold in Fair Oaks spent a median 17 days on the market. In Fair Oaks, the median rent is $1,910 a month. 47% of the homes sold in Fair Oaks went for more than their asking price.
| Fair Oaks | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,910 a month | $1,895 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 71% | 64% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
9 within 15 miles of the center of Fair Oaks
About 6 of every 100 Fair Oaks residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Where Fair Oaks’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
2 places in Fair Oaks on the National Register of Historic Places.
6 notable people were born in Fair Oaks.
Place in California, United States
Fair Oaks is an unincorporated community in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Fair Oaks as a census-designated place (CDP). The population was 32,514 at the 2020 census, up from 30,912 at the 2010 census. The Fair Oaks zip code is 95628 and its area codes are 916 and 279. It is bordered to the west by Carmichael, north by the city of Citrus Heights, to the east by Orangevale, and to the south by the American River.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Fair Oaks.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair Oaks | #133 | B | D | — | B− | A− |
| Orangevale | #245 | C+ | D | — | B− | B+ |
| Rancho Cordova | #314 | C+ | D | C− | B+ | B+ |
| Gold River | #61 | A− | D | — | B− | A |
| Carmichael | #244 | C+ | D | — | B− | B+ |
| Citrus Heights | #407 | C | C− | C− | B− | B |
| Folsom | #117 | B+ | D− | C+ | A− | A |
Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Gold River and Carmichael report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Fair Oaks with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Fair Oaks grades B overall, better than 61% of U.S. towns and #133 of 841 in California. It grades A− for health and B− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
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.
6 notable people were born here, including Gabriela Knutson and Randall Bal.
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