Forest MeadowsCA
A town of 1,623.
Is Forest Meadows a good place to live?
Forest Meadows’ best subject grade is an A− for health; its weakest is a D for hazard risk. Homes are expensive, about $540K for a typical one and 6.9 times the county’s $79K median household income. Among 848 California towns, just 8 have a higher share of households owning their home than Forest Meadows. Forest Meadows's schools outperform 73% of the state's. Forest Meadows’ trail density is 1.6 miles per square mile, where California’s towns sit at 1.0 and U.S. towns at 0.4. On history, just 88 of California’s 1,063 towns do worse. Forest Meadows has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Forest Meadows stand out
Where Forest Meadows beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| Widest gap | Forest Meadows | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.4% | 10.6% |
99% of working residents leave Forest Meadows for work
Where Forest Meadows’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Forest Meadows grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Forest Meadows is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Forest Meadows: who provides what
Forest Meadows is unincorporated, so Calaveras 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Forest Meadows.
Forest Meadows faces a very high natural-hazard risk, led by wildfire
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 91% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Older than California overall
People 65 and older are 35% of residents (16% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 6% of residents (24% statewide). Forest Meadows’ median age is 50.5 years, above both the California town median (39 years) and the median of U.S. towns (40.5 years). 44% of Forest Meadows adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more.
| Forest Meadows | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 50.5 years | 39 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 29% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.2 points. Across California, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Forest Meadows | CA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 22.4% | 11.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 2.6% | 10.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 2.2% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 3.8% | 14.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.1% | 13.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.3% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 6.9% | 12.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 24.2% | 9.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.6% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 0% | 15.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 17.9% | 20.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 28.1% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.4% | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 27.1% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.6% | 14.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,600, single groups can be off by several points
Forest Meadows stands out in California and nationally, with fewer of its adults who feel lonely
29% of adults feel lonely in Forest Meadows. Forest Meadows beats the California average on 15 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7. 14% of adults report frequent mental distress in Forest Meadows.
| Forest Meadows | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 36% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 35% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 80% | 72% | 79% |
| What stands out | Forest Meadows | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.4% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8% | 17.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 13.3% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Forest Meadows has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Most working residents leave Forest Meadows for work: only 1% work in town. Since 2013, Forest Meadows has added 36 jobs, to 89 in 2023. The average trip to work in Forest Meadows is 24 minutes.
| Forest Meadows | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 0.9% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $89,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 10% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Mild winters and hot summers in Forest Meadows
Forest Meadows has mild winters and warm summers. Forest Meadows’ July high is 89°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Forest Meadows has set aside 10.6% of its land for conservation
6.1 miles of trail in 0 parks and preserves.
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Yosemite National Park and 8 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Forest Meadows. Close and well known come first.
Big draw30 mi National ParkYosemite National Park4.3M visitors a year
37 mi LakeHetch Hetchy
9 mi State parkCalaveras Big Trees State Park
22 mi National forestStanislaus National Forest
15 mi MuseumRailtown 1897 State Historic Park
25 mi Ski areaDodge Ridge Ski Area61 runs · 1,576 ft verticalPhoto credits
Yosemite National Park: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hetch Hetchy: Vulpinus2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Calaveras Big Trees State Park: John J. O'Brien (talk · contribs), Public domain · Stanislaus National Forest: U.S. National Park Service, Public domain · Railtown 1897 State Historic Park: Ed Bierman, CC BY 2.0 · Dodge Ridge Ski Area: IanGad, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Everything we know about Forest Meadows
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Forest Meadows
About 1 of every 100 Forest Meadows residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
About Forest Meadows
Place in California, United States
Forest Meadows is a census-designated place (CDP) in Calaveras County, California, United States. The population was 1,276 at the 2020 census, up from 1,249 at the 2010 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.7 sq mi
- Elevation
- 3,376 ft
- Area code
- 209
Forest Meadows’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Forest Meadows.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Meadows | — | — | D | — | B+ | A− |
| Hathaway Pines | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Forest Meadows has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Forest Meadows reports no FBI crime data of its own. Hathaway Pines isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Forest Meadows with a neighbor →
Questions about Forest Meadows
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Forest Meadows, CA expensive?
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.