Is Lake Shastina a good place to live?
Cost of living is its weak spot: the typical home is worth about $358K, 6.1 years of the county’s $59K median household income. Where it does best is safety — it reports less crime per resident than 79% of U.S. towns. Add health to its strengths (B+) — residents are healthier than nearly two thirds of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Put together, the subjects come to a C overall, better than 28% of U.S. towns. The ranking puts it 412th of 841 in California. 19% of the land in Lake Shastina is conserved, where California’s towns sit at 4.2% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Of the 437 California towns we compare, none has a lower property crime rate than Lake Shastina. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 86% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top.
Figures: FBI crime data, 2025 · health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FEMA National Risk Index · USGS PAD-US.
How Lake Shastina grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Lake Shastina is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
What makes Lake Shastina stand out
Where Lake Shastina beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
97% of working residents leave Lake Shastina for work
Where Lake Shastina’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Lake Shastina.
Lake Shastina fares better on crime within California than nationally, sends most of its workers to Weed and beyond and has milder winter nights than most of the country, though not than most of California.
Natural hazards: very high risk in Lake Shastina, mostly inland flooding
Of the losses FEMA expects in Lake Shastina, 51% come from inland flooding and 17% from avalanches.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Lake Shastina stands out in California and nationally: property crime there is lower
At 8.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 98% of California’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025, 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
Lake Shastina’s violent crime rate is 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Lake Shastina | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 13.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.8 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Fewer adults under 35 in Lake Shastina than across California
Here, nearly a third of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree, against 37% in California as a whole. Adults 18 to 34 are one in ten residents (24% statewide); people 65 and older are 27% of residents (16% statewide). Lake Shastina’s midpoint age comes in at 50.7 years.
| Lake Shastina | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 50.7 years | 39 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 27% | 16% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 17% | 22% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 32% | 29% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4 points. Across California, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Lake Shastina | CA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.4% | 11.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6% | 10.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 5.2% | 14.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.2% | 13.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.6% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.1% | 12.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.1% | 9.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 12.4% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8% | 15.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 18.1% | 20.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 27.3% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.7% | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.8% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.1% | 14.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,000, single groups can be off by several points
Few of Lake Shastina’s working residents work in town
Lake Shastina has 99 jobs for its 815 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Lake Shastina: 12% of residents live below the poverty line. Commuting out is the norm in the town: 3% of working residents work locally. Jobs based in Lake Shastina grew to 99 in 2023, 41 more than in 2013. Its average trip to work is 30 minutes.
| Lake Shastina | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 18% | 14% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.1% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 10% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For the outdoors, Lake Shastina earns a B+
In Lake Shastina, the trail density is 0.1 miles per square mile. Walkers can cover 0.3 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Also worth knowing: the town has one park or preserve, 2 acres in all.
| Lake Shastina | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 19% | 4.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hoy Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Lake Shastina is healthier than two in three U.S. towns
Of 32 CDC measures, Lake Shastina beats the California average on 13 and trails it on 7. In Lake Shastina, 15% of adults binge drink. 38% of adults locally have high blood pressure; 32% sleep under 7 hours.
| Lake Shastina | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 36% | 33% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 31% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 35% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 77% | 72% | 79% |
| What stands out | Lake Shastina | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.7% | 10.6% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.7% | 10.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.5% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
A typical January night in Lake Shastina is 28°F, against 41°F in California’s towns and 22°F across U.S. towns
January nights average 28.2°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 91% of California places with climate records; July afternoons average 91.5°.
About 12 inches of snow falls in a winter. Lake Shastina’s typical July afternoon high stands at 92°F. Expect mild winters and warm summers locally, with very little rain.
| Lake Shastina | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 92°F | 89°F | 85°F |
| January low | 28°F | 41°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
A home in Lake Shastina sells for about $337K at the median
Homes sold in Lake Shastina spent a median 90 days on the market. For households locally, the share who live in a home they own is 88%.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Lake Shastina
Mount Shasta and 4 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lake Shastina. Close and well known come first.
Big draw12 mi MountainMount Shasta
20 mi WaterfallMossbrae Falls16 mi Ski areaMt. Shasta Ski Park36 runs · 2,081 ft vertical
14 mi City parkMount Shasta City Park29 mi GardenDunsmuir Botanical GardensPhoto credits
Mount Shasta: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mossbrae Falls: Pinecar at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Mount Shasta City Park: Daniel Mayer (talk · contribs), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dunsmuir Botanical Gardens: Daniel Mayer (talk · contribs), CC BY-SA 3.0
Moving to Lake Shastina: who provides what
Lake Shastina is unincorporated, so Siskiyou 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.
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Lake Shastina
About 7 of every 100 Lake Shastina residents are enrolled in college, about the same as California.
About Lake Shastina
Place in California, United States
Lake Shastina is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Siskiyou County, California, United States. It is a residential community sited on the east side of the lake of the same name. The lake is a reservoir of the Shasta River. As of the 2020 census, Lake Shastina had a population of 2,401. The community of Lake Shastina is 9 miles (14 km) north of Weed.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Elevation
- 2,851 ft
Questions about Lake Shastina
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Lake Shastina, CA a good place to live?
Lake Shastina grades C overall, better than 28% of U.S. towns and #412 of 841 in California. It grades B+ for health, A− for safety and B− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Lake Shastina, CA expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $358,000, 53% below the California typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
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