Lee ViningCA
A town of 628, settled in 1928.
Is Lee Vining a good place to live?
72% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Lee Vining, where California’s towns sit at 29% and U.S. towns at 29%. No town among the 848 in California we compare has a higher share of households owning their home than Lee Vining. 78% of the land in Lee Vining is conserved, above both the California town median (4.3%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). Lee Vining has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
628 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Yosemite National Park and 21 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lee Vining. Close and well known come first.
Big draw6 mi National ParkYosemite National Park4.3M visitors a year
7 mi LakeMono Lake
Big draw27 mi MountainHalf Dome
22 mi Ski areaMammoth Mountain153 runs · 2,962 ft vertical
36 mi LakeHetch Hetchy
22 mi National MonumentDevils Postpile National Monument100K visitors a yearPhoto credits
Yosemite National Park: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mono Lake: File:Mono lake sat.jpg: created by NASA Rotation and crop: Hike395, Public domain · Half Dome: Jon Sullivan, Public domain · Mammoth Mountain: Hike395 (talk · contribs), CC BY 3.0 · Hetch Hetchy: Vulpinus2, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Devils Postpile National Monument: Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA, CC BY 2.0
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Moving to Lee Vining: who provides what
Lee Vining is unincorporated, so Mono 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 Lee Vining.
Lee Vining has set aside nearly a third of its land for conservation
18 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. The trail density in Lee Vining is 3.4 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gus Hess Community Park | — | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The schools Lee Vining’s kids attend
Its public schools are run by the Eastern Sierra Unified school district. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Vining ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 101 | A− |
| Lee Vining HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 35 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts
Lee Vining faces a very high natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 97% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical home in Lee Vining is valued at about $508K
The typical Lee Vining home is worth about $508,000, up 3% in a year, 33% below the California typical home.
Typical home value
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Snowy winters and pleasant summers in Lee Vining
Lee Vining has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with very little rain. Lee Vining’s July high is 85°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most working residents commute out of Lee Vining
Most working residents leave Lee Vining for work: only 2% work in town. Since 2013, Lee Vining has added 40 jobs, to 92 in 2023. The top destinations are Bridgeport (15%), Bishop (4%) and Fresno (4%).
| Lee Vining | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $134,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.2% | 6.6% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
How healthy Lee Vining is
Lee Vining beats the California average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 74% of adults had a checkup this year in Lee Vining.
| Lee Vining | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 74% | 72% | 79% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 9% | 8.1% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 35% | 36% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 22% | 19% |
| What stands out | Lee Vining | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 8.4% | 10.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 7.7% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Everything we know about Lee Vining
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Lee Vining; the nearest are
About 0 of every 100 Lee Vining residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Questions about Lee Vining
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Lee Vining, CA a good place to live?
Lee Vining has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.