Lee ViningCA
A town of 628, settled in 1928.
Is Lee Vining a good place to live?
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.
In Lee Vining, nearly a third of the land is conserved
Lee Vining’s concentration of trails stands at 3.4 miles per square mile, above both California’s towns (1.0) and U.S. towns (0.4). 18 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. It has one park or preserve, 6 acres in all.
| 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 two schools are below. The Eastern Sierra Unified school district runs its public schools. Also worth knowing: the 2 public schools in Lee Vining teach 136 students between them.
| 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
The biggest natural risk in Lee Vining is inland flooding, at a very high overall level
On expected storm and flood damage, Lee Vining sits above 97% of U.S. communities. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 38% come from inland flooding and 24% from avalanches. Households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid once, in 2023.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
A larger share of households in Lee Vining own their home than in the typical California or U.S. town
Home values are up 3% over the year to September 2026.
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Lee Vining: snowy winters and pleasant summers
July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 18° and about 70 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most people working in Lee Vining commute elsewhere
In Lee Vining, the typical household income is $134,000. Most people who work leave Lee Vining to do it: just 2% work in town. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in the town rose by 40, to 92. Half commute less than 100 miles.
| 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
23% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Lee Vining. The town does better than the California average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 2.
| 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.