Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Plenty to like here, at a price. Its best grade is for health — residents are healthier than 89% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. St. Helena grades B+ overall and ranks 106th of 841 in California. It comes out better than nearly two thirds of U.S. towns. Walkability is another plus: it is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. The trade-off is cost of living (D−): the typical home is worth about $1.6 million, 14.6 years of the Napa metro’s $111K median household income. Hazard risk is weaker too: FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 97% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. The town has 17 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Greystone Cellars and Chateau Chevalier.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FEMA National Risk Index · National Register of Historic Places.
Where St. Helena beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Rhine House
Census counts: 1,339 in 1880, 5,430 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1889 and 4 maps from 1942 on.
17 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far St. Helena is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around St. Helena. Close and well known come first.
13 mi LakeLake Berryessa
29 mi Theme parkSix Flags Discovery Kingdom
15 mi MuseumCharles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center
33 mi National SeashorePoint Reyes National Seashore2.4M visitors a year
34 mi Ancient siteBodega Bay
32 mi National Recreation AreaGolden Gate National Recreation Area15.7M visitors a yearLake Berryessa: Unknown, Public domain · Six Flags Discovery Kingdom: Tinned Elk, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center: BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Point Reyes National Seashore: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bodega Bay: Pixistik1687, Public domain · Golden Gate National Recreation Area: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in St. Helena, and how to reach them.
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 St. Helena.
St. Helena fares better on crime within California than nationally, draws workers from Napa and beyond and has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns.
At 14.6 years of the Napa metro’s $111K median household income, the typical home (about $1.63M) costs more against local pay than in 91% of California towns; that ratio is one input to that grade. The typical value, about $1.63M, is 19% below its May 2022 peak.
St. Helena’s rent at the middle of the market stands at $2,535 a month, against $1,895 a month in California’s towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. The typical home value locally is about $1,631,000, down 0.5% in a year, about twice the California typical home. Nearly two thirds of households live in a home they own locally.
| St. Helena | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,535 a month | $1,895 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 66% | 64% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The largest public high school is Saint Helena High, with 416 students. Public schools: the Saint Helena Unified school district. Of its 7 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Louis Stevenson IntermediateLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 257 | – |
| Saint Helena HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 416 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
5,399 jobs are based in St. Helena, 2.4 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 21.1 minutes, against 28.7 across California.
Among working residents in St. Helena, 27% work locally. Employers in St. Helena added 495 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 5,399. The town’s typical household income stands at $149,000, above both California’s towns ($95,000) and U.S. towns ($80,000). Its mean commuting time comes in at 21 minutes.
| St. Helena | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $149,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 27% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5.1% | 10% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The national flood insurance program has paid 35 claims in St. Helena since 1982. FEMA puts 49% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 45% to earthquakes. Federal aid has come to St. Helena households in 5 declared disasters; the latest was in 2020.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 2,832 U.S. towns with household incomes like St. Helena’s, it is healthier than 50%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
For adults in St. Helena, the share who sleep under 7 hours is 29%. Against the California average, St. Helena comes out ahead on 18 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 2. In St. Helena, 14% of adults report frequent mental distress, and 30% feel lonely.
| St. Helena | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 35% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 36% | 33% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.8% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | St. Helena | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.5% | 17.9% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.7% | 10.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.7% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
There are 3.4 miles of trail across 4 parks and preserves. St. Helena’s trail density comes in at 0.7 miles per square mile.
| St. Helena | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7.8% | 4.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Stonesbridge Park | 0.3 mi | 4 |
| 2. Crane Park | — | 18 |
| 3. Jacob Meily Park | 0.2 mi | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Saint Helena weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 306 days, longer than in 95% of U.S. towns.
St. Helena’s typical July afternoon high stands at 89°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 13 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 92% of California’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 56 to 32 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
St. Helena reports less crime per resident than nearly two thirds of the U.S. towns and cities we grade. In St. Helena, the property crime rate is 5.8 per 1,000 residents.
| St. Helena | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.4 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.8 per 1,000 residents | 13.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
2 within 15 miles of the center of St. Helena
About 4 of every 100 St. Helena residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Where St. Helena’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
17 places in St. Helena on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in St. Helena.
One town shares a border with St. Helena.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Helena | #106 | B+ | D− | B+ | A− | A |
| Deer Park | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Deer Park isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare St. Helena with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. St. Helena grades B+ overall, better than 66% of U.S. towns and #106 of 841 in California. It grades A for health, B+ for safety and A− 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−.
8 notable people were born here, including Mike Thompson and Terry Lee Erwin.
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