A New Look at Rent Rates in Sonoma Valley

Sonoma's historic downtown and diverse surroundings make it a great town if you can to find a place to rent.

But rent costs vary somewhat, depending on where you chose to put down roots, whether close to a school, walking distance to downtown or near the shopping center. Now you can see how rents compare neighborhood-by-neighborhood, anywhere in the country.

A new data-based website, Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks uses U.S. census information compiled from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey to show median household income and monthly rents by census tract.

The median rent in neighborhoods north of West Napa Street is $1,137 a month in 2011 dollars, according to Census data. South of West Napa, costs climb a little to $1,297 a month.

The median rent is $1,267 a month if you go south of East MacArthur Street.

Outside of city limits, near El Verano, the rents run lowest, about $1,210 a month.

See more on the map above. The lighter the color, the cheaper the rent.

Are you surprised by any of the local data? Tell us in the comments section.

Don't expect it to get any cheaper to live here. An MSN Real Estate article published this spring named the 10 cities where rents will rise most this year. Nearby San Jose and San Francisco were the only California cities to make the list.

In San Francisco, the effective rent at end of 2012 was $1,970, a 5.7 percent increase from the year prior, and the forecasted effective rent growth in 2013 is 5.2 percent.

The average rent in California is $1,185 a month according to the 2007-2011 American Community Survey. Statewide middle rental-range is $996.00 to $1,193.00. Averages are gross figures, they do not factor in size of rental or other distinctions.

To see the data mapped out census tract by census tract, visit the Rich Block, Poor Blocks website and enter your own home town. You can move the map around, zoom in or out, and even change the search from "Rent" to "Income."