Best Places90016, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 90016, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

90016 ranks 19,863rd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.

#19,863
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 90016

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 90016 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

90016's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%The weather
Top 3%Big-city access
Top 3%Transit
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 90016 with other zip codes.

Where 90016 ranks high

  • Nice weatherabout 303 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • TransitBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than 97% of zip codes

Where 90016 ranks low

  • Air qualityBetter than only 1% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 4% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 90016

A household needs to earn about $254,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 90016 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,442, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$254,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$5,929
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $1,006,922 home
Median rent
$1,936
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$5,134
Property tax$459
Homeowners insurance$336

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 90016's effective rate of 0.55%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 90016

90016's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
39
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
14%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.6
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1819%
18 to 3426%
35 to 4922%
50 to 6419%
65 and older14%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 90016.


Who works in 90016, and how

Work in 90016 centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
17%
above the national average
Unemployment
7.8%
above the national average
Job growth
+3.8%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social13%
Professional & technical10%
Hospitality & food10%
Retail trade9%
Other services8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 72%
  • Work from home 17%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 11%

Life in 90016

The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 90016, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
142
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 30.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 45% of zip codes
Coffee shops
19
about 4.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 61% of zip codes
To the coast
8 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 90016, month by month

90016 sees roughly 303 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January70°58°48°
April76°64°55°
July85°73°65°
October82°69°60°

Flying in and out of 90016

Los Angeles International sits about 7 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 36.7 million passengers in 2025, with 247 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
LAX
Los Angeles International, about 7 miles
Airport size
Large hub
5th-busiest in the US, 247 nonstop destinations
Average drive
10 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 90016

Schools across 90016 average a C, better than 37% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 90016 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


90016 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 90016 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 90016 suits

Families

Schools land around the 37th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 17% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 99% of zip codes.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 90016

Is 90016 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 90016 ranks 19,863rd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 90016 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $1,006,922. The overall cost of living runs about 47% above the national average. Set against a $83,442 median income, cost of living beats 9% of zip codes.

Is 90016 safe?

90016 is safer than 9% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $661 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 90016?

July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 48. That works out to about 303 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of zip codes.

Is 90016 good for families?

Schools beat 37% of zip codes, crime safety beats 9%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.


Compare 90016 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 90016. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 90016 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

90016 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 90016: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 90016: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 90016: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 90016: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

90016 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.