Best Places90048, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 90048, 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

90048 ranks 4,458th 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.

#4,458
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 90048

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 90048 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.

90048's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%The weather
Top 3%Walkability
Top 3%Big-city access
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 90048 with other zip codes.

Where 90048 ranks high

  • Nice weatherabout 324 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • TransitBetter than 98% of zip codes

Where 90048 ranks low

  • Air qualityBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 6% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 90048

A household needs to earn about $425,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 90048 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $119,018, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$425,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$9,922
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $1,664,611 home
Median rent
$2,611
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$8,487
Property tax$879
Homeowners insurance$555

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 90048's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 90048

90048's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
41
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
19%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
1.8
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 189%
18 to 3430%
35 to 4924%
50 to 6418%
65 and older19%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 90048.


Who works in 90048, and how

Work in 90048 centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
31%
above the national average
Unemployment
5.9%
above the national average
Job growth
−0.3%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical21%
Health care & social12%
Information11%
Arts & entertainment9%
Retail trade7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 59%
  • Work from home 31%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 11%

Life in 90048

90048 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of zip codes. The coast is about 9 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of 90048 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
459
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 205.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 94% of zip codes
Coffee shops
73
about 32.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 95% of zip codes
To the coast
9 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 90048, month by month

90048 sees roughly 324 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 47. 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
January68°57°47°
April69°60°53°
July76°68°63°
October78°67°58°

Flying in and out of 90048

Bob Hope sits about 9 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
BUR
Bob Hope, about 9 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
57th-busiest in the US, 54 nonstop destinations
Average drive
13 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 90048

Schools across 90048 average a B−, better than 58% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 90048 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


90048 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 90048 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 90048 suits

Families

Schools beat 58% of zip codes.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 31% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 100% of zip codes and health care access beats 58%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 90048

Is 90048 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 90048 ranks 4,458th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and big-city access, and lowest on air quality and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 90048 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $1,664,611. The overall cost of living runs about 71% above the national average. Set against a $119,018 median income, cost of living beats 42% of zip codes.

Is 90048 safe?

90048 is safer than 5% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $827 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 90048?

July highs average about 76 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 47. That works out to about 324 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of zip codes.

Is 90048 good for families?

Schools beat 58% of zip codes, crime safety beats 5%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.


Compare 90048 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 90048. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 90048 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.

90048 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 90048: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 90048: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 90048: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 90048: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

90048 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.