Best Places93040, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 93040, 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.
93040 ranks 27,620th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 93040
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.
93040's strengths and weaknesses
Where 93040 ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 244 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than 77% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than 72% of zip codes
Where 93040 ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,601 a month, better than only 4% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 93040
A household needs to earn about $161,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 93040 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,676, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 93040's effective rate of 0.70%, 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.
Who lives in 93040
93040 runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 93040.
Who works in 93040, and how
Work in 93040 centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in 93040
The coast is about 35 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 93040, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 93040, month by month
93040 sees roughly 244 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 44. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| April | 73° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 80° | 69° | 61° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 54° |
Flying in and out of 93040
Bob Hope sits about 29 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.
93040 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 93040 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 93040
Is 93040 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 93040 ranks 27,620th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and population health, and lowest on education levels and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 93040 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $623,308. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $84,676 median income, cost of living beats 24% of zip codes.
Is 93040 safe?
93040 is safer than 25% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $452 per resident a year.
Compare 93040 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 93040. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 93040 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.
93040 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 93040: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 93040: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 93040: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 93040: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
93040 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.