Best Places94061, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 94061, 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

94061 ranks 1,722nd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#1,722
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 94061

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 94061 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.

94061's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%The weather
Top 5%High incomes
Top 5%Fast internet
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 94061 with other zip codes.

Where 94061 ranks high

  • Nice weatherabout 248 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of zip codes
  • Household income$159,134 median, better than 97% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than 96% of zip codes

Where 94061 ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 1% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 10% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 20% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 94061

A household needs to earn about $419,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 94061 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $159,134, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$419,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$9,777
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $1,649,814 home
Median rent
$3,008
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$8,412
Property tax$815
Homeowners insurance$550

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 94061's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 94061

94061's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
39
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
15%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.8
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3424%
35 to 4921%
50 to 6419%
65 and older15%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 94061.


Who works in 94061, and how

Work in 94061 centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
25%
above the national average
Unemployment
5.0%
about the national average
Job growth
+4.3%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical15%
Education14%
Health care & social12%
Construction8%
Retail trade8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 67%
  • Work from home 25%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 8%

Life in 94061

94061 has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most zip codes. The coast is about 21 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of 94061 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
79
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 21.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 32% of zip codes
Coffee shops
9
about 2.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 50% of zip codes
Parkland
87 acres
about 2.4 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 63% of zip codes
To the coast
21 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 94061, month by month

94061 sees roughly 248 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January59°51°45°
April68°58°50°
July77°66°58°
October75°63°55°

Flying in and out of 94061

San Francisco International sits about 13 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.5 million passengers in 2025, with 193 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
SFO
San Francisco International, about 13 miles
Airport size
Large hub
9th-busiest in the US, 193 nonstop destinations
Average drive
19 min
from the area, with no traffic

94061 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 94061 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 94061 suits

Families

Schools beat 64% of zip codes.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 25% 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 94061

Is 94061 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 94061 ranks 1,722nd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and fast internet, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 94061 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $1,649,814. The overall cost of living runs about 68% above the national average. Set against a $159,134 median income, cost of living beats 70% of zip codes.

Is 94061 safe?

94061 is safer than 29% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $434 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 94061?

July highs average about 77 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 45. That works out to about 248 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of zip codes.

Is 94061 good for families?

Schools beat 64% of zip codes, crime safety beats 29%, and childcare runs $2,233 a month.


Compare 94061 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 94061. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 94061 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.

94061 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 94061: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 94061: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 94061: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 94061: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

94061 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.