Best Places94904, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 94904, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
94904 ranks 1,621st of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 94904
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.
94904's strengths and weaknesses
Where 94904 ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Household income$192,001 median, better than 99% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of zip codes
Where 94904 ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,211 a month, better than only 1% of zip codes
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 10% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 94904
A household needs to earn about $446,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 94904 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $192,001, 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 94904's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 94904
94904 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 94904.
Who works in 94904, and how
Work in 94904 centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 52%
- Work from home 38%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in 94904
The coast is about 10 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 94904, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 94904, month by month
94904 sees roughly 166 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 66° | 52° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 47° |
Flying in and out of 94904
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 23 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 94904
Schools across 94904 average an A−, better than 77% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Neil Cummins ElementaryA+ · 76% proficient
- Sun Valley ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Bahia Vista ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hall MiddleA · 62% proficient
- James B. Davidson MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Tamalpais HighA− · 64% proficient
- Terra Linda HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 94904 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
94904 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 94904 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 94904
Is 94904 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 94904 ranks 1,621st of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on an educated workforce, high incomes, and clean air, 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 94904 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,719,146. The overall cost of living runs about 56% above the national average. Set against a $192,001 median income, cost of living beats 94% of zip codes.
Is 94904 safe?
94904 is safer than 24% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $491 per resident a year.
Compare 94904 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 94904. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 94904 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.
94904 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 94904: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 94904: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 94904: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 94904: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
94904 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.