Best PlacesAlameda, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alameda, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Alameda ranks 422nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Alameda
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.
The best areas in Alameda
The parts of Alameda, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Fernside
East End & Bay Farm Island
South Shore
West End
Gold Coast
Woodstock
Scores across Alameda run from about the 29th to the 97th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Alameda's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alameda ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 224 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of cities
Where Alameda ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cheap childcare$2,082 a month, better than only 2% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Alameda
A household needs to earn about $328,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alameda home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $147,553, 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 Alameda's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Alameda
Alameda's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alameda.
Who works in Alameda, and how
Work in Alameda centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 50%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Alameda
Alameda has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Alameda and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Alameda, month by month
Alameda sees roughly 224 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 74° | 63° | 56° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Alameda
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 4 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
Alameda 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 Alameda against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Alameda suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 33% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 93% of cities and health care access beats 61%.
Common questions about living in Alameda
Is Alameda a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alameda ranks 422nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and population health, and lowest on crime and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alameda expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,250,477. The overall cost of living runs about 33% above the national average. Set against a $147,553 median income, cost of living beats 73% of cities.
Is Alameda safe?
Alameda is safer than 2% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $731 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Alameda?
July highs average about 74 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 43. That works out to about 224 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Alameda?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Fernside, East End & Bay Farm Island, and South Shore. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Alameda with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alameda. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alameda 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.
Alameda detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alameda: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alameda: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alameda: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alameda: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alameda 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.