Best PlacesAlhambra, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alhambra, 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.
Alhambra ranks 1,248th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Alhambra
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.
Alhambra's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alhambra ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 266 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 96% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of cities
Where Alhambra ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Alhambra
A household needs to earn about $212,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alhambra home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $93,621, 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 Alhambra's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Alhambra
Alhambra runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alhambra.
Who works in Alhambra, and how
Work in Alhambra centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Alhambra
Alhambra has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities and more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Alhambra and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Alhambra, month by month
Alhambra sees roughly 266 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs October through May.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 60° | 48° |
| April | 76° | 68° | 57° |
| July | 89° | 81° | 69° |
| October | 83° | 74° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Alhambra
Bob Hope sits about 15 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Alhambra
Schools across Alhambra average a B, better than 58% of cities.
Top middle schools
- Jefferson MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Gabrielino HighA · 72% proficient
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alhambra school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alhambra 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 Alhambra against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Alhambra suits
Common questions about living in Alhambra
Is Alhambra a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alhambra ranks 1,248th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and transit, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alhambra expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $825,877. The overall cost of living runs about 40% above the national average. Set against a $93,621 median income, cost of living beats 8% of cities.
Is Alhambra safe?
Alhambra is safer than 30% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $390 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Alhambra?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 48. That works out to about 266 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of cities.
Is Alhambra good for families?
Schools beat 58% of cities, crime safety beats 30%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Alhambra with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alhambra. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alhambra 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.
Alhambra detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alhambra: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alhambra: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alhambra: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alhambra: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alhambra 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.