Best PlacesAltadena, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Altadena, 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.
Altadena ranks 653rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Altadena
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.
Altadena's strengths and weaknesses
Where Altadena ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 274 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of cities
- Household income$146,380 median, better than 90% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of cities
Where Altadena ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Altadena
A household needs to earn about $294,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Altadena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $146,380, 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 Altadena's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Altadena
Altadena runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Altadena.
Who works in Altadena, and how
Work in Altadena centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Altadena
Altadena has more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. The coast is about 26 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Altadena and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Altadena, month by month
Altadena sees roughly 274 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 Altadena
Bob Hope sits about 12 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 Altadena
Schools across Altadena average a C, better than 36% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Pasadena Rosebud AcademyC− · 25% proficient
- Alma Fuerte PublicD · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Pasadena HighB+ · 54% proficient
- John Muir HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Altadena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Altadena 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 Altadena against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Altadena suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 26% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 97% of cities, health care access beats 59%, and it is quieter than 67%.
Common questions about living in Altadena
Is Altadena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Altadena ranks 653rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and high incomes, and lowest on air quality and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Altadena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,155,329. The overall cost of living runs about 54% above the national average. Set against a $146,380 median income, cost of living beats 52% of cities.
Is Altadena safe?
Altadena is safer than 12% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $495 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Altadena?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 48. That works out to about 274 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of cities.
Is Altadena good for families?
Schools beat 36% of cities, crime safety beats 12%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Altadena with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Altadena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Altadena 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.
Altadena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Altadena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Altadena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Altadena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Altadena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Altadena 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.