Best PlacesArcadia, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arcadia, 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.
Arcadia ranks 762nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Arcadia
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.
Arcadia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Arcadia ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 268 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 88% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of cities
Where Arcadia ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Arcadia
A household needs to earn about $335,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arcadia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $119,908, 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 Arcadia's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Arcadia
Arcadia runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Arcadia.
Who works in Arcadia, and how
Work in Arcadia centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Arcadia
Arcadia has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. The coast is about 27 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Arcadia and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Arcadia, month by month
Arcadia sees roughly 268 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 Arcadia
Bob Hope sits about 19 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 Arcadia
Schools across Arcadia average a B+, better than 73% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Plymouth ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Bradoaks Elementary Science AcademyC · 33% proficient
- Camino Grove ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clifton MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Santa Fe Computer Science MagnetC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Arcadia HighA · 73% proficient
- Pasadena HighB+ · 54% proficient
- Monrovia HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arcadia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arcadia 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 Arcadia against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Arcadia suits
Common questions about living in Arcadia
Is Arcadia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arcadia ranks 762nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and population health, and lowest on air quality and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arcadia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,291,399. The overall cost of living runs about 50% above the national average. Set against a $119,908 median income, cost of living beats 27% of cities.
Is Arcadia safe?
Arcadia is safer than 32% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $386 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Arcadia?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 48. That works out to about 268 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of cities.
Is Arcadia good for families?
Schools beat 73% of cities, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Arcadia with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arcadia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arcadia 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.
Arcadia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arcadia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arcadia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arcadia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arcadia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arcadia 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.