Best PlacesArlington, Riverside, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arlington, Riverside, 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.
Arlington, Riverside ranks 4,919th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Arlington, Riverside
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.
Arlington, Riverside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Arlington, Riverside ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 235 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of neighborhoods
Where Arlington, Riverside ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 11% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of neighborhoods
- Short commute31.6 minutes each way, better than only 13% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Arlington, Riverside
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arlington, Riverside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $69,612, 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 Arlington, Riverside's effective rate of 0.57%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Arlington, Riverside
Arlington, Riverside runs younger 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 Arlington, Riverside.
Who works in Arlington, Riverside, and how
Work in Arlington, Riverside centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Arlington, Riverside
Arlington, Riverside has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 36 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Arlington, Riverside and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Arlington, Riverside, month by month
Arlington, Riverside sees roughly 235 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs September through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 56° | 43° |
| April | 80° | 63° | 50° |
| July | 97° | 78° | 64° |
| October | 87° | 70° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Arlington, Riverside
Ontario International sits about 13 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.5 million passengers in 2025, with 62 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Arlington, Riverside
Schools across Arlington, Riverside average a C, better than 53% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Jackson ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arlington, Riverside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arlington, Riverside 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 Arlington, Riverside against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Arlington, Riverside
Is Arlington, Riverside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arlington, Riverside ranks 4,919th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, few empty homes, and big-city access, and lowest on air quality and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arlington, Riverside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $483,621. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $69,612 median income, cost of living beats 18% of neighborhoods.
Is Arlington, Riverside safe?
Arlington, Riverside is safer than 23% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $721 per resident a year.
Compare Arlington, Riverside with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arlington, Riverside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arlington, Riverside 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.
Arlington, Riverside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arlington, Riverside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arlington, Riverside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arlington, Riverside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arlington, Riverside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arlington, Riverside 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.