Best PlacesAromas, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Aromas, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Aromas ranks 14,079th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Aromas
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.
Aromas' strengths and weaknesses
Where Aromas ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 193 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Household income$143,097 median, better than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
Where Aromas ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,383 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Aromas
A household needs to earn about $231,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Aromas home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $143,097, 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 Aromas' effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Aromas
Aromas runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Aromas.
Who works in Aromas, and how
Work in Aromas centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Aromas
The coast is about 19 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Aromas, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Aromas, month by month
Aromas sees roughly 193 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 73 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 44° |
| July | 73° | 60° | 53° |
| October | 77° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Aromas
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 38 miles away.
The best schools in and around Aromas
Schools across Aromas average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- AromasC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Anzar HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Aromas school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Aromas 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 Aromas against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Aromas
Is Aromas a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Aromas ranks 14,079th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and clean air, and lowest on disaster risk and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Aromas expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $898,727. The overall cost of living runs about 42% above the national average. Set against a $143,097 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Aromas safe?
Aromas is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $347 per resident a year.
Compare Aromas with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Aromas. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Aromas 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.
Aromas detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Aromas: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Aromas: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Aromas: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Aromas: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Aromas 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.