Best PlacesBelle Haven, Menlo Park, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Belle Haven, Menlo Park, 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.
Belle Haven, Menlo Park ranks 2,877th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Belle Haven, Menlo Park
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.
Belle Haven, Menlo Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Belle Haven, Menlo Park ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- Nice weatherabout 245 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of neighborhoods
- Household income$155,879 median, better than 92% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than 89% of neighborhoods
Where Belle Haven, Menlo Park ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Belle Haven, Menlo Park
A household needs to earn about $283,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Belle Haven, Menlo Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $155,879, 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 Belle Haven, Menlo Park's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Belle Haven, Menlo Park
Belle Haven, Menlo Park 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 Belle Haven, Menlo Park.
Who works in Belle Haven, Menlo Park, and how
Work in Belle Haven, Menlo Park centers on other services and admin & support services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Belle Haven, Menlo Park
The coast is about 22 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Belle Haven, Menlo Park, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Belle Haven, Menlo Park, month by month
Belle Haven, Menlo Park sees roughly 245 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 68° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 75° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 74° | 65° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Belle Haven, Menlo Park
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 15 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
Belle Haven, Menlo Park 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 Belle Haven, Menlo Park against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Belle Haven, Menlo Park
Is Belle Haven, Menlo Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Belle Haven, Menlo Park ranks 2,877th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on clean air, the weather, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Belle Haven, Menlo Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,090,196. The overall cost of living runs about 84% above the national average. Set against a $155,879 median income, cost of living beats 50% of neighborhoods.
Is Belle Haven, Menlo Park safe?
Belle Haven, Menlo Park is safer than 46% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $516 per resident a year.
Compare Belle Haven, Menlo Park with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Belle Haven, Menlo Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Belle Haven, Menlo Park 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.
Belle Haven, Menlo Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Belle Haven, Menlo Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Belle Haven, Menlo Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Belle Haven, Menlo Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Belle Haven, Menlo Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Belle Haven, Menlo Park 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.