Best PlacesBorrego Springs, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Borrego Springs, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Borrego Springs ranks 39,232nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Borrego Springs
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.
Borrego Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Borrego Springs ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 175 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
Where Borrego Springs ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Borrego Springs
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Borrego Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,441, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Borrego Springs' effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Borrego Springs
Borrego Springs runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Borrego Springs.
Who works in Borrego Springs, and how
Work in Borrego Springs centers on arts & entertainment and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 36%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Borrego Springs
Borrego Springs has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Borrego Springs and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Borrego Springs, month by month
Borrego Springs sees roughly 175 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 111 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs January through April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 55° | 39° |
| April | 92° | 75° | 57° |
| July | 111° | 96° | 77° |
| October | 94° | 75° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Borrego Springs
The nearest airport, Palm Springs International, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Borrego Springs
Schools across Borrego Springs average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Borrego Springs ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Borrego Springs MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Julian HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Borrego Springs HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Borrego Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Borrego Springs 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 Borrego Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Borrego Springs
Is Borrego Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Borrego Springs ranks 39,232nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on summer heat and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Borrego Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $300,826. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $84,441 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Borrego Springs safe?
Borrego Springs is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $456 per resident a year.
Compare Borrego Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Borrego Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Borrego Springs 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.
Borrego Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Borrego Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Borrego Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Borrego Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Borrego Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Borrego Springs 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.