Best PlacesBrandeis, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brandeis, 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.
Brandeis ranks 16,561st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Brandeis
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.
Brandeis' strengths and weaknesses
Where Brandeis ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 225 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 91% of towns
Where Brandeis ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,601 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brandeis
A household needs to earn about $260,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brandeis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,417, 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 Brandeis' effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Brandeis
Brandeis's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Brandeis.
Who works in Brandeis, and how
Work in Brandeis centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Brandeis
The coast is about 32 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Brandeis, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brandeis, month by month
Brandeis sees roughly 225 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 52° |
| July | 95° | 78° | 65° |
| October | 88° | 71° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Brandeis
Bob Hope sits about 20 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 Brandeis
Schools across Brandeis average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Round Meadow ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Vista ElementaryA · 69% proficient
Top middle schools
- Alice C. Stelle MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Valley View MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
- Hillside MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Calabasas HighB− · 45% proficient
- Simi Valley HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brandeis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brandeis 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 Brandeis against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brandeis
Is Brandeis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brandeis ranks 16,561st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and population health, and lowest on civic engagement and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brandeis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $996,837. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $97,417 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Brandeis safe?
Brandeis is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $317 per resident a year.
Compare Brandeis with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brandeis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brandeis 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.
Brandeis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brandeis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brandeis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brandeis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brandeis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brandeis 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.