Best PlacesCarmel Valley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carmel Valley, 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.
Carmel Valley ranks 3,802nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carmel Valley
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.
Carmel Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carmel Valley ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 200 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Household income$154,480 median, better than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
Where Carmel Valley ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,371 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carmel Valley
A household needs to earn about $312,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carmel Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $154,480, 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 Carmel Valley's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Carmel Valley
Carmel Valley 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 Carmel Valley.
Who works in Carmel Valley, and how
Work in Carmel Valley centers on professional & technical and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Carmel Valley
Carmel Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. The coast is about 27 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Carmel Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carmel Valley, month by month
Carmel Valley sees roughly 200 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 69 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 65° | 56° | 48° |
| July | 69° | 60° | 54° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Carmel Valley
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carmel Valley
Schools across Carmel Valley average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tularcitos ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Spreckels ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- La Gloria ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carmel MiddleA · 66% proficient
- Buena Vista MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Carmel HighA · 70% proficient
- Gonzales HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carmel Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carmel Valley 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 Carmel Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carmel Valley
Is Carmel Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carmel Valley ranks 3,802nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and health care access, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carmel Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,216,941. The overall cost of living runs about 56% above the national average. Set against a $154,480 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Carmel Valley safe?
Carmel Valley is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
Compare Carmel Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carmel Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carmel Valley 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.
Carmel Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carmel Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carmel Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carmel Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carmel Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carmel Valley 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.