Best PlacesCarson, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carson, 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.
Carson ranks 1,038th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Carson
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.
Carson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carson ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 327 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of cities
- TransitBetter than 94% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 81% of cities
Where Carson ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 7% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Carson
A household needs to earn about $175,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $113,157, 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 Carson's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Carson
Carson runs older 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 Carson.
Who works in Carson, and how
Work in Carson centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Carson
Carson has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Carson and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carson, month by month
Carson sees roughly 327 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 59° | 48° |
| April | 71° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 79° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 78° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Carson
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 11 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carson
Schools across Carson average a C, better than 37% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Muir K-8B− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Helen Keller MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Lindsey AcademyD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- California Academy Of Mathematics And ScienceA+ · 98% proficient
- Dr. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation AcademyA+ · 86% proficient
- Academy Of Medical Arts At Carson HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carson 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 Carson against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Carson suits
Common questions about living in Carson
Is Carson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carson ranks 1,038th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $682,984. The overall cost of living runs about 29% above the national average. Set against a $113,157 median income, cost of living beats 35% of cities.
Is Carson safe?
Carson is safer than 15% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $482 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Carson?
July highs average about 79 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 48. That works out to about 327 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of cities.
Is Carson good for families?
Schools beat 37% of cities, crime safety beats 15%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Carson with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carson 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.
Carson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carson 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.