Best PlacesCastaic, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Castaic, 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.
Castaic ranks 1,397th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Castaic
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.
Castaic's strengths and weaknesses
Where Castaic ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 228 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of cities
- Household income$140,192 median, better than 88% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of cities
Where Castaic ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 7% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Castaic
A household needs to earn about $196,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Castaic home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $140,192, 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 Castaic's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Castaic
Castaic 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 Castaic.
Who works in Castaic, and how
Work in Castaic centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Castaic
Castaic has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 33 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Castaic and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Castaic, month by month
Castaic sees roughly 228 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 51. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 60° | 51° |
| April | 74° | 67° | 57° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 69° |
| October | 82° | 74° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Castaic
Bob Hope sits about 24 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 Castaic
Schools across Castaic average a B−, better than 43% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Gorman ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rio Norte Junior HighD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Castaic school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Castaic 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 Castaic against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Castaic suits
Common questions about living in Castaic
Is Castaic a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Castaic ranks 1,397th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, the weather, and high incomes, and lowest on air quality and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Castaic expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $745,672. The overall cost of living runs about 26% above the national average. Set against a $140,192 median income, cost of living beats 63% of cities.
Is Castaic safe?
Castaic is safer than 43% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Castaic?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 51. That works out to about 228 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of cities.
Is Castaic good for families?
Schools beat 43% of cities, crime safety beats 43%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Castaic with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Castaic. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Castaic 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.
Castaic detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Castaic: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Castaic: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Castaic: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Castaic: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Castaic 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.