Best PlacesCayucos, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cayucos, 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.
Cayucos ranks 15,643rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cayucos
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.
Cayucos' strengths and weaknesses
Where Cayucos ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 205 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
Where Cayucos ranks low
- Short commute40.3 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,391 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cayucos
A household needs to earn about $279,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cayucos home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,545, 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 Cayucos' effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Cayucos
Cayucos 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 Cayucos.
Who works in Cayucos, and how
Work in Cayucos centers on construction and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cayucos
Cayucos has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Cayucos and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cayucos, month by month
Cayucos sees roughly 205 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 54° | 42° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 81° | 64° | 54° |
| October | 82° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Cayucos
The nearest airport, San Luis Obispo County Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 145 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cayucos
Schools across Cayucos average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cayucos ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Vineyard ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Del Mar ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Teach ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Templeton MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Templeton HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Morro Bay HighB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cayucos school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cayucos 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 Cayucos against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cayucos
Is Cayucos a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cayucos ranks 15,643rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and clean air, and lowest on long commutes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cayucos expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,101,899. The overall cost of living runs about 45% above the national average. Set against a $87,545 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Cayucos safe?
Cayucos is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $359 per resident a year.
Compare Cayucos with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cayucos. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cayucos 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.
Cayucos detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cayucos: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cayucos: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cayucos: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cayucos: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cayucos 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.