Best PlacesCentral City East, Los Angeles, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Central City East, Los Angeles, 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.
Central City East, Los Angeles ranks 4,819th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Central City East, Los Angeles
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.
Central City East, Los Angeles' strengths and weaknesses
Where Central City East, Los Angeles ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Nice weatherabout 306 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than 85% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 85% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of neighborhoods
Where Central City East, Los Angeles ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Central City East, Los Angeles
A household needs to earn about $208,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Central City East, Los Angeles home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,457, 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 Central City East, Los Angeles' effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Central City East, Los Angeles
Central City East, Los Angeles runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Central City East, Los Angeles.
Who works in Central City East, Los Angeles, and how
Work in Central City East, Los Angeles centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Central City East, Los Angeles
Central City East, Los Angeles has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 13 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Central City East, Los Angeles and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Central City East, Los Angeles, month by month
Central City East, Los Angeles sees roughly 306 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 58° | 48° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 55° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 82° | 69° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Central City East, Los Angeles
The nearest airport, Jack Northrop Field/Hawthorne Municipal, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 12 miles away.
The best schools in and around Central City East, Los Angeles
Schools across Central City East, Los Angeles average a C−, better than 30% of neighborhoods.
Top high schools
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
- Boyle Heights Sci Tech Engr And Math MagnetC+ · 40% proficient
- Felicitas And Gonzalo Mendez HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Central City East, Los Angeles school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Central City East, Los Angeles 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 Central City East, Los Angeles against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Central City East, Los Angeles
Is Central City East, Los Angeles a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Central City East, Los Angeles ranks 4,819th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and transit, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Central City East, Los Angeles expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $805,870. The overall cost of living runs about 35% above the national average. Set against a $81,457 median income, cost of living beats 27% of neighborhoods.
Is Central City East, Los Angeles safe?
Central City East, Los Angeles is safer than 8% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,105 per resident a year.
Compare Central City East, Los Angeles with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Central City East, Los Angeles. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Central City East, Los Angeles 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.
Central City East, Los Angeles detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Central City East, Los Angeles: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Central City East, Los Angeles: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Central City East, Los Angeles: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Central City East, Los Angeles: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Central City East, Los Angeles 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.