Best PlacesChualar, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chualar, 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.
Chualar ranks 45,246th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Chualar
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.
Chualar's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chualar ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 220 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
Where Chualar ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chualar
A household needs to earn about $203,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chualar home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $69,469, 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 Chualar's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Chualar
Chualar 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 Chualar.
Who works in Chualar, and how
Work in Chualar centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Chualar
The coast is about 31 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Chualar, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chualar, month by month
Chualar sees roughly 220 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 72 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 72° | 62° | 55° |
| October | 78° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Chualar
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chualar
Schools across Chualar average a C−, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Willow Grove ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Spreckels ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- Cienega ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buena Vista MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Gonzales HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chualar school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chualar 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 Chualar against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chualar
Is Chualar a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chualar ranks 45,246th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and clean air, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chualar expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $788,543. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $69,469 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Chualar safe?
Chualar is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $611 per resident a year.
Compare Chualar with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chualar. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chualar 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.
Chualar detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chualar: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chualar: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chualar: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chualar: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chualar 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.