Best PlacesCoachella, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Coachella, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Coachella ranks 2,055th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Coachella
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.
Coachella's strengths and weaknesses
Where Coachella ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of cities
- BikingBetter than 90% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 178 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of cities
- Short commute23.5 minutes each way, better than 68% of cities
Where Coachella ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Coachella
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Coachella home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,700, 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 Coachella's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 Coachella
Coachella 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 Coachella.
Who works in Coachella, and how
Work in Coachella centers on retail trade and admin & support services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Coachella
Coachella has more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Coachella and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Coachella, month by month
Coachella sees roughly 178 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 111 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs January through April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 55° | 39° |
| April | 92° | 75° | 57° |
| July | 111° | 96° | 77° |
| October | 94° | 75° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Coachella
The nearest airport, Palm Springs International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ontario International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Coachella
Schools across Coachella average a D+, better than 8% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Coral Mountain AcademyD · 20% proficient
- Valle Del Sol ElementaryD · 19% proficient
- Mountain Vista ElementaryD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Desert Ridge AcademyB+ · 50% proficient
- Cahuilla Desert Academy Junior HighD+ · 27% proficient
- Toro Canyon MiddleD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Shadow Hills HighC · 34% proficient
- Desert Mirage HighC · 33% proficient
- Nova Academy - CoachellaC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Coachella school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Coachella 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 Coachella against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Coachella suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 3% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Coachella
Is Coachella a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Coachella ranks 2,055th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, cell coverage, and biking, and lowest on education levels and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Coachella expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $379,365. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $72,700 median income, cost of living beats 5% of cities.
Is Coachella safe?
Coachella is safer than 22% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $433 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Coachella?
July highs average about 111 degrees, and January highs near 72 with lows near 39. That works out to about 178 pleasant days a year, more than 89% of cities.
Is Coachella good for families?
Schools beat 8% of cities, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $1,337 a month.
Compare Coachella with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Coachella. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Coachella 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.
Coachella detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Coachella: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Coachella: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Coachella: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Coachella: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Coachella 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.