Best PlacesColma, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Colma, 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.
Colma ranks 19,409th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Colma
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.
Colma's strengths and weaknesses
Where Colma ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 228 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
Where Colma ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Colma
A household needs to earn about $264,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Colma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $113,030, 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 Colma's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Colma
Colma 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 Colma.
Who works in Colma, and how
Work in Colma centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Colma
Colma has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. The coast is about 3 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Colma and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Colma, month by month
Colma sees roughly 228 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 53° | 46° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 74° | 62° | 56° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Colma
San Francisco International sits about 6 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.5 million passengers in 2025, with 193 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Colma
Schools across Colma average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Panorama ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Margaret Pauline Brown ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Sunshine Gardens ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lipman MiddleA · 65% proficient
- Fernando Rivera IntermediateC+ · 38% proficient
- Alta Loma MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Jefferson HighB+ · 53% proficient
- El Camino HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Colma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Colma 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 Colma against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Colma
Is Colma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Colma ranks 19,409th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, the weather, and walkability, and lowest on childcare costs and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Colma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,036,980. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $113,030 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Colma safe?
Colma is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $883 per resident a year.
Compare Colma with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Colma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Colma 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.
Colma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Colma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Colma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Colma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Colma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Colma 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.