Best PlacesColton, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Colton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Colton ranks 2,023rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Colton
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.
The best areas in Colton
The parts of Colton, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Cooley Ranch & South Pointe
Valley College
Rancho West
Scores across Colton run from about the 3rd to the 44th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Colton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Colton ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 232 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 81% of cities
- BikingBetter than 80% of cities
Where Colton ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 5% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Colton
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Colton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,107, 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 Colton's effective rate of 0.66%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Colton
Colton 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 Colton.
Who works in Colton, and how
Work in Colton centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Colton
Colton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Colton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Colton, month by month
Colton sees roughly 232 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 99 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through June and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 54° | 44° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 52° |
| July | 99° | 82° | 68° |
| October | 86° | 70° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Colton
The nearest airport, San Bernardino International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ontario International, about 16 miles away.
The best schools in and around Colton
Schools across Colton average a C−, better than 17% of cities.
Top middle schools
- Terrace Hills MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
- Joe BacaD+ · 26% proficient
- William G. Jehue MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Grand Terrace High Sch At The Ray Abril Jr. Edal ComplexC+ · 39% proficient
- Bloomington HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Colton HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Colton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Colton 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 Colton against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Colton suits
Common questions about living in Colton
Is Colton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Colton ranks 2,023rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and cell coverage, and lowest on air quality and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Colton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $439,694. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $74,107 median income, cost of living beats 5% of cities.
Is Colton safe?
Colton is safer than 9% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $532 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Colton?
July highs average about 99 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 44. That works out to about 232 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Colton?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cooley Ranch & South Pointe, Valley College, and Rancho West. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Colton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Colton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Colton 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.
Colton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Colton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Colton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Colton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Colton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Colton 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.