Best PlacesConcord, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Concord, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Concord ranks 237th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 31 minutes away. Its strengths are few empty homes and clean air. The cost shows up in childcare costs, long commutes, and the schools.
The best neighborhoods in Concord
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 Concord
The parts of Concord, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Clayton Valley Highlands
More adults hold degrees, schools score higher, and local pay stretches further.
Northeastern Concord
Sun Terrace
Prices have run up less, though it is noisier.
San Vicente
Advertised internet is faster, though fewer households have young kids.
Cambridge Park
Incomes run lower and fewer residents vote.
Downtown Concord & Ellis Lake
Streets are more walkable, though health care is harder to reach.
Concord shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 10% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Concord's strengths and weaknesses
Concord lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Few empty homes is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. Clean air and a stable housing market follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Long commutes and the schools also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Concord to another than it does between Concord and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Concord ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of cities
- Household income$117,770 median, better than 84% of cities
Where Concord ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,942 a month, better than only 4% of cities
- Short commute32.5 minutes each way, better than only 8% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 11% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Concord
A household needs to earn about $192,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Concord home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $117,770, 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 Concord's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Concord
Concord's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Concord.
Who works in Concord, and how
Work in Concord centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Concord
Concord has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 31 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Concord and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Concord, month by month
Concord sees roughly 177 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 51° | 41° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 58° |
| October | 82° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Concord
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 20 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Concord
Schools across Concord average a D+, better than 11% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Valle Verde ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Mt. Diablo ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Bancroft ElementaryA− · 56% proficient
Top middle schools
- Foothill MiddleA · 63% proficient
- Pleasant Hill MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Diablo View MiddleB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Clayton Valley Charter HighA+ · 80% proficient
- Northgate HighA · 70% proficient
- College Park HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Concord school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Concord 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 Concord against the other 444 cities.
Who Concord suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 82% of cities and health care access beats 56%.
Common questions about living in Concord
Is Concord a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Concord ranks 237th of 445 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, clean air, and a stable housing market, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Concord expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $742,659. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $117,770 median income, cost of living beats 62% of cities.
Is Concord safe?
Concord is safer than 22% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $520 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Concord?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 41. That works out to about 177 pleasant days a year, more than 82% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Concord?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Clayton Valley Highlands, Northeastern Concord, and Sun Terrace. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Concord good for families?
Schools beat 11% of cities, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $1,942 a month.
Is Concord good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 62% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 76% of cities. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Concord with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Concord. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Concord 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.
Concord detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Concord: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Concord: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Concord: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Concord: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Concord 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.