Best PlacesCortez Hill, San Diego, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cortez Hill, San Diego, 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.
Cortez Hill, San Diego ranks 1,655th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cortez Hill, San Diego
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.
Cortez Hill, San Diego's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cortez Hill, San Diego ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 344 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 85% of neighborhoods
Where Cortez Hill, San Diego ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 11% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 17% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Cortez Hill, San Diego
A household needs to earn about $209,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cortez Hill, San Diego home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,465, 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 Cortez Hill, San Diego's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Cortez Hill, San Diego
Cortez Hill, San Diego's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cortez Hill, San Diego.
Who works in Cortez Hill, San Diego, and how
Work in Cortez Hill, San Diego centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Cortez Hill, San Diego
Cortez Hill, San Diego has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 6 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Cortez Hill, San Diego and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cortez Hill, San Diego, month by month
Cortez Hill, San Diego sees roughly 344 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 58° | 48° |
| April | 71° | 63° | 56° |
| July | 77° | 70° | 66° |
| October | 78° | 68° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Cortez Hill, San Diego
San Diego International sits about 2 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.7 million passengers in 2025, with 121 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cortez Hill, San Diego
Schools across Cortez Hill, San Diego average a C+, better than 54% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- MuseumC+ · 38% proficient
- Florence ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Roosevelt International MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cortez Hill, San Diego school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cortez Hill, San Diego 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 Cortez Hill, San Diego against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Cortez Hill, San Diego
Is Cortez Hill, San Diego a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cortez Hill, San Diego ranks 1,655th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and transit, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cortez Hill, San Diego expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $794,256. The overall cost of living runs about 39% above the national average. Set against a $81,465 median income, cost of living beats 35% of neighborhoods.
Is Cortez Hill, San Diego safe?
Cortez Hill, San Diego is safer than 17% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $767 per resident a year.
Compare Cortez Hill, San Diego with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cortez Hill, San Diego. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cortez Hill, San Diego 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.
Cortez Hill, San Diego detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cortez Hill, San Diego: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cortez Hill, San Diego: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cortez Hill, San Diego: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cortez Hill, San Diego: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cortez Hill, San Diego 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.