Best PlacesDowney, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Downey, 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.
Downey ranks 278th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and few empty homes. The cost shows up in noise, air quality, and the cost of living against local pay.
The best neighborhoods in Downey
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.
Downey's strengths and weaknesses
Downey lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Few empty homes and the weather follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, air quality, and the cost of living against local pay hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Downey ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 292 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of cities
- TransitBetter than 83% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 82% of cities
Where Downey ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of cities
- Short commute31.0 minutes each way, better than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Downey
A household needs to earn about $208,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Downey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,656, 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 Downey'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 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 Downey
Downey's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Downey.
Who works in Downey, and how
Work in Downey centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Downey
Downey has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of cities and more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Downey and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Downey, month by month
Downey sees roughly 292 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 47. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 57° | 47° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 54° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 65° |
| October | 83° | 69° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Downey
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 16 miles away.
The best schools in and around Downey
Schools across Downey average a B−, better than 62% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Suva ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Suva IntermediateD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Santa Fe HighB · 45% proficient
- Bell Gardens HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Downey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Downey 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 Downey against the other 444 cities.
Who Downey suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Downey
Is Downey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Downey ranks 278th of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, few empty homes, and the weather, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Downey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $811,225. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $97,656 median income, cost of living beats 10% of cities.
Is Downey safe?
Downey is safer than 48% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $399 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Downey?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 47. That works out to about 292 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of cities.
Is Downey good for families?
Schools beat 62% of cities, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Is Downey good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 10% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 80% of cities. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Downey with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Downey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Downey 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.
Downey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Downey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Downey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Downey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Downey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Downey 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.