Best PlacesDowntown Menlo Park, Menlo Park, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park, 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.
Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park ranks 269th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park
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.
Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- Household income$172,119 median, better than 95% of neighborhoods
- Nice weatherabout 242 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of neighborhoods
Where Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 24% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park
A household needs to earn about $511,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $172,119, 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 Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park
Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park runs older than the country, 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 Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park.
Who works in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park, and how
Work in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 52%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 20%
Life in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park
Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 23 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park, month by month
Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park sees roughly 242 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 68° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 75° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 74° | 65° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 15 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park 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 Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park
Is Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park ranks 269th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on biking, clean air, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $2,000,001. The overall cost of living runs about 86% above the national average. Set against a $172,119 median income, cost of living beats 70% of neighborhoods.
Is Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park safe?
Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park is safer than 24% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $713 per resident a year.
Compare Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park 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.
Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Downtown Menlo Park, Menlo Park 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.