Best PlacesDowntown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek ranks 1,746th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek
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 Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of neighborhoods
- Household income$129,943 median, better than 85% of neighborhoods
- Nice weatherabout 177 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of neighborhoods
Where Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$1,942 a month, better than only 8% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
- Short commute33.1 minutes each way, better than only 10% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek
A household needs to earn about $224,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $129,943, 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 Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek
Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek runs younger 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 Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek.
Who works in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek, and how
Work in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 55%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek
Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 25 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek, month by month
Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek 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 Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 15 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 Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek
Schools across Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek average a B+, better than 81% of neighborhoods.
Top high schools
- Las Lomas HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek 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 Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek
Is Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek ranks 1,746th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on clean air, an educated workforce, and population health, and lowest on disaster risk and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $841,766. The overall cost of living runs about 32% above the national average. Set against a $129,943 median income, cost of living beats 77% of neighborhoods.
Is Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek safe?
Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek is safer than 16% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $787 per resident a year.
Compare Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek 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 Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Downtown Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek 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.