Best PlacesEast Lake, Chula Vista, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around East Lake, Chula Vista, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

East Lake, Chula Vista ranks 1,343rd of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.

#1,343
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
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The best neighborhoods in East Lake, Chula Vista

Map of the best neighborhoods in the East Lake, Chula Vista area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
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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.

East Lake, Chula Vista's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%The weather
Top 10%Low crime
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare East Lake, Chula Vista with other neighborhoods.

Where East Lake, Chula Vista ranks high

  • Nice weatherabout 264 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of neighborhoods
  • Crime safetyBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
  • Local economyBetter than 81% of neighborhoods
  • Household income$119,971 median, better than 80% of neighborhoods
  • Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of neighborhoods

Where East Lake, Chula Vista ranks low

  • Air qualityBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
  • QuietBetter than only 11% of neighborhoods
  • Short commute31.0 minutes each way, better than only 15% of neighborhoods
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in East Lake, Chula Vista

A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Lake, Chula Vista home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $119,971, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$194,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$4,536
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $755,591 home
Median rent
$2,918
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$3,853
Property tax$431
Homeowners insurance$252

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 East Lake, Chula Vista's effective rate of 0.69%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in East Lake, Chula Vista

East Lake, Chula Vista's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
42
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
16%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.9
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1825%
18 to 3419%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6421%
65 and older16%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for East Lake, Chula Vista.


Who works in East Lake, Chula Vista, and how

Work in East Lake, Chula Vista centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
19%
above the national average
Unemployment
8.6%
above the national average
Job growth
+10.7%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social14%
Professional & technical12%
Education11%
Manufacturing10%
Retail trade8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 75%
  • Work from home 19%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in East Lake, Chula Vista

The coast is about 16 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across East Lake, Chula Vista, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
33
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 47.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 64% of neighborhoods
To the coast
16 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in East Lake, Chula Vista, month by month

East Lake, Chula Vista sees roughly 264 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 43. Every month averages in that range.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January69°55°43°
April74°60°50°
July81°70°62°
October81°67°55°

Flying in and out of East Lake, Chula Vista

San Diego International sits about 14 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.7 million passengers in 2025, with 121 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
SAN
San Diego International, about 14 miles
Airport size
Large hub
24th-busiest in the US, 121 nonstop destinations
Average drive
19 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around East Lake, Chula Vista

Schools across East Lake, Chula Vista average a B, better than 70% of neighborhoods.

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Lake, Chula Vista school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


East Lake, Chula Vista 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 East Lake, Chula Vista against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in East Lake, Chula Vista

Is East Lake, Chula Vista a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Lake, Chula Vista ranks 1,343rd of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, low crime, and a strong job market, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is East Lake, Chula Vista expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $755,591. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $119,971 median income, cost of living beats 65% of neighborhoods.

Is East Lake, Chula Vista safe?

Yes, East Lake, Chula Vista is safer than 94% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $248 per resident a year.


Compare East Lake, Chula Vista with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Lake, Chula Vista. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Lake, Chula Vista 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.

East Lake, Chula Vista detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for East Lake, Chula Vista: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in East Lake, Chula Vista: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of East Lake, Chula Vista: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in East Lake, Chula Vista: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

East Lake, Chula Vista detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.