Best PlacesEast Los Angeles, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Los Angeles, 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.
East Los Angeles ranks 406th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and the weather. The cost shows up in education levels, thin health care access, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in East Los Angeles
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 Los Angeles' strengths and weaknesses
East Los Angeles ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. The weather and transit follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: education levels, thin health care access, and civic engagement all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where East Los Angeles ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 296 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of cities
- TransitBetter than 95% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 76% of cities
Where East Los Angeles ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 1% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in East Los Angeles
A household needs to earn about $166,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Los Angeles home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,198, 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 East Los Angeles' effective rate of 0.67%, 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 East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles runs younger than the country, 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 East Los Angeles.
Who works in East Los Angeles, and how
Work in East Los Angeles centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of East Los Angeles and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Los Angeles, month by month
East Los Angeles sees roughly 296 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 58° | 48° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 55° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 82° | 69° | 60° |
Flying in and out of East Los Angeles
The nearest airport, Jack Northrop Field/Hawthorne Municipal, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 15 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Los Angeles
Schools across East Los Angeles average a D+, better than 17% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Holmes ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Bella Vista ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
- Rosewood ParkD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hoover MiddleC− · 30% proficient
- Montebello IntermediateD− · 17% proficient
- Eastmont IntermediateD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
- Lakewood HighB · 48% proficient
- James A. Garfield Senior HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Los Angeles school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles against the other 444 cities.
Who East Los Angeles suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in East Los Angeles
Is East Los Angeles a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Los Angeles ranks 406th of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and transit, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Los Angeles expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $648,683. The overall cost of living runs about 35% above the national average. Set against a $72,198 median income, cost of living beats 0% of cities.
Is East Los Angeles safe?
East Los Angeles is safer than 46% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $403 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in East Los Angeles?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 48. That works out to about 296 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of cities.
Is East Los Angeles good for families?
Schools beat 17% of cities, crime safety beats 46%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Is East Los Angeles good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 0% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 64% of cities. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare East Los Angeles with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Los Angeles. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Los Angeles: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Los Angeles: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Los Angeles: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Los Angeles: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Los Angeles 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.