Best PlacesEl Centro, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the El Centro metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by JacobSA2019, CC BY-SA 4.0, via wiki
El Centro ranks 387th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on a weak job market and tree cover. It does better on the weather, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the El Centro metro
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.
The best areas in El Centro
The towns and districts of the El Centro metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Seeley
Holtville
Prices have run up less and fewer homes sit empty.
Brawley & Imperial
More households have young kids.
Downtown El Centro
It is noisier.
Calexico
Disaster risk is lower, though schools score lower.
Calipatria
Crime runs higher and incomes run lower.
Salton City
Local pay stretches less far and streets are more car-dependent.
Scores across El Centro run from about the 1st to the 64th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
El Centro's strengths and weaknesses
El Centro ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. The weather, walkability, and cell coverage carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: a weak job market, tree cover, and education levels all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where El Centro ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 192 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 69% of metro areas
- Short commute22.1 minutes each way, better than 64% of metro areas
Where El Centro ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in El Centro
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Centro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,524, 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 El Centro's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in El Centro
El Centro 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 El Centro.
Who works in El Centro, and how
Work in El Centro centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in El Centro
El Centro has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 86% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of El Centro and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is El Centro growing, and who is moving in?
El Centro has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Riverside, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving El Centro go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in El Centro, month by month
El Centro sees roughly 192 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 111 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 55° | 41° |
| April | 91° | 73° | 56° |
| July | 111° | 95° | 80° |
| October | 93° | 76° | 60° |
Flying in and out of El Centro
The nearest airport, Imperial County, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 95 miles away.
The best schools in and around El Centro
Schools across El Centro average a D+, better than 7% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Mccabe ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Ben Hulse ElementaryC · 34% proficient
- T. L. Waggoner ElementaryC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frank M. Wright MiddleC · 33% proficient
- Heber ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Holtville MiddleF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Southwest HighB− · 44% proficient
- Central Union HighB− · 42% proficient
- Imperial HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Centro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Centro 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 El Centro against the other 386 metro areas.
Who El Centro suits
Common questions about living in El Centro
Is El Centro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Centro ranks 387th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and cell coverage, and lowest on a weak job market and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Centro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $300,900. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $68,524 median income, cost of living beats 2% of metro areas.
Is El Centro safe?
El Centro is safer than 4% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $571 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in El Centro?
July highs average about 111 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 41. That works out to about 192 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in El Centro?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Seeley, Holtville, and Brawley & Imperial. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is El Centro good for families?
Schools beat 7% of metro areas, crime safety beats 4%, and childcare runs $898 a month.
Is El Centro good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 2% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 6% of metro areas. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare El Centro with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Centro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Centro 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.
El Centro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Centro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Centro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Centro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Centro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Centro 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.