Best PlacesEl Cerrito, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around El Cerrito, 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.
El Cerrito ranks 439th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in El Cerrito
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.
El Cerrito's strengths and weaknesses
Where El Cerrito ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 96% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of cities
- BikingBetter than 94% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of cities
Where El Cerrito ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,942 a month, better than only 3% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Short commute33.2 minutes each way, better than only 10% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in El Cerrito
A household needs to earn about $278,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Cerrito home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $142,424, 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 Cerrito's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 El Cerrito
El Cerrito 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 El Cerrito.
Who works in El Cerrito, and how
Work in El Cerrito centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 48%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 20%
Life in El Cerrito
El Cerrito has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 93% of cities. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of El Cerrito and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in El Cerrito, month by month
El Cerrito sees roughly 204 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 74° | 63° | 56° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of El Cerrito
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 14 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 El Cerrito
Schools across El Cerrito average a B, better than 68% of cities.
Top high schools
- Middle College HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Cerrito school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Cerrito 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 Cerrito against the other 2,097 cities.
Who El Cerrito suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 33% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 92% of cities and health care access beats 73%.
Common questions about living in El Cerrito
Is El Cerrito a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Cerrito ranks 439th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, transit, and walkability, and lowest on childcare costs and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Cerrito expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,063,310. The overall cost of living runs about 35% above the national average. Set against a $142,424 median income, cost of living beats 68% of cities.
Is El Cerrito safe?
El Cerrito is safer than 6% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $580 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in El Cerrito?
July highs average about 74 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 43. That works out to about 204 pleasant days a year, more than 92% of cities.
Is El Cerrito good for families?
Schools beat 68% of cities, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $1,942 a month.
Compare El Cerrito with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Cerrito. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Cerrito 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 Cerrito detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Cerrito: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Cerrito: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Cerrito: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Cerrito: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Cerrito 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.