Best PlacesEl Monte, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around El Monte, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
El Monte ranks 372nd of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 23 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and the weather. The cost shows up in the cost of living against local pay, education levels, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in El Monte
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 Monte
The parts of El Monte, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Northwestern El Monte
More adults hold degrees, it is quieter, and health care is easier to reach.
Southeastern El Monte
Incomes run higher and more residents vote.
Southern El Monte
Streets are more walkable and more households have young kids.
Mountain View
Scores close to Southern El Monte, except that biking is worse here.
Downtown El Monte
More homes sit empty and crime runs higher.
Scores across El Monte run from about the 7th to the 76th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
El Monte's strengths and weaknesses
El Monte ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Big-city access, the weather, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: the cost of living against local pay, education levels, and civic engagement all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where El Monte ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 273 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of cities
- TransitBetter than 84% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 77% of cities
Where El Monte ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in El Monte
A household needs to earn about $176,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Monte home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,445, 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 Monte's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Monte
El Monte's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Monte.
Who works in El Monte, and how
Work in El Monte centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in El Monte
El Monte has more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. The coast is about 23 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of El Monte and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in El Monte, month by month
El Monte sees roughly 273 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs October through May.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 60° | 48° |
| April | 76° | 68° | 57° |
| July | 89° | 81° | 69° |
| October | 83° | 74° | 60° |
Flying in and out of El Monte
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 21 miles away.
The best schools in and around El Monte
Schools across El Monte average a C+, better than 50% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Royal Oaks Steam Academy (k-8)B− · 44% proficient
- Gidley ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Shirpser ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Huntington MiddleA+ · 81% proficient
- Eastmont IntermediateD− · 16% proficient
- Griffith MiddleF · 3% proficient
Top high schools
- Pasadena HighB+ · 54% proficient
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
- El Rancho HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Monte school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Monte 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 Monte against the other 444 cities.
Who El Monte suits
Common questions about living in El Monte
Is El Monte a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Monte ranks 372nd of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and few empty homes, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Monte expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $681,082. The overall cost of living runs about 32% above the national average. Set against a $76,445 median income, cost of living beats 1% of cities.
Is El Monte safe?
El Monte is safer than 49% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $394 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in El Monte?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 48. That works out to about 273 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in El Monte?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Northwestern El Monte, Southeastern El Monte, and Southern El Monte. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is El Monte good for families?
Schools beat 50% of cities, crime safety beats 49%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Is El Monte good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 1% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 42% of cities. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare El Monte with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Monte. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Monte 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 Monte detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Monte: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Monte: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Monte: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Monte: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Monte 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.