Best PlacesEl Nido, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around El Nido, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
El Nido ranks 43,608th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in El Nido
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 Nido's strengths and weaknesses
Where El Nido ranks high
- Short commute18.6 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
Where El Nido ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in El Nido
A household needs to earn about $121,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Nido home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,700, 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 Nido's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 Nido
El Nido 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 Nido.
Who works in El Nido, and how
Work in El Nido centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in El Nido
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across El Nido.
What the weather is like in El Nido, month by month
El Nido sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 100 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 61° | 45° |
| July | 100° | 81° | 62° |
| October | 83° | 65° | 48° |
Flying in and out of El Nido
The nearest airport, Merced Yosemite Regional, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around El Nido
Schools across El Nido average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Plainsburg Union ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Alview ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- El Nido ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dairyland ElementaryB+ · 48% proficient
- Weaver MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
- Bryant MiddleD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Buhach Colony HighC− · 29% proficient
- Golden Valley HighC− · 29% proficient
- Chowchilla Union HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Nido school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Nido 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 Nido against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in El Nido
Is El Nido a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Nido ranks 43,608th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, the weather, and transit, and lowest on education levels and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Nido expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $484,576. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $60,700 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is El Nido safe?
El Nido is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $631 per resident a year.
Compare El Nido with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Nido. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Nido 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 Nido detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Nido: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Nido: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Nido: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Nido: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Nido 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.