Best PlacesEl Sobrante, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around El Sobrante, 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 Sobrante ranks 1,123rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Childcare costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on the weather.
The best neighborhoods in El Sobrante
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 Sobrante's strengths and weaknesses
Where El Sobrante ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 176 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of cities
- TransitBetter than 80% of cities
- Household income$120,724 median, better than 76% of cities
Where El Sobrante ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,942 a month, better than only 3% of cities
- Short commute35.6 minutes each way, better than only 5% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in El Sobrante
A household needs to earn about $206,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Sobrante home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $120,724, 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 Sobrante's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Sobrante
El Sobrante runs older 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 Sobrante.
Who works in El Sobrante, and how
Work in El Sobrante centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in El Sobrante
El Sobrante has more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. The coast is about 23 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of El Sobrante and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in El Sobrante, month by month
El Sobrante sees roughly 176 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 51° | 41° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 58° |
| October | 82° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of El Sobrante
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 18 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 Sobrante
Schools across El Sobrante average a C+, better than 56% of cities.
Top high schools
- Miramonte HighA+ · 82% proficient
- Middle College HighA · 75% proficient
- Alhambra Senior HighB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Sobrante school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Sobrante 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 Sobrante against the other 2,097 cities.
Who El Sobrante suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in El Sobrante
Is El Sobrante a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Sobrante ranks 1,123rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and fast internet, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Sobrante expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $786,933. The overall cost of living runs about 24% above the national average. Set against a $120,724 median income, cost of living beats 54% of cities.
Is El Sobrante safe?
El Sobrante is safer than 12% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $508 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in El Sobrante?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 41. That works out to about 176 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of cities.
Is El Sobrante good for families?
Schools beat 56% of cities, crime safety beats 12%, and childcare runs $1,942 a month.
Compare El Sobrante with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Sobrante. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Sobrante 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 Sobrante detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Sobrante: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Sobrante: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Sobrante: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Sobrante: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Sobrante 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.