Best PlacesElkhorn, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elkhorn, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Elkhorn ranks 11,441st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elkhorn
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.
Elkhorn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elkhorn ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 196 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Household income$133,781 median, better than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
Where Elkhorn ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,371 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 17% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elkhorn
A household needs to earn about $210,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elkhorn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $133,781, 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 Elkhorn's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Elkhorn
Elkhorn'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 Elkhorn.
Who works in Elkhorn, and how
Work in Elkhorn centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Elkhorn
The coast is about 15 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Elkhorn, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Elkhorn, month by month
Elkhorn sees roughly 196 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 73 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 44° |
| July | 73° | 60° | 53° |
| October | 77° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Elkhorn
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 40 miles away.
Elkhorn 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 Elkhorn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elkhorn
Is Elkhorn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elkhorn ranks 11,441st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and clean air, and lowest on disaster risk and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elkhorn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $834,535. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $133,781 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Elkhorn safe?
Elkhorn is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $335 per resident a year.
Compare Elkhorn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elkhorn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elkhorn 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.
Elkhorn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elkhorn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elkhorn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elkhorn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elkhorn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elkhorn 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.