Best PlacesFoster City, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Foster City, 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.
Foster City ranks 22nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Foster City
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.
Foster City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Foster City ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$202,543 median, better than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of cities
Where Foster City ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 1% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Foster City
A household needs to earn about $432,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Foster City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $202,543, 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 Foster City's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Foster City
Foster City's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Foster City.
Who works in Foster City, and how
Work in Foster City centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 59%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Foster City
Foster City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Foster City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Foster City, month by month
Foster City sees roughly 243 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 77 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 51° | 45° |
| April | 68° | 58° | 50° |
| July | 77° | 66° | 58° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Foster City
San Francisco International sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.5 million passengers in 2025, with 193 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Foster City
Schools across Foster City average an A, better than 92% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Beach Park ElementaryA+ · 90% proficient
- Brewer Island ElementaryA+ · 84% proficient
- Foster City ElementaryA+ · 79% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ralston IntermediateA+ · 77% proficient
- Bowditch MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- South San Francisco HighB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Foster City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Foster City 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 Foster City against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Foster City suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of cities and 34% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 95% of cities, health care access beats 77%, and it is quieter than 84%.
Common questions about living in Foster City
Is Foster City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Foster City ranks 22nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on population health, biking, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Foster City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,688,163. The overall cost of living runs about 53% above the national average. Set against a $202,543 median income, cost of living beats 88% of cities.
Is Foster City safe?
Foster City is safer than 28% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $410 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Foster City?
July highs average about 77 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 45. That works out to about 243 pleasant days a year, more than 95% of cities.
Is Foster City good for families?
Schools beat 92% of cities, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $2,233 a month.
Compare Foster City with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Foster City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Foster City 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.
Foster City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Foster City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Foster City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Foster City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Foster City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Foster City 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.