Best PlacesGarden Farms, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garden Farms, 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.
Garden Farms ranks 3,390th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Garden Farms
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.
Garden Farms' strengths and weaknesses
Where Garden Farms ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 187 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Household income$165,902 median, better than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
Where Garden Farms ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,391 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garden Farms
A household needs to earn about $227,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garden Farms home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $165,902, 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 Garden Farms' effective rate of 0.77%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Garden Farms
Garden Farms'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 Garden Farms.
Who works in Garden Farms, and how
Work in Garden Farms centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Garden Farms
The coast is about 26 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Garden Farms, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Garden Farms, month by month
Garden Farms sees roughly 187 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 54° | 42° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 81° | 64° | 54° |
| October | 82° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Garden Farms
The nearest airport, San Luis Obispo County Regional, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 151 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garden Farms
Schools across Garden Farms average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pacheco ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Teach ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- San Luis Obispo HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garden Farms school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garden Farms 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 Garden Farms against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garden Farms
Is Garden Farms a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garden Farms ranks 3,390th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garden Farms expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $871,586. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $165,902 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Garden Farms safe?
Garden Farms is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $339 per resident a year.
Compare Garden Farms with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garden Farms. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garden Farms 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.
Garden Farms detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garden Farms: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garden Farms: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garden Farms: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garden Farms: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garden Farms 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.