Best PlacesGilroy, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gilroy, 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.
Gilroy ranks 905th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gilroy
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.
Gilroy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gilroy ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of cities
- BikingBetter than 91% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 169 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of cities
- Household income$135,393 median, better than 85% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of cities
Where Gilroy ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,102 a month, better than only 2% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Short commute33.7 minutes each way, better than only 9% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Gilroy
A household needs to earn about $278,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gilroy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $135,393, 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 Gilroy's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 Gilroy
Gilroy 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 Gilroy.
Who works in Gilroy, and how
Work in Gilroy centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Gilroy
Gilroy has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 30 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gilroy and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gilroy, month by month
Gilroy sees roughly 169 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 49° | 41° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 80° | 63° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Gilroy
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 31 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Gilroy
Schools across Gilroy average a B, better than 53% of cities.
Top high schools
- Live Oak HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gilroy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gilroy 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 Gilroy against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Gilroy suits
Families
Schools land around the 53rd percentile and crime safety beats 70%.
Common questions about living in Gilroy
Is Gilroy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gilroy ranks 905th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, biking, and the weather, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gilroy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,065,739. The overall cost of living runs about 39% above the national average. Set against a $135,393 median income, cost of living beats 50% of cities.
Is Gilroy safe?
Yes, Gilroy is safer than 70% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gilroy?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 41. That works out to about 169 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of cities.
Is Gilroy good for families?
Schools beat 53% of cities, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $2,102 a month.
Compare Gilroy with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gilroy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gilroy 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.
Gilroy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gilroy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gilroy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gilroy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gilroy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gilroy 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.