Best PlacesGlendale, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Glendale, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Glendale ranks 238th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and walkability. The cost shows up in the cost of living against local pay, air quality, and a weak job market.
The best neighborhoods in Glendale
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.
The best areas in Glendale
The parts of Glendale, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Verdugo Woodlands, Sparr Heights & Chevy Chase
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Woodbury-Glendale & Glenoake Canyon
Streets are more car-dependent and it is noisier.
Brockmont & Verdugo Mountains
More households have young kids, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Grandview & El Miradero
Disaster risk is lower.
Verdugo Viejo, Rossmoyne & Fremont Park
Biking is worse and more homes sit empty.
Citrus Grove & Somerset
Scores close to Verdugo Viejo, Rossmoyne & Fremont Park, except that prices have run up less here.
Glenwood, Riverside Rancho & Pelanconi
Scores close to Citrus Grove & Somerset, except that crime runs higher here.
Mariposa, City Center & Pacific Edison
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Glendale run from about the 15th to the 90th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Glendale's strengths and weaknesses
Glendale lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access, walkability, and the weather carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The cost of living against local pay, air quality, and a weak job market hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Glendale to another than it does between Glendale and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Glendale ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 250 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of cities
- TransitBetter than 93% of cities
- BikingBetter than 90% of cities
Where Glendale ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Glendale
A household needs to earn about $257,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Glendale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,878, 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 Glendale's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Glendale
Glendale runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Glendale.
Who works in Glendale, and how
Work in Glendale centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Glendale
Glendale has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Glendale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Glendale, month by month
Glendale sees roughly 250 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs September through July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 53° |
| July | 90° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 84° | 69° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Glendale
Bob Hope sits about 7 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Glendale
Schools across Glendale average a B−, better than 51% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Benjamin Franklin ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Joaquin Miller ElementaryC+ · 40% proficient
- William Mckinley ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Crescenta Valley HighA · 77% proficient
- Burbank HighA · 68% proficient
- Burroughs HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Glendale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Glendale 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 Glendale against the other 444 cities.
Who Glendale suits
Common questions about living in Glendale
Is Glendale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Glendale ranks 238th of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, walkability, and the weather, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Glendale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,007,086. The overall cost of living runs about 50% above the national average. Set against a $97,878 median income, cost of living beats 6% of cities.
Is Glendale safe?
Glendale is safer than 30% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $465 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Glendale?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 44. That works out to about 250 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Glendale?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Verdugo Woodlands, Sparr Heights & Chevy Chase, Woodbury-Glendale & Glenoake Canyon, and Brockmont & Verdugo Mountains. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Glendale good for families?
Schools beat 51% of cities, crime safety beats 30%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Is Glendale good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 6% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 10% of cities. About 21% of workers already work from home.
Compare Glendale with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Glendale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Glendale 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.
Glendale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Glendale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Glendale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Glendale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Glendale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Glendale 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.