Best PlacesGonzales, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gonzales, 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.
Gonzales ranks 36,115th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gonzales
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.
Gonzales' strengths and weaknesses
Where Gonzales ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 224 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
Where Gonzales ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gonzales
A household needs to earn about $192,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gonzales home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $94,968, 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 Gonzales' effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Gonzales
Gonzales 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 Gonzales.
Who works in Gonzales, and how
Work in Gonzales centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Gonzales
Gonzales has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns. The coast is about 32 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Gonzales and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gonzales, month by month
Gonzales sees roughly 224 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 72 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 72° | 62° | 55° |
| October | 78° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Gonzales
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gonzales
Schools across Gonzales average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- La Gloria ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Gonzales HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gonzales school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gonzales 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 Gonzales against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gonzales
Is Gonzales a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gonzales ranks 36,115th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, the weather, and walkability, and lowest on thin health care access and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gonzales expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $755,869. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $94,968 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Gonzales safe?
Gonzales is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $446 per resident a year.
Compare Gonzales with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gonzales. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gonzales 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.
Gonzales detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gonzales: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gonzales: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gonzales: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gonzales: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gonzales 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.