Best PlacesGreenbrae, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Greenbrae, 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.
Greenbrae ranks 2,791st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Greenbrae
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.
Greenbrae's strengths and weaknesses
Where Greenbrae ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$179,671 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
Where Greenbrae ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,211 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Greenbrae
A household needs to earn about $454,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Greenbrae home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $179,671, 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 Greenbrae's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Greenbrae
Greenbrae runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Greenbrae.
Who works in Greenbrae, and how
Work in Greenbrae centers on professional & technical and other services. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 50%
- Work from home 41%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Greenbrae
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Greenbrae, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Greenbrae, month by month
Greenbrae sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 66° | 52° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Greenbrae
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 23 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Greenbrae
Schools across Greenbrae average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Neil Cummins ElementaryA+ · 76% proficient
- Bahia Vista ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hall MiddleA · 62% proficient
- James B. Davidson MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Tamalpais HighA− · 64% proficient
- Terra Linda HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Greenbrae school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Greenbrae 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 Greenbrae against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Greenbrae
Is Greenbrae a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Greenbrae ranks 2,791st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, high incomes, and an educated workforce, 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 Greenbrae expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,747,747. The overall cost of living runs about 64% above the national average. Set against a $179,671 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Greenbrae safe?
Greenbrae is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $612 per resident a year.
Compare Greenbrae with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Greenbrae. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Greenbrae 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.
Greenbrae detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Greenbrae: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Greenbrae: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Greenbrae: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Greenbrae: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Greenbrae 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.