Best PlacesHawthorne, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hawthorne, 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.
Hawthorne ranks 1,536th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hawthorne
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.
Hawthorne's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hawthorne ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 335 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of cities
- TransitBetter than 92% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of cities
Where Hawthorne ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 3% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 3% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Hawthorne
A household needs to earn about $205,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hawthorne home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,350, 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 Hawthorne's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Hawthorne
Hawthorne 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 Hawthorne.
Who works in Hawthorne, and how
Work in Hawthorne centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Hawthorne
Hawthorne has more parkland per resident than 74% of cities. The coast is about 6 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Hawthorne and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hawthorne, month by month
Hawthorne sees roughly 335 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 49. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 58° | 49° |
| April | 72° | 62° | 55° |
| July | 79° | 71° | 65° |
| October | 80° | 68° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Hawthorne
The nearest airport, Jack Northrop Field/Hawthorne Municipal, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 4 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hawthorne
Schools across Hawthorne average a C−, better than 18% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Billy Mitchell ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Bennett/kew P-8 Leadership Academy Of ExcellenceD · 19% proficient
- Woodworth-monroe Tk-8 AcademyD− · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Middle College HighA · 73% proficient
- Hawthorne Math And Science AcademyB+ · 55% proficient
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hawthorne school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hawthorne 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 Hawthorne against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Hawthorne suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Hawthorne
Is Hawthorne a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hawthorne ranks 1,536th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and walkability, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hawthorne expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $792,065. The overall cost of living runs about 38% above the national average. Set against a $81,350 median income, cost of living beats 3% of cities.
Is Hawthorne safe?
Hawthorne is safer than 22% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $423 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hawthorne?
July highs average about 79 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 49. That works out to about 335 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of cities.
Is Hawthorne good for families?
Schools beat 18% of cities, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Hawthorne with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hawthorne. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hawthorne 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.
Hawthorne detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hawthorne: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hawthorne: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hawthorne: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hawthorne: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hawthorne 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.