Best PlacesHillside, Daly City, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hillside, Daly City, 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.
Hillside, Daly City ranks 2,086th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hillside, Daly City
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.
Hillside, Daly City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hillside, Daly City ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 224 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than 83% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than 79% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 78% of neighborhoods
Where Hillside, Daly City ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 22% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Hillside, Daly City
A household needs to earn about $232,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hillside, Daly City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $110,616, 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 Hillside, Daly City's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Hillside, Daly City
Hillside, Daly City runs older 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 Hillside, Daly City.
Who works in Hillside, Daly City, and how
Work in Hillside, Daly City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Hillside, Daly City
Hillside, Daly City has more parkland per resident than 76% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 3 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Hillside, Daly City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hillside, Daly City, month by month
Hillside, Daly City sees roughly 224 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 53° | 46° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 74° | 62° | 56° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Hillside, Daly City
San Francisco International sits about 7 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.5 million passengers in 2025, with 193 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hillside, Daly City
Schools across Hillside, Daly City average a C+, better than 48% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- John F. Kennedy ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Margaret Pauline Brown ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Woodrow Wilson ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Benjamin Franklin IntermediateC− · 29% proficient
- Thomas R. Pollicita MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Jefferson HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hillside, Daly City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hillside, Daly City 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 Hillside, Daly City against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Hillside, Daly City
Is Hillside, Daly City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hillside, Daly City ranks 2,086th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hillside, Daly City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $906,395. The overall cost of living runs about 39% above the national average. Set against a $110,616 median income, cost of living beats 46% of neighborhoods.
Is Hillside, Daly City safe?
Hillside, Daly City is safer than 54% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $457 per resident a year.
Compare Hillside, Daly City with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hillside, Daly City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hillside, Daly City 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.
Hillside, Daly City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hillside, Daly City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hillside, Daly City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hillside, Daly City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hillside, Daly City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hillside, Daly City 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.