Best PlacesImperial Beach, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Imperial Beach, 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.
Imperial Beach ranks 1,143rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Imperial Beach
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.
Imperial Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Imperial Beach ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of cities
- BikingBetter than 98% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 296 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of cities
Where Imperial Beach ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 9% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Imperial Beach
A household needs to earn about $207,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Imperial Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,880, 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 Imperial Beach's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Imperial Beach
Imperial Beach runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Imperial Beach.
Who works in Imperial Beach, and how
Work in Imperial Beach centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Imperial Beach
Imperial Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 3 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Imperial Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Imperial Beach, month by month
Imperial Beach sees roughly 296 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs February through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 54° | 46° |
| April | 68° | 58° | 50° |
| July | 75° | 70° | 64° |
| October | 75° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Imperial Beach
San Diego International sits about 12 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.7 million passengers in 2025, with 121 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Imperial Beach
Schools across Imperial Beach average a D, better than 7% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sbusd Virtual AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
- Emory ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Imperial Beach CharterD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mar Vista AcademyD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Mar Vista Senior HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Imperial Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Imperial Beach 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 Imperial Beach against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Imperial Beach suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Imperial Beach
Is Imperial Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Imperial Beach ranks 1,143rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on transit, biking, and the weather, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Imperial Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $814,755. The overall cost of living runs about 36% above the national average. Set against a $87,880 median income, cost of living beats 6% of cities.
Is Imperial Beach safe?
Imperial Beach is safer than 14% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $481 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Imperial Beach?
July highs average about 75 degrees, and January highs near 65 with lows near 46. That works out to about 296 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of cities.
Is Imperial Beach good for families?
Schools beat 7% of cities, crime safety beats 14%, and childcare runs $1,432 a month.
Compare Imperial Beach with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Imperial Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Imperial Beach 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.
Imperial Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Imperial Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Imperial Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Imperial Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Imperial Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Imperial Beach 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.