Best PlacesIsla Vista, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Isla Vista, 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.
Isla Vista ranks 10,664th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Isla Vista
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.
Isla Vista's strengths and weaknesses
Where Isla Vista ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 248 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
Where Isla Vista ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,613 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
Who lives in Isla Vista
Isla Vista runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Isla Vista.
Who works in Isla Vista, and how
Work in Isla Vista centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 21%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 66%
Life in Isla Vista
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Isla Vista, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Isla Vista, month by month
Isla Vista sees roughly 248 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 54° | 41° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 75° | 65° | 57° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Isla Vista
The nearest airport, Santa Barbara Municipal, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 86 miles away.
The best schools in and around Isla Vista
Schools across Isla Vista average a B−, better than 52% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Goleta Valley Junior HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Isla Vista school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Isla Vista 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 Isla Vista against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Isla Vista
Is Isla Vista a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Isla Vista ranks 10,664th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, biking, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Isla Vista safe?
Isla Vista is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $435 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Isla Vista?
July highs average about 75 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 41. That works out to about 248 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of towns.
Compare Isla Vista with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Isla Vista. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Isla Vista 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.
Isla Vista detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Isla Vista: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Isla Vista: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Isla Vista: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Isla Vista: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Isla Vista 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.
- 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.