Best PlacesKlau, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Klau, 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.
Klau ranks 9,487th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Klau
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.
Klau's strengths and weaknesses
Where Klau ranks high
- Household income$125,358 median, better than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 154 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Klau ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,391 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Klau
A household needs to earn about $309,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Klau home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $125,358, 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 Klau's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Klau
Klau 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 Klau.
Who works in Klau, and how
Work in Klau centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Klau
The coast is about 30 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Klau, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Klau, month by month
Klau sees roughly 154 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 48° | 36° |
| April | 77° | 57° | 41° |
| July | 97° | 73° | 54° |
| October | 85° | 62° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Klau
The nearest airport, San Luis Obispo County Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Klau
Schools across Klau average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Templeton MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Templeton HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Paso Robles HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Klau school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Klau 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 Klau against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Klau
Is Klau a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Klau ranks 9,487th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, the weather, and an educated workforce, and lowest on civic engagement and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Klau expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,203,928. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $125,358 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Klau safe?
Yes, Klau is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $212 per resident a year.
Compare Klau with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Klau. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Klau 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.
Klau detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Klau: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Klau: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Klau: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Klau: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Klau 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.