Best PlacesLa Palma, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around La Palma, 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.
La Palma ranks 3,424th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in La Palma
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.
La Palma's strengths and weaknesses
Where La Palma ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 273 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
Where La Palma ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in La Palma
A household needs to earn about $243,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Palma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $127,055, 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 La Palma's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 La Palma
La Palma 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 La Palma.
Who works in La Palma, and how
Work in La Palma centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in La Palma
La Palma has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns and more parkland per resident than 83% of towns. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of La Palma and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in La Palma, month by month
La Palma sees roughly 273 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs September through July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 85° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of La Palma
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Wayne/Orange County, about 16 miles away.
The best schools in and around La Palma
Schools across La Palma average a B, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carver (charles J.) ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- George B. Miller ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tetzlaff (martin B.) MiddleA+ · 90% proficient
- Walker Junior HighB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- John F. Kennedy HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every La Palma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
La Palma 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 La Palma against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in La Palma
Is La Palma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Palma ranks 3,424th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and biking, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is La Palma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $954,351. The overall cost of living runs about 40% above the national average. Set against a $127,055 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is La Palma safe?
La Palma is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $336 per resident a year.
Compare La Palma with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Palma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Palma 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.
La Palma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Palma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Palma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Palma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Palma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Palma 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.