Best PlacesLa Quinta, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around La Quinta, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
La Quinta ranks 1,471st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in La Quinta
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 Quinta's strengths and weaknesses
Where La Quinta ranks high
- QuietBetter than 91% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 177 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of cities
- BikingBetter than 83% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of cities
- Household income$107,707 median, better than 64% of cities
Where La Quinta ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in La Quinta
A household needs to earn about $177,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Quinta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,707, 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 Quinta's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Quinta
La Quinta runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for La Quinta.
Who works in La Quinta, and how
Work in La Quinta centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in La Quinta
La Quinta has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of La Quinta and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in La Quinta, month by month
La Quinta sees roughly 177 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 111 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs January through April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 55° | 39° |
| April | 92° | 75° | 57° |
| July | 111° | 96° | 77° |
| October | 94° | 75° | 57° |
Flying in and out of La Quinta
The nearest airport, Palm Springs International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ontario International, about 80 miles away.
The best schools in and around La Quinta
Schools across La Quinta average a C, better than 24% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Gerald R. Ford ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Mountain Vista ElementaryD · 18% proficient
- Westside ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cahuilla Desert Academy Junior HighD+ · 27% proficient
- La Quinta MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- John Glenn Middle School Of International StudiesF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Palm Desert HighB · 48% proficient
- La Quinta HighB · 48% proficient
- Coachella Valley HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every La Quinta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
La Quinta 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 Quinta against the other 2,097 cities.
Who La Quinta suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 19% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 88% of cities, health care access beats 64%, and it is quieter than 91%.
Common questions about living in La Quinta
Is La Quinta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Quinta ranks 1,471st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and biking, and lowest on empty homes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is La Quinta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $674,821. The overall cost of living runs about 24% above the national average. Set against a $107,707 median income, cost of living beats 47% of cities.
Is La Quinta safe?
La Quinta is safer than 40% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $370 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in La Quinta?
July highs average about 111 degrees, and January highs near 72 with lows near 39. That works out to about 177 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of cities.
Is La Quinta good for families?
Schools beat 24% of cities, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $1,337 a month.
Compare La Quinta with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Quinta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Quinta 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 Quinta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Quinta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Quinta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Quinta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Quinta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Quinta 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.