Best PlacesLompoc, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Lompoc, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Lompoc ranks 1,450th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.

#1,450
of 2,098 cities
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 2,098 cities
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Lompoc

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Lompoc area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Lompoc's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Clean air
Top 10%The weather
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Lompoc with other cities.

Where Lompoc ranks high

  • Air qualityBetter than 99% of cities
  • Nice weatherabout 215 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of cities
  • WalkabilityBetter than 90% of cities
  • BikingBetter than 89% of cities
  • Low property taxBetter than 87% of cities

Where Lompoc ranks low

  • Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of cities
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of cities
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of cities
  • Cheap childcare$1,613 a month, better than only 10% of cities
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of cities

What it costs to buy a home in Lompoc

A household needs to earn about $119,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lompoc home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,144, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$119,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,782
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $470,147 home
Median rent
$1,803
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,397
Property tax$228
Homeowners insurance$157

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 Lompoc's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Lompoc

Lompoc runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
37
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
14%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.9
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1825%
18 to 3423%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6419%
65 and older14%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lompoc.


Who works in Lompoc, and how

Work in Lompoc centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
8%
below the national average
Unemployment
5.0%
about the national average
Job growth
+2.6%
/y 2019-2023, near the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social12%
Retail trade11%
Public administration10%
Hospitality & food9%
Construction8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 81%
  • Work from home 8%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 11%

Life in Lompoc

Lompoc has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lompoc and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
229
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 46.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 76% of cities
Coffee shops
20
about 4.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 76% of cities
Parkland
196 acres
about 4.0 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 84% of cities
To the coast
18 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Lompoc, month by month

Lompoc sees roughly 215 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 71 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January67°52°40°
April69°56°45°
July71°61°54°
October76°60°47°

Flying in and out of Lompoc

The nearest airport, Santa Maria Public/Capt G Allan Hancock Field, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 124 miles away.

Nearest airport
SMX
Santa Maria Public/Capt G Allan Hancock Field, about 17 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
353rd-busiest in the US, 2 nonstop destinations
Average drive
24 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Lompoc

Schools across Lompoc average a C−, better than 23% of cities.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lompoc school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Lompoc 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 Lompoc against the other 2,097 cities.


Who Lompoc suits

Families

Schools land around the 23rd percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 92% of cities and it is quieter than 87%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Lompoc

Is Lompoc a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lompoc ranks 1,450th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, the weather, and walkability, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Lompoc expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $470,147. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $82,144 median income, cost of living beats 14% of cities.

Is Lompoc safe?

Lompoc is safer than 17% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $462 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Lompoc?

July highs average about 71 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 40. That works out to about 215 pleasant days a year, more than 92% of cities.

Is Lompoc good for families?

Schools beat 23% of cities, crime safety beats 17%, and childcare runs $1,613 a month.


Compare Lompoc with other cities


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lompoc. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lompoc 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.

Lompoc detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Lompoc: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Lompoc: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Lompoc: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Lompoc: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Lompoc detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.