Best PlacesLos Angeles County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Los Angeles County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Los Angeles County ranks 974th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 17 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and big-city access. The cost shows up in air quality, noise, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Los Angeles County
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.
The best areas in Los Angeles County
The parts of Los Angeles County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Santa Monica, Culver City & West Hollywood
More adults hold degrees, streets are more walkable, and heat risk is lower.
Torrance, Inglewood & Hawthorne
Incomes run higher and local pay stretches further.
Downey, Norwalk & Whittier
Fewer homes sit empty and crime runs lower.
Glendale & Burbank
Health care is easier to reach and more residents vote.
North Hollywood, Van Nuys & North Hills
Prices have run up more.
Pomona, West Covina & El Monte
Biking is worse.
Palmdale, Pasadena & Lancaster
More households have young kids, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Long Beach, Compton & Carson
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Los Angeles
Schools score lower.
Los Angeles County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Los Angeles County's strengths and weaknesses
Los Angeles County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Big-city access and transit follow.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. Noise and civic engagement also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Los Angeles County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 284 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
Where Los Angeles County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 2% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Los Angeles County
A household needs to earn about $227,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Los Angeles County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,126, 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 Los Angeles County's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Los Angeles County.
Who works in Los Angeles County, and how
Work in Los Angeles County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County has less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 17 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Los Angeles County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Los Angeles County growing, and who is moving in?
Los Angeles County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Riverside, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Los Angeles County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Los Angeles County, month by month
Los Angeles County sees roughly 284 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 58° | 48° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 55° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 82° | 69° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Los Angeles County
Bob Hope sits about 11 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Los Angeles County
Schools across Los Angeles County average a C+, better than 54% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Gonsalves (joe A.) ElementaryA+ · 95% proficient
- Leal (frank C.) ElementaryA+ · 91% proficient
- Wittmann (helen) ElementaryA+ · 88% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carmenita MiddleA+ · 98% proficient
- Tetzlaff (martin B.) MiddleA+ · 90% proficient
- Huntington MiddleA+ · 81% proficient
Top high schools
- California Academy Of Mathematics And ScienceA+ · 98% proficient
- Science Academy Stem MagnetA+ · 95% proficient
- Dr. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation AcademyA+ · 86% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Los Angeles County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Los Angeles County 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 Los Angeles County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Los Angeles County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Los Angeles County
Is Los Angeles County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Los Angeles County ranks 974th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and transit, 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 Los Angeles County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $882,999. The overall cost of living runs about 41% above the national average. Set against a $99,126 median income, cost of living beats 22% of counties.
Is Los Angeles County safe?
Los Angeles County is safer than 20% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $489 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Los Angeles County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 48. That works out to about 284 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Los Angeles County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Santa Monica, Culver City & West Hollywood, Torrance, Inglewood & Hawthorne, and Downey, Norwalk & Whittier. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Los Angeles County good for families?
Schools beat 54% of counties, crime safety beats 20%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Is Los Angeles County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 22% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 87% of counties. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Los Angeles County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Los Angeles County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Los Angeles County 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.
Los Angeles County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Los Angeles County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Los Angeles County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Los Angeles County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Los Angeles County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Los Angeles County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.