Best PlacesLos Gatos, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Los Gatos, 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.
Los Gatos ranks 137th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Los Gatos
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.
Los Gatos' strengths and weaknesses
Where Los Gatos ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$208,687 median, better than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 94% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 192 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of cities
Where Los Gatos ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,074 a month, better than only 2% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Los Gatos
A household needs to earn about $461,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Los Gatos home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $208,687, 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 Gatos' effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Gatos
Los Gatos runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Los Gatos.
Who works in Los Gatos, and how
Work in Los Gatos centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Los Gatos
Los Gatos has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. The coast is about 21 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Los Gatos and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Los Gatos, month by month
Los Gatos sees roughly 192 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 84° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 80° | 65° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Los Gatos
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 10 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Los Gatos
Schools across Los Gatos average an A, better than 94% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Williams ElementaryA+ · 86% proficient
- Blossom Hill ElementaryA+ · 81% proficient
- Saratoga ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- John F. Kennedy MiddleA+ · 83% proficient
- Redwood MiddleA+ · 83% proficient
- Corte MaderaA+ · 77% proficient
Top high schools
- Henry M. Gunn HighA+ · 89% proficient
- Los Altos HighA · 79% proficient
- Leigh HighA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Los Gatos school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Los Gatos 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 Gatos against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Los Gatos suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 33% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 91% of cities and health care access beats 88%.
Common questions about living in Los Gatos
Is Los Gatos a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Los Gatos ranks 137th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, high incomes, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Los Gatos expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,793,159. The overall cost of living runs about 86% above the national average. Set against a $208,687 median income, cost of living beats 78% of cities.
Is Los Gatos safe?
Yes, Los Gatos is safer than 65% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $307 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Los Gatos?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 42. That works out to about 192 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of cities.
Is Los Gatos good for families?
Schools beat 94% of cities, crime safety beats 65%, and childcare runs $2,074 a month.
Compare Los Gatos with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Los Gatos. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Los Gatos 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 Gatos detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Los Gatos: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Los Gatos: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Los Gatos: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Los Gatos: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Los Gatos 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.