Best PlacesLower Bal, San Leandro, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lower Bal, San Leandro, 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.
Lower Bal, San Leandro ranks 3,366th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lower Bal, San Leandro
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.
Lower Bal, San Leandro's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lower Bal, San Leandro ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- Nice weatherabout 251 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than 82% of neighborhoods
Where Lower Bal, San Leandro ranks low
- Short commute37.0 minutes each way, better than only 4% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$2,082 a month, better than only 5% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Lower Bal, San Leandro
A household needs to earn about $196,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lower Bal, San Leandro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $98,889, 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 Lower Bal, San Leandro's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Lower Bal, San Leandro
Lower Bal, San Leandro 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 Lower Bal, San Leandro.
Who works in Lower Bal, San Leandro, and how
Work in Lower Bal, San Leandro centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Lower Bal, San Leandro
Lower Bal, San Leandro has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 25 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Lower Bal, San Leandro and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lower Bal, San Leandro, month by month
Lower Bal, San Leandro sees roughly 251 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 52° | 46° |
| April | 67° | 58° | 51° |
| July | 75° | 65° | 58° |
| October | 75° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Lower Bal, San Leandro
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 5 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
Lower Bal, San Leandro 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 Lower Bal, San Leandro against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Lower Bal, San Leandro
Is Lower Bal, San Leandro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lower Bal, San Leandro ranks 3,366th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on fast internet, the weather, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lower Bal, San Leandro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $752,510. The overall cost of living runs about 29% above the national average. Set against a $98,889 median income, cost of living beats 44% of neighborhoods.
Is Lower Bal, San Leandro safe?
Lower Bal, San Leandro is safer than 33% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $610 per resident a year.
Compare Lower Bal, San Leandro with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lower Bal, San Leandro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lower Bal, San Leandro 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.
Lower Bal, San Leandro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lower Bal, San Leandro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lower Bal, San Leandro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lower Bal, San Leandro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lower Bal, San Leandro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lower Bal, San Leandro 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.