Best PlacesMalibu, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Malibu, 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.
Malibu ranks 4,649th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Malibu
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.
Malibu's strengths and weaknesses
Where Malibu ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 306 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Household income$198,601 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
Where Malibu ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Malibu
A household needs to earn about $490,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Malibu home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $198,601, 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 Malibu'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 Malibu
Malibu runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Malibu.
Who works in Malibu, and how
Work in Malibu centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Malibu
Malibu has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns and more parkland per resident than 83% of towns. The coast is about 1 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Malibu and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Malibu, month by month
Malibu sees roughly 306 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 47. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 57° | 47° |
| April | 69° | 60° | 53° |
| July | 76° | 68° | 63° |
| October | 78° | 67° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Malibu
Los Angeles International sits about 21 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 36.7 million passengers in 2025, with 247 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Malibu
Schools across Malibu average an A−, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chaparral ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Lupin Hill ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Sumac ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Arthur E. Wright MiddleA · 65% proficient
- Lindero Canyon MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Alice C. Stelle MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Agoura HighA · 68% proficient
- Malibu HighA− · 63% proficient
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Malibu school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Malibu 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 Malibu against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Malibu
Is Malibu a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Malibu ranks 4,649th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Malibu expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,906,655. The overall cost of living runs about 121% above the national average. Set against a $198,601 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Malibu safe?
Malibu is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $580 per resident a year.
Compare Malibu with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Malibu. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Malibu 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.
Malibu detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Malibu: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Malibu: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Malibu: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Malibu: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Malibu 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.