Best PlacesManhattan Beach, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Manhattan Beach, 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.
Manhattan Beach ranks 136th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Manhattan Beach
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.
Manhattan Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Manhattan Beach ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 342 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$208,176 median, better than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of cities
- BikingBetter than 97% of cities
Where Manhattan Beach ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Manhattan Beach
A household needs to earn about $495,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Manhattan Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $208,176, 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 Manhattan Beach's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Manhattan Beach.
Who works in Manhattan Beach, and how
Work in Manhattan Beach centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 55%
- Work from home 37%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 1 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Manhattan Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Manhattan Beach, month by month
Manhattan Beach sees roughly 342 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 57° | 48° |
| April | 70° | 61° | 54° |
| July | 76° | 69° | 64° |
| October | 78° | 67° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Manhattan Beach
Los Angeles International sits about 4 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 Manhattan Beach
Schools across Manhattan Beach average an A, better than 87% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Billy Mitchell ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Mira Costa HighA+ · 80% proficient
- Lawndale HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Manhattan Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Manhattan Beach 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 Manhattan Beach against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Manhattan Beach suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 37% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 100% of cities and health care access beats 88%.
Common questions about living in Manhattan Beach
Is Manhattan Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Manhattan Beach ranks 136th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, an educated workforce, and high incomes, and lowest on air quality and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Manhattan Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,937,699. The overall cost of living runs about 120% above the national average. Set against a $208,176 median income, cost of living beats 55% of cities.
Is Manhattan Beach safe?
Manhattan Beach is safer than 16% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $479 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Manhattan Beach?
July highs average about 76 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 48. That works out to about 342 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of cities.
Is Manhattan Beach good for families?
Schools beat 87% of cities, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Manhattan Beach with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Manhattan Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Manhattan Beach 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.
Manhattan Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Manhattan Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Manhattan Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Manhattan Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Manhattan Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Manhattan Beach 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.