Best PlacesMarin County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Marin County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Marin County ranks 95th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $159,843, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, taxes, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Marin 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 Marin County
The parts of Marin 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.
Mill Valley, Tamalpais-Homestead Valley & Larkspur
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and tree cover is thicker.
San Anselmo & Fairfax
More residents vote and schools score higher.
Sausalito, Tiburon & Corte Madera
Incomes run higher, though crime runs higher.
Kentfield & Ross
Streets are more walkable.
Novato
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
San Rafael
Health care is harder to reach and disaster risk is higher.
Marin County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Marin County's strengths and weaknesses
Marin County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. High incomes is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. An educated workforce and biking follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and disaster risk also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Marin County ranks high
- Household income$159,843 median, better than 99% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of counties
- TransitBetter than 98% of counties
Where Marin County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,211 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Marin County
A household needs to earn about $377,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Marin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $159,843, 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 Marin County's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 Marin County
Marin County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Marin County.
Who works in Marin County, and how
Work in Marin County centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Marin County
Marin County has less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 13 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Marin County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Marin County growing, and who is moving in?
Marin County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the San Francisco, CA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Marin County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Marin County, month by month
Marin County sees roughly 169 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 66° | 52° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Marin County
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 26 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Marin County
Schools across Marin County average a B, better than 79% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hidden Valley ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
- Wade Thomas ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
- Neil Cummins ElementaryA+ · 76% proficient
Top middle schools
- Del Mar MiddleA+ · 77% proficient
- Hall MiddleA · 62% proficient
- White Hill MiddleA · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Redwood HighA · 71% proficient
- Tamalpais HighA− · 64% proficient
- Archie Williams HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Marin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Marin 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 Marin County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Marin County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 31% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 96% of counties and health care access beats 90%.
Common questions about living in Marin County
Is Marin County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Marin County ranks 95th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on high incomes, an educated workforce, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Marin County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,445,997. The overall cost of living runs about 49% above the national average. Set against a $159,843 median income, cost of living beats 95% of counties.
Is Marin County safe?
Marin 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 Marin County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 42. That works out to about 169 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Marin County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Mill Valley, Tamalpais-Homestead Valley & Larkspur, San Anselmo & Fairfax, and Sausalito, Tiburon & Corte Madera. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Marin County good for families?
Schools beat 79% of counties, crime safety beats 20%, and childcare runs $2,211 a month.
Is Marin County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 85% of counties. About 31% of workers already work from home.
Compare Marin County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Marin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Marin 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.
Marin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Marin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Marin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Marin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Marin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Marin 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.