Best PlacesMenifee, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Menifee, 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.
Menifee ranks 247th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 48 minutes away. Its strengths are a strong job market and fast internet. The cost shows up in long commutes, air quality, and walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Menifee
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.
Menifee's strengths and weaknesses
Menifee lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. A strong job market, fast internet, and low crime carry most of that.
The one real hole is long commutes, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and walkability also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Menifee ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 96% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 200 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of cities
Where Menifee ranks low
- Short commute42.0 minutes each way, better than only 1% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 3% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Menifee
A household needs to earn about $144,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Menifee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,634, 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 Menifee's effective rate of 0.99%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Menifee
Menifee's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Menifee.
Who works in Menifee, and how
Work in Menifee centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Menifee
Menifee has more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 48 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Menifee and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Menifee, month by month
Menifee sees roughly 200 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 51° | 36° |
| April | 78° | 60° | 44° |
| July | 97° | 79° | 61° |
| October | 86° | 67° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Menifee
The nearest airport, San Bernardino International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ontario International, about 35 miles away.
The best schools in and around Menifee
Schools across Menifee average a C+, better than 42% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Tuscany Hills ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Cottonwood Canyon ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Chester W. Morrison ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Canyon Lake MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Bell Mountain MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Hans Christensen MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Temescal Canyon HighA− · 65% proficient
- Paloma Valley HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Elsinore HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Menifee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Menifee 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 Menifee against the other 444 cities.
Who Menifee suits
Families
Schools land around the 42nd percentile and crime safety beats 90%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Menifee
Is Menifee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Menifee ranks 247th of 445 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, fast internet, and low crime, and lowest on long commutes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Menifee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $537,012. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $106,634 median income, cost of living beats 60% of cities.
Is Menifee safe?
Yes, Menifee is safer than 90% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Menifee?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 36. That works out to about 200 pleasant days a year, more than 86% of cities.
Is Menifee good for families?
Schools beat 42% of cities, crime safety beats 90%, and childcare runs $1,337 a month.
Is Menifee good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 60% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 93% of cities. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Menifee with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Menifee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Menifee 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.
Menifee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Menifee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Menifee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Menifee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Menifee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Menifee 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.