Best PlacesMenlo Park, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Menlo Park, 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.
Menlo Park ranks 159th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Menlo Park
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 Menlo Park
The parts of Menlo Park, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Sharon Heights
The Willows
Downtown Menlo Park & Allied Arts
Fair Oaks
Belle Haven
Scores across Menlo Park run from about the 47th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Menlo Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Menlo Park ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$204,009 median, better than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of cities
Where Menlo Park ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 1% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Menlo Park
A household needs to earn about $464,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Menlo Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $204,009, 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 Menlo Park'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 Menlo Park
Menlo Park's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Menlo Park.
Who works in Menlo Park, and how
Work in Menlo Park centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Menlo Park
Menlo Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 23 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Menlo Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Menlo Park, month by month
Menlo Park sees roughly 243 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 68° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 75° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 74° | 65° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Menlo Park
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 15 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Menlo Park
Schools across Menlo Park average an A−, better than 79% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Las Lomitas ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Duveneck ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
- Kipp Valiant Community PrepD− · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- La Entrada MiddleA+ · 87% proficient
- Parkway Heights MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Henry M. Gunn HighA+ · 89% proficient
- Palo Alto HighA+ · 85% proficient
- South San Francisco HighB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Menlo Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Menlo Park 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 Menlo Park against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Menlo Park suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 32% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 95% of cities and health care access beats 72%.
Common questions about living in Menlo Park
Is Menlo Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Menlo Park ranks 159th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, high incomes, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Menlo Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,804,518. The overall cost of living runs about 90% above the national average. Set against a $204,009 median income, cost of living beats 74% of cities.
Is Menlo Park safe?
Menlo Park is safer than 17% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $471 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Menlo Park?
July highs average about 75 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 45. That works out to about 243 pleasant days a year, more than 95% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Menlo Park?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sharon Heights, The Willows, and Downtown Menlo Park & Allied Arts. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Menlo Park with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Menlo Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Menlo Park 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.
Menlo Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Menlo Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Menlo Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Menlo Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Menlo Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Menlo Park 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.