Best PlacesMidtown-San Jose, Palo Alto, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto ranks 146th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto
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.
Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto's strengths and weaknesses
Where Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Household income$211,983 median, better than 98% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
Where Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$2,106 a month, better than only 4% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 26% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto
A household needs to earn about $512,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $211,983, 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 Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto
Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto'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 Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto.
Who works in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto, and how
Work in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 55%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto
The coast is about 26 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto, month by month
Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto sees roughly 245 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 Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 12 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 Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto
Schools across Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto average an A+, better than 99% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- El Carmelo ElementaryA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jane Lathrop Stanford MiddleA+ · 83% proficient
Top high schools
- Henry M. Gunn HighA+ · 89% proficient
- Palo Alto HighA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto 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 Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto
Is Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto ranks 146th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on good schools, an educated workforce, and population health, and lowest on cell coverage and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $2,000,001. The overall cost of living runs about 92% above the national average. Set against a $211,983 median income, cost of living beats 82% of neighborhoods.
Is Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto safe?
Yes, Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto is safer than 76% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $334 per resident a year.
Compare Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto 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.
Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Midtown-San Jose, Palo Alto 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.