Best PlacesMilpitas, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Milpitas, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Milpitas ranks 462nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.

#462
of 2,098 cities
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 2,098 cities
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Milpitas

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Milpitas area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Milpitas' strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Population health
Top 3%Biking
Top 3%High incomes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Milpitas with other cities.

Where Milpitas ranks high

  • Health outlookBetter than 99% of cities
  • BikingBetter than 97% of cities
  • Household income$179,239 median, better than 97% of cities
  • Nice weatherabout 199 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of cities
  • TransitBetter than 89% of cities

Where Milpitas ranks low

  • QuietBetter than only 1% of cities
  • Cheap childcare$2,106 a month, better than only 2% of cities
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of cities
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of cities
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of cities

What it costs to buy a home in Milpitas

A household needs to earn about $324,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Milpitas home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $179,239, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$324,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$7,549
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $1,258,130 home
Median rent
$3,038
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$6,415
Property tax$715
Homeowners insurance$419

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 Milpitas' 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Milpitas

Milpitas's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
39
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
14%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
3.1
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3427%
35 to 4922%
50 to 6418%
65 and older14%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Milpitas.


Who works in Milpitas, and how

Work in Milpitas centers on manufacturing and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
25%
above the national average
Unemployment
3.2%
below the national average
Job growth
−0.5%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing23%
Professional & technical21%
Health care & social11%
Retail trade8%
Education5%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 70%
  • Work from home 25%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in Milpitas

Milpitas has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 79% of cities. The coast is about 34 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Milpitas and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
510
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 61.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 84% of cities
Coffee shops
74
about 8.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 88% of cities
Parkland
191 acres
about 2.3 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 79% of cities
Open past 10pm
~99
food and drink venues open late, about 11.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 74% of cities
To the coast
34 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Milpitas, month by month

Milpitas sees roughly 199 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January63°52°42°
April73°59°48°
July84°69°58°
October80°65°53°

Flying in and out of Milpitas

Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 5 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
SJC
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 5 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
44th-busiest in the US, 67 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Milpitas

Schools across Milpitas average an A−, better than 77% of cities.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Milpitas school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Milpitas 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 Milpitas against the other 2,097 cities.


Who Milpitas suits

Families

Schools beat 77% of cities.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

25% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 91% of cities.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Milpitas

Is Milpitas a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Milpitas ranks 462nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on population health, biking, and high incomes, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Milpitas expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $1,258,130. The overall cost of living runs about 60% above the national average. Set against a $179,239 median income, cost of living beats 69% of cities.

Is Milpitas safe?

Milpitas is safer than 44% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $376 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Milpitas?

July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 42. That works out to about 199 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of cities.

Is Milpitas good for families?

Schools beat 77% of cities, crime safety beats 44%, and childcare runs $2,106 a month.


Compare Milpitas with other cities


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Milpitas. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Milpitas 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.

Milpitas detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Milpitas: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Milpitas: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Milpitas: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Milpitas: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Milpitas detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.