Best PlacesMonrovia, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Monrovia, 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.
Monrovia ranks 1,016th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Monrovia
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.
Monrovia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Monrovia ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 271 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of cities
- BikingBetter than 85% of cities
Where Monrovia ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 16% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Monrovia
A household needs to earn about $231,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monrovia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $103,779, 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 Monrovia's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Monrovia
Monrovia'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 Monrovia.
Who works in Monrovia, and how
Work in Monrovia centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Monrovia
Monrovia has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 28 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Monrovia and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Monrovia, month by month
Monrovia sees roughly 271 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs October through May.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 60° | 48° |
| April | 76° | 68° | 57° |
| July | 89° | 81° | 69° |
| October | 83° | 74° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Monrovia
Bob Hope sits about 21 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Monrovia
Schools across Monrovia average a B−, better than 51% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mayflower ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- Plymouth ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Monroe ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clifton MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Santa Fe Computer Science MagnetC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Arcadia HighA · 73% proficient
- Monrovia HighB · 47% proficient
- Duarte HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Monrovia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Monrovia 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 Monrovia against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Monrovia suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Monrovia
Is Monrovia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monrovia ranks 1,016th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and walkability, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Monrovia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $895,758. The overall cost of living runs about 42% above the national average. Set against a $103,779 median income, cost of living beats 16% of cities.
Is Monrovia safe?
Monrovia is safer than 29% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $388 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Monrovia?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 48. That works out to about 271 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of cities.
Is Monrovia good for families?
Schools beat 51% of cities, crime safety beats 29%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Monrovia with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monrovia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monrovia 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.
Monrovia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monrovia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monrovia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monrovia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monrovia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monrovia 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.