Best PlacesMonterey County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Monterey County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Monterey County ranks 867th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and walkability. The cost shows up in civic engagement, childcare costs, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Monterey County
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 Monterey County
The parts of Monterey County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Carmel Valley Village
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Carmel Valley
More homes sit empty and fewer households have young kids.
Monterey, Seaside & Pacific Grove
Health care is easier to reach and more residents vote.
Salinas
Disaster risk is higher.
Soledad, Greenfield & King City
Homes cost less, though tree cover is thinner.
Gonzales
It is noisier and schools score lower.
Monterey County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Monterey County's strengths and weaknesses
Monterey County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Walkability and transit follow.
The one real hole is civic engagement, near the bottom of the country. Childcare costs and taxes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Monterey County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 219 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 97% of counties
- BikingBetter than 97% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of counties
Where Monterey County ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,371 a month, better than only 5% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 7% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Monterey County
A household needs to earn about $207,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monterey County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $102,322, 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 Monterey County's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Monterey County
Monterey County runs younger than the country, 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 Monterey County.
Who works in Monterey County, and how
Work in Monterey County centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Monterey County
Monterey County has more parkland per resident than 72% of counties. The coast is about 18 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Monterey County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Monterey County growing, and who is moving in?
Monterey County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from San Jose, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Monterey County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Monterey County, month by month
Monterey County sees roughly 219 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 72 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 72° | 62° | 55° |
| October | 78° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Monterey County
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Monterey County
Schools across Monterey County average a C+, better than 59% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Tularcitos ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Carmel River ElementaryA · 66% proficient
- San Vicente ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carmel MiddleA · 66% proficient
- Buena Vista MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Seaside MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Santa Cruz HighA · 75% proficient
- Carmel HighA · 70% proficient
- Anzar HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Monterey County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Monterey County 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 Monterey County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Monterey County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Monterey County
Is Monterey County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monterey County ranks 867th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and transit, and lowest on civic engagement and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Monterey County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $808,635. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $102,322 median income, cost of living beats 38% of counties.
Is Monterey County safe?
Monterey County is safer than 38% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $414 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Monterey County?
July highs average about 72 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 42. That works out to about 219 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Monterey County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Carmel Valley Village, Carmel Valley, and Monterey, Seaside & Pacific Grove. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Monterey County good for families?
Schools beat 59% of counties, crime safety beats 38%, and childcare runs $1,371 a month.
Is Monterey County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 38% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 74% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Monterey County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monterey County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monterey County 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.
Monterey County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monterey County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monterey County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monterey County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monterey County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monterey County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.