Best PlacesMonterey Park, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Monterey Park, 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.
Monterey Park ranks 1,391st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Monterey 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.
Monterey Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Monterey Park ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 266 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 93% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 78% of cities
Where Monterey Park ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Monterey Park
A household needs to earn about $222,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monterey Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,708, 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 Park's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Park
Monterey Park runs older 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 Park.
Who works in Monterey Park, and how
Work in Monterey Park centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Monterey Park
Monterey Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 19 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Monterey Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Monterey Park, month by month
Monterey Park sees roughly 266 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 Monterey Park
The nearest airport, Jack Northrop Field/Hawthorne Municipal, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 17 miles away.
The best schools in and around Monterey Park
Schools across Monterey Park average a B−, better than 51% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Potrero Heights ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Bella Vista ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
- La Merced AcademyD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Macy IntermediateC− · 30% proficient
- La Merced IntermediateD · 21% proficient
- Eastmont IntermediateD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
- James A. Garfield Senior HighB · 46% proficient
- Schurr HighC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Monterey Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Monterey 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 Monterey Park against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Monterey Park suits
Common questions about living in Monterey Park
Is Monterey Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monterey Park ranks 1,391st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and transit, and lowest on air quality and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Monterey Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $858,740. The overall cost of living runs about 36% above the national average. Set against a $89,708 median income, cost of living beats 7% of cities.
Is Monterey Park safe?
Monterey Park is safer than 32% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $372 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Monterey Park?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 48. That works out to about 266 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of cities.
Is Monterey Park good for families?
Schools beat 51% of cities, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Monterey Park with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monterey Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monterey 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.
Monterey Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monterey Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monterey Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monterey Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monterey Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monterey 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.