Best PlacesMoraga, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Moraga, 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.
Moraga ranks 321st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Moraga
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.
Moraga's strengths and weaknesses
Where Moraga ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$218,422 median, better than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 192 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
Where Moraga ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,942 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Moraga
A household needs to earn about $423,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Moraga home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $218,422, 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 Moraga's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 Moraga
Moraga'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 Moraga.
Who works in Moraga, and how
Work in Moraga centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 49%
- Work from home 38%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Moraga
The coast is about 26 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Moraga, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Moraga, month by month
Moraga sees roughly 192 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 74° | 63° | 56° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Moraga
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 10 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Moraga
Schools across Moraga average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lafayette ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Burton Valley ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Happy Valley ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- M. H. Stanley MiddleA+ · 71% proficient
Top high schools
- California HighA+ · 90% proficient
- Campolindo HighA+ · 84% proficient
- Miramonte HighA+ · 82% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Moraga school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Moraga 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 Moraga against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Moraga
Is Moraga a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Moraga ranks 321st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, high incomes, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Moraga expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,626,288. The overall cost of living runs about 44% above the national average. Set against a $218,422 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Moraga safe?
Yes, Moraga is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $318 per resident a year.
Compare Moraga with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Moraga. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Moraga 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.
Moraga detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Moraga: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Moraga: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Moraga: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Moraga: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Moraga 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.