Best PlacesMorro Bay, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Morro Bay, 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.
Morro Bay ranks 3,978th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Morro Bay
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.
Morro Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Morro Bay ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 209 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
Where Morro Bay ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,391 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Morro Bay
A household needs to earn about $224,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morro Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,383, 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 Morro Bay's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Morro Bay
Morro Bay runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Morro Bay.
Who works in Morro Bay, and how
Work in Morro Bay centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Morro Bay
Morro Bay has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Morro Bay and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Morro Bay, month by month
Morro Bay sees roughly 209 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 54° | 42° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 81° | 64° | 54° |
| October | 82° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Morro Bay
The nearest airport, San Luis Obispo County Regional, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 150 miles away.
The best schools in and around Morro Bay
Schools across Morro Bay average a B, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cayucos ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Del Mar ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Pacheco ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Teach ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Los Osos MiddleB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Templeton HighB+ · 58% proficient
- San Luis Obispo HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Morro Bay HighB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Morro Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morro Bay 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 Morro Bay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Morro Bay
Is Morro Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morro Bay ranks 3,978th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, biking, and walkability, 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 Morro Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $883,958. The overall cost of living runs about 31% above the national average. Set against a $104,383 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Morro Bay safe?
Morro Bay is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $334 per resident a year.
Compare Morro Bay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morro Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morro Bay 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.
Morro Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morro Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morro Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morro Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morro Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morro Bay 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.