Best PlacesMorse, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Morse, 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.
Morse ranks 37,680th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Morse
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.
Morse's strengths and weaknesses
Where Morse ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 185 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$116,361 median, better than 92% of towns
Where Morse ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute41.1 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,400 a month, better than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Morse
A household needs to earn about $374,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morse home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $116,361, 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 Morse's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Morse
Morse runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Morse.
Who works in Morse, and how
Work in Morse centers on public administration and admin & support services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Morse
The coast is about 26 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Morse, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Morse, month by month
Morse sees roughly 185 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 71° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 83° | 66° | 54° |
| October | 80° | 61° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Morse
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Morse
Schools across Morse average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cienega ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- San JuanD · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Anzar HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Morse school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morse 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 Morse against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Morse
Is Morse a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morse ranks 37,680th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and population health, and lowest on disaster risk and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Morse expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,455,052. The overall cost of living runs about 32% above the national average. Set against a $116,361 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Morse safe?
Morse is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $530 per resident a year.
Compare Morse with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morse. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morse 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.
Morse detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morse: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morse: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morse: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morse: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morse 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.