Best PlacesMurrieta, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Murrieta, 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.
Murrieta ranks 77th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $128,063, wages outrun the cost of living, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are long commutes, walkability, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Murrieta
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.
Murrieta's strengths and weaknesses
Murrieta ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. The weather, low crime, and fast internet carry most of that.
The one real hole is long commutes, near the bottom of the country. Walkability and air quality also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Murrieta ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 287 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of cities
- Household income$128,063 median, better than 90% of cities
Where Murrieta ranks low
- Short commute38.3 minutes each way, better than only 2% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Murrieta
A household needs to earn about $177,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Murrieta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $128,063, 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 Murrieta's effective rate of 0.86%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Murrieta
Murrieta 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 Murrieta.
Who works in Murrieta, and how
Work in Murrieta centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Murrieta
Murrieta has more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 39 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Murrieta and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Murrieta, month by month
Murrieta sees roughly 287 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 47. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 55° | 47° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 51° |
| July | 89° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 85° | 68° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Murrieta
The nearest airport, McClellan-Palomar, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Wayne/Orange County, about 40 miles away.
The best schools in and around Murrieta
Schools across Murrieta average a B−, better than 58% of cities.
Top middle schools
- Bell Mountain MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Paloma Valley HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Fallbrook HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Murrieta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Murrieta 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 Murrieta against the other 444 cities.
Who Murrieta suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 96% of cities, health care access beats 68%, and it is quieter than 80%.
Common questions about living in Murrieta
Is Murrieta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Murrieta ranks 77th of 445 cities. It scores highest on the weather, low crime, and fast internet, and lowest on long commutes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Murrieta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $670,816. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $128,063 median income, cost of living beats 82% of cities.
Is Murrieta safe?
Yes, Murrieta is safer than 96% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $243 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Murrieta?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 47. That works out to about 287 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of cities.
Is Murrieta good for families?
Schools beat 58% of cities, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $1,337 a month.
Is Murrieta good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 93% of cities. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Murrieta with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Murrieta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Murrieta 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.
Murrieta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Murrieta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Murrieta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Murrieta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Murrieta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Murrieta 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.