Best PlacesNorth Hills, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Hills, 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.
North Hills ranks 395th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Its strengths are biking and few empty homes. The cost shows up in the cost of living against local pay, civic engagement, and education levels.
The best neighborhoods in North Hills
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.
North Hills' strengths and weaknesses
North Hills ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Biking, few empty homes, and big-city access carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: the cost of living against local pay, civic engagement, and education levels all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where North Hills ranks high
- BikingBetter than 95% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 241 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of cities
Where North Hills ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 2% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in North Hills
A household needs to earn about $185,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Hills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,941, 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 North Hills' effective rate of 0.67%, 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 North Hills
North Hills 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 North Hills.
Who works in North Hills, and how
Work in North Hills centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in North Hills
The coast is about 16 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across North Hills, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in North Hills, month by month
North Hills sees roughly 241 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 52° |
| July | 95° | 78° | 65° |
| October | 88° | 71° | 58° |
Flying in and out of North Hills
Bob Hope sits about 7 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around North Hills
Schools across North Hills average a C−, better than 23% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Valley Charter ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Valor Academy MiddleD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
- Valley Academy Of Arts And SciencesC+ · 35% proficient
- James Monroe HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Hills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Hills 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 North Hills against the other 444 cities.
Who North Hills suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in North Hills
Is North Hills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Hills ranks 395th of 445 cities. It scores highest on biking, few empty homes, and big-city access, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is North Hills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $721,832. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $77,941 median income, cost of living beats 2% of cities.
Is North Hills safe?
North Hills is safer than 45% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $406 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in North Hills?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 46. That works out to about 241 pleasant days a year, more than 92% of cities.
Is North Hills good for families?
Schools beat 23% of cities, crime safety beats 45%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Is North Hills good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 2% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 89% of cities. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare North Hills with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Hills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Hills 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.
North Hills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Hills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Hills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Hills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Hills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Hills 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.