Best PlacesOcotillo, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ocotillo, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ocotillo ranks 50,235th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ocotillo
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.
Ocotillo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ocotillo ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 185 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 64% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 63% of towns
Where Ocotillo ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ocotillo
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ocotillo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $49,231; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Ocotillo's effective rate of 1.14%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ocotillo
Ocotillo runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ocotillo.
Who works in Ocotillo, and how
Work in Ocotillo centers on manufacturing 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 64%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ocotillo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ocotillo.
What the weather is like in Ocotillo, month by month
Ocotillo sees roughly 185 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 111 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 56° | 41° |
| April | 91° | 75° | 57° |
| July | 111° | 95° | 78° |
| October | 94° | 77° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Ocotillo
The nearest airport, Imperial County, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ocotillo
Schools across Ocotillo average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- T. L. Waggoner ElementaryC · 31% proficient
- Descanso ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Potrero ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frank M. Wright MiddleC · 33% proficient
- Pine Valley MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Imperial HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Mountain Empire HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ocotillo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ocotillo 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 Ocotillo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ocotillo
Is Ocotillo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ocotillo ranks 50,235th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on thin health care access and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ocotillo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $199,100. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $49,231 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Ocotillo safe?
Ocotillo is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $767 per resident a year.
Compare Ocotillo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ocotillo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ocotillo 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.
Ocotillo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ocotillo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ocotillo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ocotillo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ocotillo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ocotillo 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.