Best PlacesOld Town, Torrance, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Old Town, Torrance, 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.
Old Town, Torrance ranks 1,326th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Old Town, Torrance
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.
Old Town, Torrance's strengths and weaknesses
Where Old Town, Torrance ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 327 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 76% of neighborhoods
Where Old Town, Torrance ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 26% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Old Town, Torrance
A household needs to earn about $236,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Old Town, Torrance home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $110,817, 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 Old Town, Torrance's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Old Town, Torrance
Old Town, Torrance's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Old Town, Torrance.
Who works in Old Town, Torrance, and how
Work in Old Town, Torrance centers on manufacturing and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Old Town, Torrance
Old Town, Torrance has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of neighborhoods and more parkland per resident than 74% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Old Town, Torrance and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Old Town, Torrance, month by month
Old Town, Torrance sees roughly 327 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 59° | 48° |
| April | 71° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 79° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 78° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Old Town, Torrance
The nearest airport, Jack Northrop Field/Hawthorne Municipal, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 9 miles away.
Old Town, Torrance 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 Old Town, Torrance against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Old Town, Torrance
Is Old Town, Torrance a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Old Town, Torrance ranks 1,326th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and population health, and lowest on air quality and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Old Town, Torrance expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $911,923. The overall cost of living runs about 42% above the national average. Set against a $110,817 median income, cost of living beats 47% of neighborhoods.
Is Old Town, Torrance safe?
Old Town, Torrance is safer than 41% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $559 per resident a year.
Compare Old Town, Torrance with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Old Town, Torrance. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Old Town, Torrance 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.
Old Town, Torrance detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Old Town, Torrance: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Old Town, Torrance: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Old Town, Torrance: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Old Town, Torrance: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Old Town, Torrance 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.