Best PlacesPacoima, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pacoima, 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.
Pacoima ranks 1,947th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pacoima
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.
Pacoima's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pacoima ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 277 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of cities
- TransitBetter than 95% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of cities
- BikingBetter than 88% of cities
Where Pacoima ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Pacoima
A household needs to earn about $157,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pacoima home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $86,246, 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 Pacoima's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Pacoima
Pacoima 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 Pacoima.
Who works in Pacoima, and how
Work in Pacoima centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Pacoima
Pacoima has more parkland per resident than 75% of cities. The coast is about 19 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Pacoima and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pacoima, month by month
Pacoima sees roughly 277 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 51. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 60° | 51° |
| April | 74° | 67° | 57° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 69° |
| October | 82° | 74° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Pacoima
Bob Hope sits about 6 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 Pacoima
Schools across Pacoima average a D+, better than 14% of cities.
Top middle schools
- Puc Inspire Charter AcademyF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
- Cesar E. Chavez Lrng Acads-acad Of Scientific Explr (ase)C+ · 38% proficient
- Cesar E. Chavez Lrng Acads-soc Just Humanitas AcadC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pacoima school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pacoima 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 Pacoima against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Pacoima suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Pacoima
Is Pacoima a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pacoima ranks 1,947th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pacoima expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $612,641. The overall cost of living runs about 34% above the national average. Set against a $86,246 median income, cost of living beats 3% of cities.
Is Pacoima safe?
Pacoima is safer than 22% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $418 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pacoima?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 51. That works out to about 277 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of cities.
Is Pacoima good for families?
Schools beat 14% of cities, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Pacoima with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pacoima. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pacoima 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.
Pacoima detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pacoima: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pacoima: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pacoima: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pacoima: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pacoima 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.