Best PlacesPalomar Mountain, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Palomar Mountain, 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.
Palomar Mountain ranks 41,453rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Palomar Mountain
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.
Palomar Mountain's strengths and weaknesses
Where Palomar Mountain ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 154 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Household income$102,201 median, better than 86% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 76% of towns
Where Palomar Mountain ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,432 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Palomar Mountain
A household needs to earn about $192,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Palomar Mountain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $102,201, 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 Palomar Mountain's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Palomar Mountain
Palomar Mountain runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Palomar Mountain.
Who works in Palomar Mountain, and how
Work in Palomar Mountain centers on other services and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Palomar Mountain
The coast is about 56 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Palomar Mountain, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Palomar Mountain, month by month
Palomar Mountain sees roughly 154 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 51° | 35° |
| April | 76° | 58° | 42° |
| July | 93° | 74° | 56° |
| October | 85° | 64° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Palomar Mountain
The nearest airport, McClellan-Palomar, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Palomar Mountain
Schools across Palomar Mountain average a D+, better than 20% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Valley Center MiddleD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley Center HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Julian HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Palomar Mountain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Palomar Mountain 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 Palomar Mountain against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Palomar Mountain
Is Palomar Mountain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Palomar Mountain ranks 41,453rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, big-city access, and the weather, and lowest on disaster risk and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Palomar Mountain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $761,542. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $102,201 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Palomar Mountain safe?
Palomar Mountain is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $663 per resident a year.
Compare Palomar Mountain with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Palomar Mountain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Palomar Mountain 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.
Palomar Mountain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Palomar Mountain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Palomar Mountain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Palomar Mountain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Palomar Mountain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Palomar Mountain 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.