Best PlacesPasadena, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pasadena, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pasadena ranks 161st of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 23 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and the weather. The cost shows up in air quality, noise, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Pasadena
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.
The best areas in Pasadena
The parts of Pasadena, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
East Central & North East
Fewer homes sit empty, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
South Arroyo
Local pay stretches further, though streets are more car-dependent.
South East
It is quieter and health care is easier to reach.
Madison Heights
Health outcomes score higher, though fewer households have young kids.
Normandie Heights
Tree cover is thicker.
Mid Central
More residents vote.
West Central
Homes cost less and biking is better.
North Central & North Arroyo
Scores across Pasadena run from about the 16th to the 96th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Pasadena's strengths and weaknesses
Pasadena lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access, the weather, and biking carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Air quality, noise, and taxes hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Pasadena ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 274 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of cities
- BikingBetter than 89% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of cities
- TransitBetter than 88% of cities
Where Pasadena ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 8% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 19% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Pasadena
A household needs to earn about $272,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pasadena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $114,557, 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 Pasadena's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Pasadena
Pasadena's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pasadena.
Who works in Pasadena, and how
Work in Pasadena centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Pasadena
Pasadena has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of cities and more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. The coast is about 23 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pasadena and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pasadena, month by month
Pasadena sees roughly 274 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs October through May.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 60° | 48° |
| April | 76° | 68° | 57° |
| July | 89° | 81° | 69° |
| October | 83° | 74° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Pasadena
Bob Hope sits about 13 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 Pasadena
Schools across Pasadena average a C, better than 40% of cities.
Top middle schools
- Huntington MiddleA+ · 81% proficient
Top high schools
- Pasadena HighB+ · 54% proficient
- Eagle Rock HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Benjamin Franklin Senior HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pasadena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pasadena 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 Pasadena against the other 444 cities.
Who Pasadena suits
Retirees
The weather beats 95% of cities and health care access beats 57%.
Common questions about living in Pasadena
Is Pasadena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pasadena ranks 161st of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and biking, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pasadena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,066,860. The overall cost of living runs about 56% above the national average. Set against a $114,557 median income, cost of living beats 19% of cities.
Is Pasadena safe?
Pasadena is safer than 21% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $516 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pasadena?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 48. That works out to about 274 pleasant days a year, more than 95% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Pasadena?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are East Central & North East, South Arroyo, and South East. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Pasadena good for families?
Schools beat 40% of cities, crime safety beats 21%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Is Pasadena good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 19% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 31% of cities. About 27% of workers already work from home.
Compare Pasadena with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pasadena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pasadena 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.
Pasadena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pasadena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pasadena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pasadena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pasadena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pasadena 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.