Best PlacesPico Rivera, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pico Rivera, 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.
Pico Rivera ranks 1,639th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pico Rivera
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.
Pico Rivera's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pico Rivera ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 270 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of cities
- TransitBetter than 91% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of cities
Where Pico Rivera ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Pico Rivera
A household needs to earn about $168,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pico Rivera home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,759, 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 Pico Rivera's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Pico Rivera
Pico Rivera's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Pico Rivera.
Who works in Pico Rivera, and how
Work in Pico Rivera centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Pico Rivera
Pico Rivera has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 17 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pico Rivera and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pico Rivera, month by month
Pico Rivera sees roughly 270 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 Pico Rivera
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 18 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pico Rivera
Schools across Pico Rivera average a C−, better than 26% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Montebello Gardens ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- La Merced IntermediateD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- El Rancho HighB · 50% proficient
- Santa Fe HighB · 45% proficient
- Whittier HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pico Rivera school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pico Rivera 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 Pico Rivera against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Pico Rivera suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Pico Rivera
Is Pico Rivera a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pico Rivera ranks 1,639th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and cell coverage, and lowest on education levels and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pico Rivera expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $648,732. The overall cost of living runs about 32% above the national average. Set against a $91,759 median income, cost of living beats 8% of cities.
Is Pico Rivera safe?
Pico Rivera is safer than 34% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $372 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pico Rivera?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 48. That works out to about 270 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of cities.
Is Pico Rivera good for families?
Schools beat 26% of cities, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Pico Rivera with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pico Rivera. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pico Rivera 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.
Pico Rivera detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pico Rivera: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pico Rivera: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pico Rivera: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pico Rivera: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pico Rivera 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.