Best PlacesPinnacles, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pinnacles, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pinnacles ranks 28,247th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pinnacles
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.
Pinnacles' strengths and weaknesses
Where Pinnacles ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 173 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$132,700 median, better than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 86% of towns
Where Pinnacles ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,395 a month, better than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pinnacles
A household needs to earn about $241,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pinnacles home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $132,700, 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 Pinnacles' 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 Pinnacles
Pinnacles 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 Pinnacles.
Who works in Pinnacles, and how
Work in Pinnacles centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Pinnacles
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pinnacles.
What the weather is like in Pinnacles, month by month
Pinnacles sees roughly 173 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 72 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 47° |
| July | 72° | 62° | 55° |
| October | 78° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Pinnacles
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pinnacles
Schools across Pinnacles average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- San Vicente ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pinnacles school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pinnacles 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 Pinnacles against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pinnacles
Is Pinnacles a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pinnacles ranks 28,247th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, population health, and high incomes, and lowest on disaster risk and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pinnacles expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $928,367. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $132,700 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Pinnacles safe?
Pinnacles is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $574 per resident a year.
Compare Pinnacles with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pinnacles. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pinnacles 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.
Pinnacles detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pinnacles: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pinnacles: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pinnacles: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pinnacles: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pinnacles 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.