Best PlacesPinole, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pinole, 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.
Pinole ranks 14,455th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pinole
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.
Pinole's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pinole ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 176 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
Where Pinole ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,942 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pinole
A household needs to earn about $191,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pinole home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $122,703, 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 Pinole's effective rate of 0.89%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pinole
Pinole runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pinole.
Who works in Pinole, and how
Work in Pinole centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Pinole
Pinole has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns. The coast is about 25 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Pinole and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pinole, month by month
Pinole sees roughly 176 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 51° | 41° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 58° |
| October | 82° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Pinole
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 19 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Pinole
Schools across Pinole average a B−, better than 66% of towns.
Top high schools
- Middle College HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pinole school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pinole 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 Pinole against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Pinole suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Pinole
Is Pinole a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pinole ranks 14,455th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and the weather, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pinole expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $720,463. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $122,703 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Pinole safe?
Pinole is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $523 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pinole?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 41. That works out to about 176 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of towns.
Is Pinole good for families?
Schools beat 66% of towns, crime safety beats 14%, and childcare runs $1,942 a month.
Compare Pinole with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pinole. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pinole 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.
Pinole detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pinole: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pinole: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pinole: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pinole: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pinole 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.