Best PlacesPort Costa, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Costa, 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.
Port Costa ranks 19,872nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Port Costa
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.
Port Costa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Costa ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 177 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
Where Port Costa ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,830 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Costa
A household needs to earn about $203,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Costa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $103,901, 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 Port Costa'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 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 Port Costa
Port Costa runs older than the country, 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 Port Costa.
Who works in Port Costa, and how
Work in Port Costa centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Port Costa
The coast is about 31 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Port Costa, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Costa, month by month
Port Costa sees roughly 177 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 Port Costa
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 22 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 Port Costa
Schools across Port Costa average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top high schools
- Alhambra Senior HighB · 48% proficient
- Jesse M. Bethel HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Costa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Costa 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 Port Costa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Costa
Is Port Costa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Costa ranks 19,872nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, the weather, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Costa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $767,418. The overall cost of living runs about 24% above the national average. Set against a $103,901 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Port Costa safe?
Port Costa is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $416 per resident a year.
Compare Port Costa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Costa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Costa 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.
Port Costa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Costa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Costa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Costa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Costa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Costa 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.