Best PlacesPrunedale, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prunedale, 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.
Prunedale ranks 25,123rd 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 Prunedale
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.
Prunedale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Prunedale ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 217 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of towns
Where Prunedale ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,371 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prunedale
A household needs to earn about $214,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prunedale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $105,269, 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 Prunedale'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 Prunedale
Prunedale'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 Prunedale.
Who works in Prunedale, and how
Work in Prunedale centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Prunedale
Prunedale has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. The coast is about 12 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Prunedale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Prunedale, month by month
Prunedale sees roughly 217 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 Prunedale
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around Prunedale
Schools across Prunedale average a C+, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- AromasC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Anzar HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prunedale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prunedale 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 Prunedale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prunedale
Is Prunedale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prunedale ranks 25,123rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and big-city access, and lowest on disaster risk and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Prunedale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $827,615. The overall cost of living runs about 27% above the national average. Set against a $105,269 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Prunedale safe?
Prunedale is safer than 29% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
Compare Prunedale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prunedale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prunedale 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.
Prunedale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prunedale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prunedale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prunedale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prunedale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prunedale 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.