Best PlacesRancho Cucamonga, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rancho Cucamonga, 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.
Rancho Cucamonga ranks 173rd of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 44 minutes away. Its strengths are few empty homes and big-city access. The cost shows up in air quality, long commutes, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Rancho Cucamonga
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.
Rancho Cucamonga's strengths and weaknesses
Rancho Cucamonga lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Few empty homes, big-city access, and the weather carry most of that.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. Long commutes and taxes also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Rancho Cucamonga ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 215 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of cities
- Household income$117,520 median, better than 84% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 82% of cities
Where Rancho Cucamonga ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of cities
- Short commute32.2 minutes each way, better than only 9% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 18% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rancho Cucamonga
A household needs to earn about $185,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rancho Cucamonga home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $117,520, 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 Rancho Cucamonga's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 Rancho Cucamonga
Rancho Cucamonga'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 Rancho Cucamonga.
Who works in Rancho Cucamonga, and how
Work in Rancho Cucamonga centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rancho Cucamonga
Rancho Cucamonga has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of cities and more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. The coast is about 44 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rancho Cucamonga and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rancho Cucamonga, month by month
Rancho Cucamonga sees roughly 215 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 55° | 43° |
| April | 79° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 96° | 79° | 65° |
| October | 87° | 70° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Rancho Cucamonga
Ontario International sits about 5 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.5 million passengers in 2025, with 62 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Rancho Cucamonga
Schools across Rancho Cucamonga average a C+, better than 53% of cities.
Top middle schools
- Ethel Kucera MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Summit HighA · 75% proficient
- Los Osos HighA− · 61% proficient
- Rancho Cucamonga HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rancho Cucamonga school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rancho Cucamonga 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 Rancho Cucamonga against the other 444 cities.
Who Rancho Cucamonga suits
Families
Schools land around the 53rd percentile and crime safety beats 68%.
Common questions about living in Rancho Cucamonga
Is Rancho Cucamonga a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rancho Cucamonga ranks 173rd of 445 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and the weather, and lowest on air quality and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rancho Cucamonga expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $716,562. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $117,520 median income, cost of living beats 56% of cities.
Is Rancho Cucamonga safe?
Yes, Rancho Cucamonga is safer than 68% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $347 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rancho Cucamonga?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 43. That works out to about 215 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of cities.
Is Rancho Cucamonga good for families?
Schools beat 53% of cities, crime safety beats 68%, and childcare runs $1,252 a month.
Is Rancho Cucamonga good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 56% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 55% of cities. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Rancho Cucamonga with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rancho Cucamonga. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rancho Cucamonga 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.
Rancho Cucamonga detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rancho Cucamonga: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rancho Cucamonga: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rancho Cucamonga: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rancho Cucamonga: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rancho Cucamonga 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.