Best PlacesRancho Palos Verdes, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rancho Palos Verdes, 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.
Rancho Palos Verdes ranks 158th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rancho Palos Verdes
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 Palos Verdes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Rancho Palos Verdes ranks high
- Household income$189,631 median, better than 99% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 311 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of cities
Where Rancho Palos Verdes ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of cities
- Short commute32.4 minutes each way, better than only 13% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rancho Palos Verdes
A household needs to earn about $419,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rancho Palos Verdes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $189,631, 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 Palos Verdes' effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Palos Verdes
Rancho Palos Verdes runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rancho Palos Verdes.
Who works in Rancho Palos Verdes, and how
Work in Rancho Palos Verdes centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Rancho Palos Verdes
Rancho Palos Verdes has more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Rancho Palos Verdes and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rancho Palos Verdes, month by month
Rancho Palos Verdes sees roughly 311 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 59° | 48° |
| April | 71° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 79° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 78° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Rancho Palos Verdes
The nearest airport, Jack Northrop Field/Hawthorne Municipal, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 12 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rancho Palos Verdes
Schools across Rancho Palos Verdes average an A−, better than 75% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Rancho Vista ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Miraleste IntermediateD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Dr. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation AcademyA+ · 86% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rancho Palos Verdes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rancho Palos Verdes 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 Palos Verdes against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Rancho Palos Verdes suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 27% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 98% of cities, health care access beats 89%, and it is quieter than 66%.
Common questions about living in Rancho Palos Verdes
Is Rancho Palos Verdes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rancho Palos Verdes ranks 158th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on high incomes, the weather, and an educated workforce, and lowest on air quality and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rancho Palos Verdes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,628,969. The overall cost of living runs about 63% above the national average. Set against a $189,631 median income, cost of living beats 77% of cities.
Is Rancho Palos Verdes safe?
Rancho Palos Verdes is safer than 37% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rancho Palos Verdes?
July highs average about 79 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 48. That works out to about 311 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of cities.
Is Rancho Palos Verdes good for families?
Schools beat 75% of cities, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Rancho Palos Verdes with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rancho Palos Verdes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rancho Palos Verdes 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 Palos Verdes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rancho Palos Verdes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rancho Palos Verdes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rancho Palos Verdes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rancho Palos Verdes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rancho Palos Verdes 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.