Best PlacesRancho Santa Fe, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rancho Santa Fe, 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 Santa Fe ranks 515th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rancho Santa Fe
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 Santa Fe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rancho Santa Fe ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 300 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Household income$211,164 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
Where Rancho Santa Fe ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,432 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rancho Santa Fe
A household needs to earn about $522,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rancho Santa Fe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $211,164, 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 Santa Fe's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 Santa Fe
Rancho Santa Fe runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rancho Santa Fe.
Who works in Rancho Santa Fe, and how
Work in Rancho Santa Fe 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 64%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rancho Santa Fe
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Rancho Santa Fe, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rancho Santa Fe, month by month
Rancho Santa Fe sees roughly 300 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 47. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 56° | 47° |
| April | 68° | 60° | 53° |
| July | 75° | 69° | 65° |
| October | 76° | 67° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Rancho Santa Fe
The nearest airport, McClellan-Palomar, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 20 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rancho Santa Fe
Schools across Rancho Santa Fe average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- R. Roger Rowe ElementaryA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pacific Trails MiddleA · 67% proficient
- R. Roger Rowe MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Diegueno MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Canyon Crest AcademyA · 68% proficient
- San Pasqual HighB− · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rancho Santa Fe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rancho Santa Fe 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 Santa Fe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rancho Santa Fe
Is Rancho Santa Fe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rancho Santa Fe ranks 515th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rancho Santa Fe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,980,476. The overall cost of living runs about 74% above the national average. Set against a $211,164 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Rancho Santa Fe safe?
Rancho Santa Fe is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $359 per resident a year.
Compare Rancho Santa Fe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rancho Santa Fe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rancho Santa Fe 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 Santa Fe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rancho Santa Fe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rancho Santa Fe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rancho Santa Fe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rancho Santa Fe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rancho Santa Fe 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.