Best PlacesRiverside County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Riverside County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Riverside County ranks 1,437th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 51 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and big-city access. The cost shows up in air quality, civic engagement, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Riverside County
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.
The best areas in Riverside County
The parts of Riverside County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Murrieta, Temecula & Menifee
Local pay stretches further, heat risk is lower, and incomes run higher.
Corona
Fewer homes sit empty and crime runs lower.
Lake Elsinore & Wildomar
More households have young kids, though commutes are longer.
Riverside
Big-city amenities are closer, though it is noisier.
Moreno Valley & Beaumont
Disaster risk is higher and fewer adults hold degrees.
Cathedral City, Indio & Palm Springs
Health care is easier to reach, though prices have run up more.
Hemet, Perris & San Jacinto
Homes cost less, though fewer residents vote.
Coachella, La Quinta & Blythe
The air is cleaner, though schools score lower.
Desert Hot Springs
Biking is worse and health outcomes score lower.
Riverside County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Riverside County's strengths and weaknesses
Riverside County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Big-city access and biking follow.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and childcare costs also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Riverside County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 211 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 95% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of counties
Where Riverside County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,337 a month, better than only 5% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Short commute33.8 minutes each way, better than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Riverside County
A household needs to earn about $146,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riverside County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $102,382, 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 Riverside County's effective rate of 0.81%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Riverside County
Riverside County runs younger than the country, 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 Riverside County.
Who works in Riverside County, and how
Work in Riverside County centers on health care & social and retail trade. 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 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Riverside County
Riverside County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. The coast is about 51 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Riverside County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Riverside County growing, and who is moving in?
Riverside County has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Los Angeles, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Riverside County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Riverside County, month by month
Riverside County sees roughly 211 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 51° | 36° |
| April | 78° | 60° | 44° |
| July | 97° | 79° | 61° |
| October | 86° | 67° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Riverside County
The nearest airport, San Bernardino International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ontario International, about 35 miles away.
The best schools in and around Riverside County
Schools across Riverside County average a C, better than 47% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Alberhill ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Tuscany Hills ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- George Washington CharterA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- Canyon Lake MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Desert Ridge AcademyB+ · 50% proficient
- David A. Brown MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley View HighA+ · 90% proficient
- Western Center AcademyA · 77% proficient
- Lakeside HighA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riverside County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riverside County 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 Riverside County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Riverside County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Riverside County
Is Riverside County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riverside County ranks 1,437th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and biking, and lowest on air quality and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Riverside County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $558,623. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $102,382 median income, cost of living beats 64% of counties.
Is Riverside County safe?
Riverside County is safer than 51% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $375 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Riverside County?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 36. That works out to about 211 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Riverside County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Murrieta, Temecula & Menifee, Corona, and Lake Elsinore & Wildomar. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Riverside County good for families?
Schools beat 47% of counties, crime safety beats 51%, and childcare runs $1,337 a month.
Is Riverside County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 64% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 93% of counties. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Riverside County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riverside County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riverside County 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.
Riverside County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riverside County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riverside County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riverside County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riverside County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riverside County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.