Best PlacesRowland Heights, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rowland Heights, 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.
Rowland Heights ranks 1,372nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rowland Heights
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.
Rowland Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Rowland Heights ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 266 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of cities
- TransitBetter than 78% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 76% of cities
Where Rowland Heights ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of cities
- Short commute33.0 minutes each way, better than only 11% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Rowland Heights
A household needs to earn about $220,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rowland Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,661, 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 Rowland Heights' 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 Rowland Heights
Rowland Heights runs older 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 Rowland Heights.
Who works in Rowland Heights, and how
Work in Rowland Heights 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 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Rowland Heights
Rowland Heights has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of cities and more parkland per resident than 96% of cities. The coast is about 28 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rowland Heights and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rowland Heights, month by month
Rowland Heights sees roughly 266 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs September through July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 85° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Rowland Heights
Ontario International sits about 18 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 Rowland Heights
Schools across Rowland Heights average a C+, better than 47% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- El Portal ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rancho-starbuck IntermediateC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Diamond Bar HighA · 78% proficient
- Walnut HighA · 67% proficient
- John A. Rowland HighA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rowland Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rowland Heights 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 Rowland Heights against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Rowland Heights suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Rowland Heights
Is Rowland Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rowland Heights ranks 1,372nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and population health, 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 Rowland Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $849,940. The overall cost of living runs about 35% above the national average. Set against a $95,661 median income, cost of living beats 11% of cities.
Is Rowland Heights safe?
Rowland Heights is safer than 31% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $381 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rowland Heights?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 46. That works out to about 266 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of cities.
Is Rowland Heights good for families?
Schools beat 47% of cities, crime safety beats 31%, and childcare runs $1,131 a month.
Compare Rowland Heights with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rowland Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rowland Heights 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.
Rowland Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rowland Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rowland Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rowland Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rowland Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rowland Heights 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.