Best PlacesSaint Francis Wood, San Francisco, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco, 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.
Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco ranks 266th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco
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.
Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco's strengths and weaknesses
Where Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco ranks high
- Household income$217,340 median, better than 98% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of neighborhoods
Where Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,439 a month, better than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco
A household needs to earn about $496,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $217,340, 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 Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco
Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco.
Who works in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco, and how
Work in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 47%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 21%
Life in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco
Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 3 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco, month by month
Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco sees roughly 221 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 53° | 46° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 74° | 62° | 56° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco
San Francisco International sits about 9 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.5 million passengers in 2025, with 193 nonstop destinations.
Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco 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 Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco
Is Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco ranks 266th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on high incomes, transit, and what local pay buys, and lowest on childcare costs and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,945,376. The overall cost of living runs about 60% above the national average. Set against a $217,340 median income, cost of living beats 95% of neighborhoods.
Is Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco safe?
Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco is safer than 19% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $737 per resident a year.
Compare Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco 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.
Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco 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.