Best PlacesSan Clemente, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Clemente, 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.
San Clemente ranks 739th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 San Clemente
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.
San Clemente's strengths and weaknesses
Where San Clemente ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 202 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of cities
- Household income$151,473 median, better than 91% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 80% of cities
Where San Clemente ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,493 a month, better than only 16% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in San Clemente
A household needs to earn about $373,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Clemente home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $151,473, 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 San Clemente's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 San Clemente
San Clemente runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for San Clemente.
Who works in San Clemente, and how
Work in San Clemente centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in San Clemente
San Clemente has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 3 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of San Clemente and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Clemente, month by month
San Clemente sees roughly 202 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 54° | 40° |
| April | 73° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 61° |
| October | 82° | 66° | 51° |
Flying in and out of San Clemente
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 22 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.5 million passengers in 2025, with 80 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around San Clemente
Schools across San Clemente average a B, better than 65% of cities.
Top high schools
- San Clemente HighA− · 65% proficient
- San Juan Hills HighA− · 63% proficient
- Fallbrook HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Clemente school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Clemente 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 San Clemente against the other 2,097 cities.
Who San Clemente suits
Retirees
The weather beats 92% of cities and health care access beats 76%.
Common questions about living in San Clemente
Is San Clemente a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Clemente ranks 739th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and big-city access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Clemente expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,468,115. The overall cost of living runs about 68% above the national average. Set against a $151,473 median income, cost of living beats 48% of cities.
Is San Clemente safe?
San Clemente is safer than 18% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $493 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in San Clemente?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 40. That works out to about 202 pleasant days a year, more than 92% of cities.
Is San Clemente good for families?
Schools beat 65% of cities, crime safety beats 18%, and childcare runs $1,493 a month.
Compare San Clemente with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Clemente. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Clemente 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.
San Clemente detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Clemente: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Clemente: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Clemente: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Clemente: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Clemente 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.