Best PlacesSan Diego, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Diego, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
San Diego ranks 48,153rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in San Diego
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 Diego's strengths and weaknesses
Where San Diego ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 187 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
Where San Diego ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in San Diego
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Diego home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,606, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Diego's effective rate of 1.35%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in San Diego
San Diego runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 San Diego.
Who works in San Diego, and how
Work in San Diego centers on health care & social and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in San Diego
San Diego has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of San Diego and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Diego, month by month
San Diego sees roughly 187 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 47. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 57° | 47° |
| April | 87° | 73° | 64° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 74° |
| October | 88° | 74° | 64° |
Flying in and out of San Diego
The nearest airport, Corpus Christi International, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around San Diego
Schools across San Diego average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Norman M Thomas ElC− · 28% proficient
- Collins-parr ElC− · 26% proficient
- Ramirez ElD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lucy Aragon J HC− · 28% proficient
- Bernarda Jaime J HD+ · 26% proficient
- Bruni MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- San Diego H SC+ · 37% proficient
- Freer H SC− · 27% proficient
- Premont Collegiate H SD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Diego school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Diego 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 Diego against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in San Diego
Is San Diego a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Diego ranks 48,153rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and a stable housing market, and lowest on thin health care access and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Diego expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $99,115. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $47,606 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is San Diego safe?
San Diego is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $832 per resident a year.
Compare San Diego with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Diego. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Diego 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 Diego detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Diego: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Diego: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Diego: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Diego: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Diego 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.