Best PlacesSan Fernando, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Fernando, 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 Fernando ranks 29,182nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in San Fernando
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 Fernando's strengths and weaknesses
Where San Fernando ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 279 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
Where San Fernando ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in San Fernando
A household needs to earn about $173,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Fernando home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $94,256, 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 Fernando's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Fernando
San Fernando 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 San Fernando.
Who works in San Fernando, and how
Work in San Fernando centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in San Fernando
San Fernando has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns. The coast is about 20 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of San Fernando and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Fernando, month by month
San Fernando sees roughly 279 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 51. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 60° | 51° |
| April | 74° | 67° | 57° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 69° |
| October | 82° | 74° | 62° |
Flying in and out of San Fernando
Bob Hope sits about 8 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around San Fernando
Schools across San Fernando average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Puc Nueva Esperanza Charter AcademyD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley Academy Of Arts And SciencesC+ · 35% proficient
- Sylmar Biotech Health And Engineering MagnetC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Fernando school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Fernando 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 Fernando against the other 50,332 towns.
Who San Fernando suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.
Common questions about living in San Fernando
Is San Fernando a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Fernando ranks 29,182nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and transit, and lowest on air quality and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Fernando expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $672,415. The overall cost of living runs about 33% above the national average. Set against a $94,256 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is San Fernando safe?
San Fernando is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $517 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in San Fernando?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 51. That works out to about 279 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of towns.
Is San Fernando good for families?
Schools beat 18% of towns, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare San Fernando with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Fernando. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Fernando 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 Fernando detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Fernando: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Fernando: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Fernando: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Fernando: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Fernando 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.