Best PlacesSan Jose, PR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Jose, 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 Jose is unranked among towns under the default weighting. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in San Jose
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 Jose's strengths and weaknesses
Where San Jose ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap childcare$424 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
Where San Jose ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 0 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in San Jose
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Jose home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,828, 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 Jose's effective rate of 0.05%, 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 5 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 Jose
San Jose 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 San Jose.
Who works in San Jose, and how
Work in San Jose centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in San Jose
The coast is about 10 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across San Jose, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Jose, month by month
San Jose sees roughly 0 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 82, with lows near 74. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 82° | 79° | 74° |
| April | 83° | 81° | 76° |
| July | 87° | 84° | 81° |
| October | 87° | 84° | 79° |
Flying in and out of San Jose
The nearest airport, Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Luis Munoz Marin International, about 16 miles away.
San Jose 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 Jose against towns nationally.
Who San Jose suits
Families
Weigh schools and safety yourself on the map to find the right areas.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in San Jose
Is San Jose a good place to live?
It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and big-city access, and lowest on the weather and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Jose expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,150. Set against a $48,828 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is San Jose safe?
San Jose is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $667 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in San Jose?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 82 with lows near 74. That works out to about 0 pleasant days a year, more than 0% of towns.
Compare San Jose with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Jose. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Jose 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 Jose detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Jose: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Jose: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Jose: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Jose: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Jose 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.