Best PlacesSan Juan, PR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Juan, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
San Juan is unranked among cities under the default weighting. The coast is about 4 minutes away. Its strengths are low property taxes and affordable childcare. The cost shows up in the weather, state infrastructure, and low incomes.
The best neighborhoods in San Juan
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.
The best areas in San Juan
The parts of San Juan, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
La Perla
Streets are more walkable, more adults hold degrees, and biking is better.
Urbanizacion San Gerardo, Urbanizacion El Senorial & Colinas de Cupey
Incomes run higher, though homes cost more.
Urbanizacion Puerto Nuevo, Urbanizacion Caparra Terrace & Reparto Metropolitano
Heat risk is lower.
Urbanizacion Las Lomas, Urbanizacion La Riviera & Urbanizacion Santiago Iglesias
Fewer homes sit empty and more households have young kids.
Monte Flores, San Mateo & Machuchal
Prices have run up more and it is noisier.
Extencion Roosevelt, Urbanizacion University Gdns & Urbanizacion Floral Park
Urbanizacion Country Club, Villa Prades & Parcelas Falu
Urbanizacion Monte Carlo-San Juan, Urbanizacion Rivieras de Cupey & Urbanizacion San Agustin
Scores close to Urbanizacion Country Club, Villa Prades & Parcelas Falu, except that crime runs lower here.
Buena Vista Santurce, Urbanizacion Atlantic View & Embalse San Jose
Disaster risk is higher.
Scores across San Juan run from about the 1st to the 11th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
San Juan's strengths and weaknesses
San Juan lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Affordable childcare and walkability follow.
The one real hole is the weather, near the bottom of the country. State infrastructure and low incomes also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where San Juan ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Cheap childcare$511 a month, better than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 71% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 63% of cities
Where San Juan ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 0 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of cities
- Household income$36,596 median, better than only 1% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in San Juan
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Juan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $36,596, 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 Juan's effective rate of 0.14%, 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 10 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 Juan
San Juan runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for San Juan.
Who works in San Juan, and how
Work in San Juan centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in San Juan
San Juan has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. The coast is about 4 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of San Juan and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Juan, month by month
San Juan sees roughly 0 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 85, with lows near 73. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 85° | 78° | 73° |
| April | 87° | 79° | 74° |
| July | 90° | 83° | 78° |
| October | 90° | 83° | 78° |
Flying in and out of San Juan
Luis Munoz Marin International sits about 4 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.7 million passengers in 2025, with 88 nonstop destinations.
San Juan 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 Juan against cities nationally.
Who San Juan suits
Families
Weigh schools and safety yourself on the map to find the right neighborhoods.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in San Juan
Is San Juan a good place to live?
It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and walkability, and lowest on the weather and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Juan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $208,304. Set against a $36,596 median income, cost of living beats 50% of cities.
Is San Juan safe?
San Juan is safer than 0% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,030 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in San Juan?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 85 with lows near 73. That works out to about 0 pleasant days a year, more than 0% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in San Juan?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are La Perla, Urbanizacion San Gerardo, Urbanizacion El Senorial & Colinas de Cupey, and Urbanizacion Puerto Nuevo, Urbanizacion Caparra Terrace & Reparto Metropolitano. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare San Juan with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Juan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Juan 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 Juan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Juan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Juan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Juan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Juan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Juan 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.