Best PlacesSan Lucas, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Lucas, 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 Lucas ranks 46,868th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in San Lucas
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 Lucas' strengths and weaknesses
Where San Lucas ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 159 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 83% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of towns
Where San Lucas ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,371 a month, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in San Lucas
A household needs to earn about $173,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Lucas home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $90,472, 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 Lucas' effective rate of 0.88%, 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 Lucas
San Lucas 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 Lucas.
Who works in San Lucas, and how
Work in San Lucas centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 53%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 41%
Life in San Lucas
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across San Lucas.
What the weather is like in San Lucas, month by month
San Lucas sees roughly 159 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 48° | 36° |
| April | 77° | 57° | 41° |
| July | 97° | 73° | 54° |
| October | 85° | 62° | 43° |
Flying in and out of San Lucas
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around San Lucas
Schools across San Lucas average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- San Lucas ElementaryD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- King City HighC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Lucas school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Lucas 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 Lucas against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in San Lucas
Is San Lucas a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Lucas ranks 46,868th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and clean air, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Lucas expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $655,370. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $90,472 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is San Lucas safe?
San Lucas is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $699 per resident a year.
Compare San Lucas with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Lucas. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Lucas 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 Lucas detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Lucas: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Lucas: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Lucas: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Lucas: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Lucas 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.