Best PlacesSan Pablo, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Pablo, 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 Pablo ranks 1,554th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in San Pablo
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 Pablo
The parts of San Pablo, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
North and East
Hilltop Village
Hilltop Bayview & Tara Hills
Fairmede-Hilltop
Parchester Village
Scores across San Pablo run from about the 8th to the 79th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
San Pablo's strengths and weaknesses
Where San Pablo ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of cities
- TransitBetter than 91% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of cities
- BikingBetter than 89% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 176 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of cities
Where San Pablo ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,942 a month, better than only 3% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in San Pablo
A household needs to earn about $158,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Pablo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $94,352, 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 Pablo's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 Pablo
San Pablo 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 Pablo.
Who works in San Pablo, and how
Work in San Pablo centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in San Pablo
San Pablo has more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. The coast is about 21 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of San Pablo and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Pablo, month by month
San Pablo sees roughly 176 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 51° | 41° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 58° |
| October | 82° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of San Pablo
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 18 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around San Pablo
Schools across San Pablo average a C, better than 49% of cities.
Top high schools
- Middle College HighA · 75% proficient
- Aspire Richmond Ca. College Preparatory AcademyC− · 25% proficient
- Making Waves AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Pablo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Pablo 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 Pablo against the other 2,097 cities.
Who San Pablo suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in San Pablo
Is San Pablo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Pablo ranks 1,554th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, transit, and walkability, and lowest on childcare costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Pablo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $606,315. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $94,352 median income, cost of living beats 21% of cities.
Is San Pablo safe?
San Pablo is safer than 13% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $498 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in San Pablo?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 41. That works out to about 176 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in San Pablo?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are North and East, Hilltop Village, and Hilltop Bayview & Tara Hills. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare San Pablo with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Pablo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Pablo 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 Pablo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Pablo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Pablo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Pablo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Pablo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Pablo 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.