Best PlacesSan Quentin, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Quentin, 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 Quentin ranks 27,064th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in San Quentin
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 Quentin's strengths and weaknesses
Where San Quentin ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 169 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of towns
Where San Quentin ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,211 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in San Quentin
A household needs to earn about $363,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Quentin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $115,407, 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 Quentin's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Quentin
San Quentin 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 Quentin.
Who works in San Quentin, and how
Work in San Quentin centers on public administration and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 40%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 44%
Life in San Quentin
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across San Quentin, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Quentin, month by month
San Quentin sees roughly 169 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 66° | 52° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 47° |
Flying in and out of San Quentin
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 21 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 Quentin
Schools across San Quentin average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- CoveA · 68% proficient
- Glenwood ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Bahia Vista ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Del Mar MiddleA+ · 77% proficient
- James B. Davidson MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Middle College HighA · 75% proficient
- Tamalpais HighA− · 64% proficient
- Terra Linda HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Quentin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Quentin 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 Quentin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in San Quentin
Is San Quentin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Quentin ranks 27,064th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Quentin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,394,200. The overall cost of living runs about 43% above the national average. Set against a $115,407 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is San Quentin safe?
San Quentin is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $738 per resident a year.
Compare San Quentin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Quentin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Quentin 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 Quentin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Quentin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Quentin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Quentin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Quentin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Quentin 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.