Best PlacesSan Simeon, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Simeon, 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 Simeon ranks 27,405th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in San Simeon
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 Simeon's strengths and weaknesses
Where San Simeon ranks high
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 152 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
Where San Simeon ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,391 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in San Simeon
A household needs to earn about $235,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Simeon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,131, 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 Simeon's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Simeon
San Simeon runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for San Simeon.
Who works in San Simeon, and how
Work in San Simeon centers on hospitality & food and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in San Simeon
The coast is about 2 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across San Simeon, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Simeon, month by month
San Simeon sees roughly 152 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 Simeon
The nearest airport, San Luis Obispo County Regional, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around San Simeon
Schools across San Simeon average a C, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cambria GrammarD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Santa Lucia MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Templeton HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Paso Robles HighB · 46% proficient
- Coast Union HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Simeon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Simeon 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 Simeon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in San Simeon
Is San Simeon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Simeon ranks 27,405th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and transit, and lowest on civic engagement and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Simeon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $938,266. The overall cost of living runs about 36% above the national average. Set against a $82,131 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is San Simeon safe?
San Simeon is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $326 per resident a year.
Compare San Simeon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Simeon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Simeon 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 Simeon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Simeon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Simeon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Simeon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Simeon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Simeon 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.