Best PlacesSan Ysidro, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Ysidro, 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 Ysidro ranks 2,027th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in San Ysidro
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 Ysidro's strengths and weaknesses
Where San Ysidro ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 281 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of cities
- TransitBetter than 90% of cities
- BikingBetter than 87% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of cities
Where San Ysidro ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in San Ysidro
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Ysidro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,595, 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 Ysidro's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Ysidro
San Ysidro 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 Ysidro.
Who works in San Ysidro, and how
Work in San Ysidro centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in San Ysidro
San Ysidro has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 7 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of San Ysidro and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Ysidro, month by month
San Ysidro sees roughly 281 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 43. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 55° | 43° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 50° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 62° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 55° |
Flying in and out of San Ysidro
San Diego International sits about 14 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.7 million passengers in 2025, with 121 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around San Ysidro
Schools across San Ysidro average a C−, better than 15% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Howard Pence ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
- George Nicoloff ElementaryF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Montgomery MiddleC− · 27% proficient
- Southwest MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- San Ysidro HighC+ · 36% proficient
- Southwest Senior HighC · 31% proficient
- Montgomery Senior HighC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Ysidro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Ysidro 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 Ysidro against the other 2,097 cities.
Who San Ysidro suits
Common questions about living in San Ysidro
Is San Ysidro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Ysidro ranks 2,027th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and biking, and lowest on education levels and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Ysidro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $518,800. The overall cost of living runs about 26% above the national average. Set against a $70,595 median income, cost of living beats 1% of cities.
Is San Ysidro safe?
San Ysidro is safer than 6% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $640 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in San Ysidro?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 43. That works out to about 281 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of cities.
Is San Ysidro good for families?
Schools beat 15% of cities, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $1,432 a month.
Compare San Ysidro with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Ysidro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Ysidro 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 Ysidro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Ysidro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Ysidro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Ysidro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Ysidro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Ysidro 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.