Best PlacesSand City, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sand City, 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.
Sand City ranks 34,203rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sand City
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.
Sand City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sand City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 226 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
Where Sand City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sand City
A household needs to earn about $172,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sand City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $53,345, 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 Sand City's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Sand City
Sand City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sand City.
Who works in Sand City, and how
Work in Sand City centers on hospitality & food and admin & support services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Sand City
The coast is about 0 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Sand City, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sand City, month by month
Sand City sees roughly 226 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 69 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 65° | 56° | 48° |
| July | 69° | 60° | 54° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Sand City
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sand City
Schools across Sand City average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ione Olson ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seaside MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sand City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sand City 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 Sand City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sand City
Is Sand City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sand City ranks 34,203rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and the weather, and lowest on noise and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sand City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $671,400. The overall cost of living runs about 36% above the national average. Set against a $53,345 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Sand City safe?
Sand City is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $689 per resident a year.
Compare Sand City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sand City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sand City 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.
Sand City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sand City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sand City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sand City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sand City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sand City 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.