Best PlacesSanta Clara, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Clara, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Santa Clara ranks 5,846th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Clara
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.
Santa Clara's strengths and weaknesses
Where Santa Clara ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$113,385 median, better than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
Where Santa Clara ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 17% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Clara
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Clara home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $113,385, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Santa Clara's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Santa Clara
Santa Clara runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Santa Clara.
Who works in Santa Clara, and how
Work in Santa Clara centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 0%
Life in Santa Clara
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Santa Clara.
What the weather is like in Santa Clara, month by month
Santa Clara sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 75° |
| October | 84° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Santa Clara
San Antonio International sits about 19 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 87 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Santa Clara
Schools across Santa Clara average a B+, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Garden Ridge ElA− · 60% proficient
- Norma Krueger El/bert Karrer CampusB · 45% proficient
- Wiederstein ElB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marion MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Canyon MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Elaine S Schlather IntB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Memorial Early College H S With St Philip'sA+ · 82% proficient
- Byron P Steele Ii H SA · 71% proficient
- Samuel Clemens H SA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Clara school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Clara 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 Santa Clara against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Santa Clara
Is Santa Clara a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Clara ranks 5,846th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, what local pay buys, and low taxes, and lowest on thin health care access and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Clara expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $360,309. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $113,385 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Santa Clara safe?
Santa Clara is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $367 per resident a year.
Compare Santa Clara with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Clara. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Clara 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.
Santa Clara detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Clara: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Clara: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Clara: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Clara: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Clara 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.