Best PlacesSanta Fe Springs, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Fe Springs, 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.
Santa Fe Springs ranks 28,665th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Fe Springs
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 Fe Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Santa Fe Springs ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 271 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
Where Santa Fe Springs ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Fe Springs
A household needs to earn about $170,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Fe Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $93,978, 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 Santa Fe Springs' effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Santa Fe Springs
Santa Fe Springs's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Santa Fe Springs.
Who works in Santa Fe Springs, and how
Work in Santa Fe Springs centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Santa Fe Springs
Santa Fe Springs has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Santa Fe Springs and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Santa Fe Springs, month by month
Santa Fe Springs sees roughly 271 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs September through July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 85° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Santa Fe Springs
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 19 miles away.
The best schools in and around Santa Fe Springs
Schools across Santa Fe Springs average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gonsalves (joe A.) ElementaryA+ · 95% proficient
- Stowers(cecil B.) ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Ada S. Nelson ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carmenita MiddleA+ · 98% proficient
- Los Nietos MiddleC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- La Mirada HighA+ · 83% proficient
- El Rancho HighB · 50% proficient
- Santa Fe HighB · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Fe Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Fe Springs 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 Fe Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Santa Fe Springs
Is Santa Fe Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Fe Springs ranks 28,665th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and transit, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Fe Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $660,737. The overall cost of living runs about 29% above the national average. Set against a $93,978 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Santa Fe Springs safe?
Santa Fe Springs is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $453 per resident a year.
Compare Santa Fe Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Fe Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Fe Springs 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 Fe Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Fe Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Fe Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Fe Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Fe Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Fe Springs 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.