Best PlacesSanta Margarita, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Margarita, 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 Margarita ranks 9,943rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Margarita
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 Margarita's strengths and weaknesses
Where Santa Margarita ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 188 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
- Household income$106,795 median, better than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
Where Santa Margarita ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,391 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Margarita
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Margarita home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,795, 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 Margarita's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Margarita
Santa Margarita runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Santa Margarita.
Who works in Santa Margarita, and how
Work in Santa Margarita centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Santa Margarita
The coast is about 30 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Santa Margarita, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Santa Margarita, month by month
Santa Margarita sees roughly 188 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 54° | 42° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 81° | 64° | 54° |
| October | 82° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Santa Margarita
The nearest airport, San Luis Obispo County Regional, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 145 miles away.
The best schools in and around Santa Margarita
Schools across Santa Margarita average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mckittrick ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Pacheco ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Cuyama ElementaryD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Teach ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Mesa MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- San Luis Obispo HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Paso Robles HighB · 46% proficient
- Cuyama Valley HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Margarita school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Margarita 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 Margarita against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Santa Margarita
Is Santa Margarita a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Margarita ranks 9,943rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Margarita expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $755,777. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $106,795 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Santa Margarita safe?
Santa Margarita is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $333 per resident a year.
Compare Santa Margarita with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Margarita. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Margarita 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 Margarita detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Margarita: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Margarita: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Margarita: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Margarita: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Margarita 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.