Best PlacesSanta Maria, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Santa Maria metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by John Margolies, via commons
Santa Maria ranks 149th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and biking. The cost shows up in childcare costs, an overheated housing market, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in the Santa Maria metro
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.
The best areas in Santa Maria
The towns and districts of the Santa Maria metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Santa Barbara & Goleta
More adults hold degrees, health care is easier to reach, and more residents vote.
Solvang, Buellton & Santa Ynez
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Orcutt
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Lompoc
Homes cost less, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Downtown Santa Maria
Disaster risk is lower, though incomes run lower.
Santa Maria shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 10% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Santa Maria's strengths and weaknesses
Santa Maria lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Biking and walkability follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. An overheated housing market and taxes also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Santa Maria to another than it does between Santa Maria and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Santa Maria ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 228 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 99% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of metro areas
Where Santa Maria ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,613 a month, better than only 3% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Maria
A household needs to earn about $243,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Maria home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,313, 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 Maria's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Maria
Santa Maria 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 Santa Maria.
Who works in Santa Maria, and how
Work in Santa Maria centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Santa Maria
Santa Maria has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Santa Maria and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Santa Maria growing, and who is moving in?
Santa Maria has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Los Angeles, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Santa Maria go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Santa Maria, month by month
Santa Maria sees roughly 228 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 75° | 62° | 54° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Santa Maria
The nearest airport, Santa Maria Public/Capt G Allan Hancock Field, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 129 miles away.
The best schools in and around Santa Maria
Schools across Santa Maria average a C+, better than 47% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Los Olivos ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Crestview ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Joe Nightingale ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mesa MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Vandenberg MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Kermit Mckenzie IntermediateD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Cabrillo HighA− · 65% proficient
- Cuyama Valley HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Maria school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Maria 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 Maria against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Santa Maria suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Santa Maria
Is Santa Maria a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Maria ranks 149th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on the weather, biking, and walkability, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Maria expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $953,362. The overall cost of living runs about 36% above the national average. Set against a $107,313 median income, cost of living beats 16% of metro areas.
Is Santa Maria safe?
Santa Maria is safer than 22% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $451 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Santa Maria?
July highs average about 75 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 40. That works out to about 228 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Santa Maria?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Santa Barbara & Goleta, Solvang, Buellton & Santa Ynez, and Orcutt. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Santa Maria good for families?
Schools beat 47% of metro areas, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $1,613 a month.
Is Santa Maria good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 16% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 87% of metro areas. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Santa Maria with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Maria. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Maria 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 Maria detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Maria: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Maria: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Maria: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Maria: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Maria 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.