Best PlacesSanta Maria, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Maria, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Santa Maria ranks 48,702nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Maria
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 Maria's strengths and weaknesses
Where Santa Maria ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 178 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
Where Santa Maria ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Maria
A household needs to earn about $20,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Maria home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $35,246, 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 Maria's effective rate of 1.11%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Santa Maria
Santa Maria'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 Maria.
Who works in Santa Maria, and how
Work in Santa Maria centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Santa Maria
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Santa Maria.
What the weather is like in Santa Maria, month by month
Santa Maria sees roughly 178 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 73, with lows near 51. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 73° | 60° | 51° |
| April | 87° | 76° | 68° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 77° |
| October | 89° | 76° | 67° |
Flying in and out of Santa Maria
The nearest airport, Valley International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 241 miles away.
The best schools in and around Santa Maria
Schools across Santa Maria average a D−, better than 2% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Travis ElD− · 15% proficient
- Tony Gonzalez ElD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Noemi Dominguez ElD+ · 27% proficient
- Sgt Manuel Chacon MiddleD · 22% proficient
- Santa Maria MiddleF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Santa Maria Academic Academy-options Campus (6-12)D+ · 25% proficient
- Mercedes H SD− · 14% proficient
- Santa Maria H SD− · 12% 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 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Santa Maria
Is Santa Maria a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Maria ranks 48,702nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and cell coverage, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. 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 $71,655. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $35,246 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Santa Maria safe?
Santa Maria is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $522 per resident a year.
Compare Santa Maria with other towns
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.
- 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.