Best PlacesSanta Monica, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Monica, 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 Monica ranks 306th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Monica
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 Monica's strengths and weaknesses
Where Santa Monica ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 338 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of cities
Where Santa Monica ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Monica
A household needs to earn about $402,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Monica home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $130,825, 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 Monica's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Monica
Santa Monica 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 Monica.
Who works in Santa Monica, and how
Work in Santa Monica centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 50%
- Work from home 38%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Santa Monica
Santa Monica has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 2 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Santa Monica and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Santa Monica, month by month
Santa Monica sees roughly 338 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 47. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 57° | 47° |
| April | 69° | 60° | 53° |
| July | 76° | 68° | 63° |
| October | 78° | 67° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Santa Monica
Los Angeles International sits about 7 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 36.7 million passengers in 2025, with 247 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Santa Monica
Schools across Santa Monica average a B, better than 60% of cities.
Top middle schools
- Lincoln MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Early College Academy-la Trade Tech CollegeB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Monica school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Monica 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 Monica against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Santa Monica suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 38% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 100% of cities and health care access beats 66%.
Common questions about living in Santa Monica
Is Santa Monica a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Monica ranks 306th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and biking, and lowest on crime and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Monica expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,568,678. The overall cost of living runs about 82% above the national average. Set against a $130,825 median income, cost of living beats 25% of cities.
Is Santa Monica safe?
Santa Monica is safer than 6% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $595 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Santa Monica?
July highs average about 76 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 47. That works out to about 338 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of cities.
Is Santa Monica good for families?
Schools beat 60% of cities, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Santa Monica with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Monica. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Monica 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 Monica detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Monica: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Monica: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Monica: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Monica: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Monica 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.