Best PlacesSanta Ysabel, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Ysabel, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Santa Ysabel ranks 33,502nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Ysabel
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 Ysabel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Santa Ysabel ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 147 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$107,728 median, better than 89% of towns
Where Santa Ysabel ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,432 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Ysabel
A household needs to earn about $165,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Ysabel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,728, 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 Ysabel's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Ysabel
Santa Ysabel runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Santa Ysabel.
Who works in Santa Ysabel, and how
Work in Santa Ysabel centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Santa Ysabel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Santa Ysabel.
What the weather is like in Santa Ysabel, month by month
Santa Ysabel sees roughly 147 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 51° | 35° |
| April | 76° | 58° | 42° |
| July | 93° | 74° | 56° |
| October | 85° | 64° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Santa Ysabel
The nearest airport, McClellan-Palomar, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 39 miles away.
The best schools in and around Santa Ysabel
Schools across Santa Ysabel average a C, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Spencer Valley ElementaryA+ · 90% proficient
- Valley Center ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Valley Center MiddleD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Ramona HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Valley Center HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Julian HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Ysabel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Ysabel 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 Ysabel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Santa Ysabel
Is Santa Ysabel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Ysabel ranks 33,502nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, quiet, and the weather, and lowest on disaster risk 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 Ysabel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $651,518. The overall cost of living runs about 24% above the national average. Set against a $107,728 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Santa Ysabel safe?
Santa Ysabel is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $385 per resident a year.
Compare Santa Ysabel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Ysabel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Ysabel 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 Ysabel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Ysabel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Ysabel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Ysabel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Ysabel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Ysabel 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.