Best PlacesSeaside, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Seaside, 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.
Seaside ranks 1,216th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Seaside
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.
Seaside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Seaside ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 220 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of cities
- TransitBetter than 90% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of cities
Where Seaside ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 4% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Seaside
A household needs to earn about $207,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Seaside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $85,399, 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 Seaside's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Seaside
Seaside 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 Seaside.
Who works in Seaside, and how
Work in Seaside centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Seaside
Seaside has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 3 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Seaside and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Seaside, month by month
Seaside sees roughly 220 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 69 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 65° | 56° | 48° |
| July | 69° | 60° | 54° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Seaside
The nearest airport, Monterey Regional, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Seaside
Schools across Seaside average a C+, better than 41% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- International School Of MontereyB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seaside MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Seaside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Seaside 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 Seaside against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Seaside suits
Common questions about living in Seaside
Is Seaside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Seaside ranks 1,216th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, the weather, and walkability, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay 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 Seaside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $817,997. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $85,399 median income, cost of living beats 4% of cities.
Is Seaside safe?
Seaside is safer than 33% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $377 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Seaside?
July highs average about 69 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 43. That works out to about 220 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of cities.
Is Seaside good for families?
Schools beat 41% of cities, crime safety beats 33%, and childcare runs $1,371 a month.
Compare Seaside with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Seaside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Seaside 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.
Seaside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Seaside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Seaside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Seaside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Seaside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Seaside 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.