Best PlacesSimi Valley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Simi Valley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Simi Valley ranks 90th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $129,924, wages outrun the cost of living, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, cell coverage, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Simi Valley
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.
Simi Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Simi Valley ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Few empty homes is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. High incomes and the weather follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, cell coverage, and disaster risk hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Simi Valley ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$129,924 median, better than 91% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 234 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of cities
Where Simi Valley ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,601 a month, better than only 10% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Simi Valley
A household needs to earn about $214,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Simi Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $129,924, 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 Simi Valley's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 Simi Valley
Simi Valley runs older 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 Simi Valley.
Who works in Simi Valley, and how
Work in Simi Valley centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Simi Valley
Simi Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 29 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Simi Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Simi Valley, month by month
Simi Valley sees roughly 234 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 52° |
| July | 95° | 78° | 65° |
| October | 88° | 71° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Simi Valley
Bob Hope sits about 22 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.1 million passengers in 2025, with 54 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Simi Valley
Schools across Simi Valley average a B−, better than 68% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Vista ElementaryA · 69% proficient
- Hollow Hills ElementaryA− · 56% proficient
- Big Springs ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Medea Creek MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
- Alice C. Stelle MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Mesa Verde MiddleB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Thousand Oaks HighA− · 65% proficient
- The High School At Moorpark CollegeB+ · 58% proficient
- Oak Park HighB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Simi Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Simi Valley 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 Simi Valley against the other 444 cities.
Who Simi Valley suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 71% of cities and 19% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 91% of cities, health care access beats 83%, and it is quieter than 78%.
Common questions about living in Simi Valley
Is Simi Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Simi Valley ranks 90th of 445 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, high incomes, and the weather, and lowest on childcare costs and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Simi Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $825,006. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $129,924 median income, cost of living beats 71% of cities.
Is Simi Valley safe?
Yes, Simi Valley is safer than 82% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Simi Valley?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 46. That works out to about 234 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of cities.
Is Simi Valley good for families?
Schools beat 68% of cities, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $1,601 a month.
Is Simi Valley good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 71% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 32% of cities. About 19% of workers already work from home.
Compare Simi Valley with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Simi Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Simi Valley 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.
Simi Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Simi Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Simi Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Simi Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Simi Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Simi Valley 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.