Best PlacesSouth San Francisco, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South San Francisco, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
South San Francisco ranks 825th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in South San Francisco
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.
The best areas in South San Francisco
The parts of South San Francisco, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Serra Highlands
Westborough
Winston Manor
Sunshine Gardens & Sign Hill
Downtown South San Francisco
El Camino
Paradise Valley
Orange Park & Lindenville
Scores across South San Francisco run from about the 24th to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
South San Francisco's strengths and weaknesses
Where South San Francisco ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 228 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of cities
- TransitBetter than 91% of cities
- BikingBetter than 91% of cities
Where South San Francisco ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,233 a month, better than only 1% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in South San Francisco
A household needs to earn about $306,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South San Francisco home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $135,636, 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 South San Francisco's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 South San Francisco
South San Francisco 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 South San Francisco.
Who works in South San Francisco, and how
Work in South San Francisco centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in South San Francisco
South San Francisco has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of South San Francisco and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in South San Francisco, month by month
South San Francisco sees roughly 228 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 53° | 46° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 74° | 62° | 56° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 54° |
Flying in and out of South San Francisco
San Francisco International sits about 4 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.5 million passengers in 2025, with 193 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around South San Francisco
Schools across South San Francisco average a C+, better than 35% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Monte Verde ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
- Skyline ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Buri Buri ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lipman MiddleA · 65% proficient
- Westborough MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Alta Loma MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Jefferson HighB+ · 53% proficient
- El Camino HighB · 50% proficient
- South San Francisco HighB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South San Francisco school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
South San Francisco 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 South San Francisco against the other 2,097 cities.
Who South San Francisco suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in South San Francisco
Is South San Francisco a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South San Francisco ranks 825th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is South San Francisco expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,200,530. The overall cost of living runs about 45% above the national average. Set against a $135,636 median income, cost of living beats 49% of cities.
Is South San Francisco safe?
South San Francisco is safer than 9% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $544 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in South San Francisco?
July highs average about 74 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 46. That works out to about 228 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in South San Francisco?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Serra Highlands, Westborough, and Winston Manor. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare South San Francisco with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South San Francisco. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South San Francisco 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.
South San Francisco detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South San Francisco: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South San Francisco: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South San Francisco: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South San Francisco: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South San Francisco 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.