Best PlacesSouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa, 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.
SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa ranks 3,589th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa
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.
SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa's strengths and weaknesses
Where SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than 81% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 79% of neighborhoods
Where SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa
A household needs to earn about $154,000 a year to comfortably buy the median SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,147, 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 SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa'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 SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa
SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa 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 SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa.
Who works in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa, and how
Work in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa
SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 30 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa, month by month
SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 72° | 56° | 42° |
| July | 86° | 65° | 51° |
| October | 81° | 60° | 45° |
Flying in and out of SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 55 miles away.
SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa 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 SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa
Is SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa ranks 3,589th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on clean air, few empty homes, and fast internet, and lowest on education levels and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $594,609. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $81,147 median income, cost of living beats 31% of neighborhoods.
Is SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa safe?
Yes, SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa is safer than 81% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $325 per resident a year.
Compare SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa 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.
SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
SouthWest Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa 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.