Best PlacesStanford, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stanford, 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.
Stanford ranks 2,807th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stanford
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.
Stanford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stanford ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 242 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
Where Stanford ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,106 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stanford
A household needs to earn about $478,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stanford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,246, 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 Stanford's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Stanford
Stanford runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Stanford.
Who works in Stanford, and how
Work in Stanford centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 18%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 60%
Life in Stanford
The coast is about 26 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Stanford, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Stanford, month by month
Stanford sees roughly 242 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 68° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 75° | 68° | 60° |
| October | 74° | 65° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Stanford
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Stanford
Schools across Stanford average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Escondido ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ellen Fletcher MiddleA+ · 83% proficient
- Frank S. Greene Jr. MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- Henry M. Gunn HighA+ · 89% proficient
- Palo Alto HighA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stanford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stanford 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 Stanford against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Stanford suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Stanford
Is Stanford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stanford ranks 2,807th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, population health, and the weather, and lowest on childcare costs and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stanford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,865,633. The overall cost of living runs about 53% above the national average. Set against a $89,246 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Stanford safe?
Stanford is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $584 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Stanford?
July highs average about 75 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 45. That works out to about 242 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of towns.
Is Stanford good for families?
Schools beat 98% of towns, crime safety beats 12%, and childcare runs $2,106 a month.
Compare Stanford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stanford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stanford 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.
Stanford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stanford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stanford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stanford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stanford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stanford 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.