Best PlacesTamalpais-Homestead Valley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tamalpais-Homestead 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.
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley ranks 750th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tamalpais-Homestead 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.
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tamalpais-Homestead Valley ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$231,456 median, better than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
Where Tamalpais-Homestead Valley ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,211 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tamalpais-Homestead Valley
A household needs to earn about $480,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tamalpais-Homestead Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $231,456, 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 Tamalpais-Homestead Valley's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 Tamalpais-Homestead Valley
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tamalpais-Homestead Valley.
Who works in Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, and how
Work in Tamalpais-Homestead Valley centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 48%
- Work from home 47%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Tamalpais-Homestead Valley
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, month by month
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 66° | 52° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Tamalpais-Homestead Valley
San Francisco International sits about 20 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 Tamalpais-Homestead Valley
Schools across Tamalpais-Homestead Valley average an A, better than 84% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. AcademyD · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Tamalpais HighA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tamalpais-Homestead Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tamalpais-Homestead 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 Tamalpais-Homestead Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tamalpais-Homestead Valley
Is Tamalpais-Homestead Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tamalpais-Homestead Valley ranks 750th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, high incomes, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tamalpais-Homestead Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,821,361. The overall cost of living runs about 65% above the national average. Set against a $231,456 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Tamalpais-Homestead Valley safe?
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $354 per resident a year.
Compare Tamalpais-Homestead Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tamalpais-Homestead Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tamalpais-Homestead 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.
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tamalpais-Homestead Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tamalpais-Homestead Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tamalpais-Homestead Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tamalpais-Homestead Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tamalpais-Homestead 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.