Best PlacesValerie, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valerie, 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.
Valerie ranks 21,481st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Valerie
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.
Valerie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valerie ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 176 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$110,420 median, better than 90% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
Where Valerie ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Valerie
A household needs to earn about $315,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valerie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $110,420, 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 Valerie's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Valerie
Valerie runs older 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 Valerie.
Who works in Valerie, and how
Work in Valerie centers on agriculture & forestry and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Valerie
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Valerie.
What the weather is like in Valerie, month by month
Valerie sees roughly 176 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 111 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs January through April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 55° | 39° |
| April | 92° | 75° | 57° |
| July | 111° | 96° | 77° |
| October | 94° | 75° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Valerie
The nearest airport, Palm Springs International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Valerie
Schools across Valerie average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gerald R. Ford ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Las Palmitas ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- La Quinta MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Toro Canyon MiddleD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Palm Desert HighB · 48% proficient
- La Quinta HighB · 48% proficient
- Cathedral City HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valerie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valerie 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 Valerie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Valerie
Is Valerie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valerie ranks 21,481st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, short commutes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on summer heat and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valerie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,229,082. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $110,420 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Valerie safe?
Valerie is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $598 per resident a year.
Compare Valerie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valerie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valerie 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.
Valerie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valerie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valerie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valerie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valerie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valerie 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.