Best PlacesVallejo, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Vallejo metro, 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.
Photo by Pi.1415926535, CC BY-SA 3.0, via wiki
Vallejo ranks 233rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 43 minutes away. Its strengths are few empty homes and big-city access. The cost shows up in long commutes, noise, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in the Vallejo metro
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 Vallejo
The towns and districts of the Vallejo metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Vacaville & Dixon
Crime runs lower, more households have young kids, and local pay stretches further.
Rio Vista & Travis AFB
It is quieter, though heat risk is higher.
Downtown Vallejo
Disaster risk is higher.
Fairfield & Suisun City
Fewer adults hold degrees and incomes run lower.
Vallejo shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Vallejo's strengths and weaknesses
Vallejo lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Few empty homes is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Big-city access and high incomes follow.
The one real hole is long commutes, near the bottom of the country. Noise and childcare costs also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Vallejo ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Household income$109,051 median, better than 94% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of metro areas
Where Vallejo ranks low
- Short commute31.0 minutes each way, better than only 3% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,462 a month, better than only 7% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Vallejo
A household needs to earn about $159,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vallejo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $109,051, 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 Vallejo's effective rate of 0.76%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Vallejo
Vallejo's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Vallejo.
Who works in Vallejo, and how
Work in Vallejo centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Vallejo
Vallejo has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 43 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Vallejo and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Vallejo growing, and who is moving in?
Vallejo has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from San Francisco, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Vallejo go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Vallejo, month by month
Vallejo sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 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° | 49° | 38° |
| April | 71° | 56° | 42° |
| July | 81° | 65° | 53° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Vallejo
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 27 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Vallejo
Schools across Vallejo average a C, better than 26% of metro areas.
Top middle schools
- Mare Island Technology AcademyB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Benicia HighA · 75% proficient
- Angelo Rodriguez HighB+ · 51% proficient
- Jesse M. Bethel HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vallejo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vallejo 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 Vallejo against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Vallejo suits
Common questions about living in Vallejo
Is Vallejo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vallejo ranks 233rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and high incomes, and lowest on long commutes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vallejo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $612,230. The overall cost of living runs about 23% above the national average. Set against a $109,051 median income, cost of living beats 44% of metro areas.
Is Vallejo safe?
Vallejo is safer than 18% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $465 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Vallejo?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 38. That works out to about 158 pleasant days a year, more than 90% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Vallejo?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Vacaville & Dixon, Rio Vista & Travis AFB, and Downtown Vallejo. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Vallejo good for families?
Schools beat 26% of metro areas, crime safety beats 18%, and childcare runs $1,462 a month.
Is Vallejo good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 44% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 55% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Vallejo with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vallejo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vallejo 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.
Vallejo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vallejo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vallejo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vallejo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vallejo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vallejo 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.