Best PlacesVentura, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ventura, 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.
Ventura ranks 137th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and clean air. The cost shows up in internet speeds, childcare costs, and tree cover.
The best neighborhoods in Ventura
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.
Ventura's strengths and weaknesses
Ventura lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather, clean air, and low property taxes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Internet speeds, childcare costs, and tree cover hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Ventura ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 279 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of cities
- BikingBetter than 80% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 79% of cities
Where Ventura ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,601 a month, better than only 10% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ventura
A household needs to earn about $212,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ventura home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $108,102, 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 Ventura's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Ventura
Ventura's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ventura.
Who works in Ventura, and how
Work in Ventura centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Ventura
Ventura has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ventura and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ventura, month by month
Ventura sees roughly 279 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 73 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 46. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 56° | 46° |
| April | 68° | 58° | 50° |
| July | 73° | 66° | 60° |
| October | 76° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Ventura
The nearest airport, Santa Barbara Municipal, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ventura
Schools across Ventura average a C+, better than 39% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mound ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Poinsettia ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Loma Vista ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cabrillo MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- Balboa MiddleC · 34% proficient
- Anacapa MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Foothill Technology HighA · 70% proficient
- Rancho Campana HighA− · 65% proficient
- El Camino HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ventura school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ventura 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 Ventura against the other 444 cities.
Who Ventura suits
Retirees
The weather beats 96% of cities and health care access beats 76%.
Common questions about living in Ventura
Is Ventura a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ventura ranks 137th of 445 cities. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and low property taxes, and lowest on internet speeds and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ventura expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $833,828. The overall cost of living runs about 38% above the national average. Set against a $108,102 median income, cost of living beats 22% of cities.
Is Ventura safe?
Ventura is safer than 49% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $421 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ventura?
July highs average about 73 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 46. That works out to about 279 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of cities.
Is Ventura good for families?
Schools beat 39% of cities, crime safety beats 49%, and childcare runs $1,601 a month.
Is Ventura good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 22% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 10% of cities. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Ventura with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ventura. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ventura 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.
Ventura detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ventura: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ventura: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ventura: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ventura: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ventura 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.