Best PlacesVista Santa Rosa, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vista Santa Rosa, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Vista Santa Rosa ranks 40,814th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Vista Santa Rosa
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.
Vista Santa Rosa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Vista Santa Rosa ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 178 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
Where Vista Santa Rosa ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Vista Santa Rosa
A household needs to earn about $152,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vista Santa Rosa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,234, 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 Vista Santa Rosa's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Vista Santa Rosa
Vista Santa Rosa'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 Vista Santa Rosa.
Who works in Vista Santa Rosa, and how
Work in Vista Santa Rosa centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Vista Santa Rosa
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Vista Santa Rosa.
What the weather is like in Vista Santa Rosa, month by month
Vista Santa Rosa sees roughly 178 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 Vista Santa Rosa
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 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Vista Santa Rosa
Schools across Vista Santa Rosa average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Coral Mountain AcademyD · 20% proficient
- Mountain Vista ElementaryD · 18% proficient
- Imagine Schools Riverside CountyD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cahuilla Desert Academy Junior HighD+ · 27% proficient
- Toro Canyon MiddleD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Desert Mirage HighC · 33% proficient
- Coachella Valley HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vista Santa Rosa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vista Santa Rosa 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 Vista Santa Rosa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Vista Santa Rosa
Is Vista Santa Rosa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vista Santa Rosa ranks 40,814th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, the weather, and transit, and lowest on an overheated housing market and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vista Santa Rosa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $580,866. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $89,234 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Vista Santa Rosa safe?
Vista Santa Rosa is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $488 per resident a year.
Compare Vista Santa Rosa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vista Santa Rosa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vista Santa Rosa 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.
Vista Santa Rosa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vista Santa Rosa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vista Santa Rosa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vista Santa Rosa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vista Santa Rosa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vista Santa Rosa 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.