Best PlacesWalnut, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walnut, 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.
Walnut ranks 727th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Walnut
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.
Walnut's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walnut ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 261 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of cities
- Household income$134,392 median, better than 84% of cities
Where Walnut ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of cities
- Short commute33.1 minutes each way, better than only 11% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Walnut
A household needs to earn about $270,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walnut home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $134,392, 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 Walnut'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 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 Walnut
Walnut runs older than the country, 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 Walnut.
Who works in Walnut, and how
Work in Walnut centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Walnut
Walnut has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 96% of cities. The coast is about 30 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Walnut and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Walnut, month by month
Walnut sees roughly 261 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 56° | 45° |
| April | 73° | 65° | 52° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 65° |
| October | 81° | 72° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Walnut
Ontario International sits about 15 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.5 million passengers in 2025, with 62 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Walnut
Schools across Walnut average a B, better than 61% of cities.
Top high schools
- Walnut HighA · 67% proficient
- John A. Rowland HighA− · 59% proficient
- Nogales HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walnut school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walnut 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 Walnut against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Walnut suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 19% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Walnut
Is Walnut a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walnut ranks 727th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on population health, the weather, and big-city access, and lowest on air quality and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Walnut expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,038,856. The overall cost of living runs about 43% above the national average. Set against a $134,392 median income, cost of living beats 46% of cities.
Is Walnut safe?
Walnut is safer than 50% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $319 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Walnut?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 45. That works out to about 261 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of cities.
Is Walnut good for families?
Schools beat 61% of cities, crime safety beats 50%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Walnut with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walnut. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walnut 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.
Walnut detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walnut: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walnut: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walnut: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walnut: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walnut 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.