Best PlacesWalnut Creek, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walnut Creek, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Walnut Creek ranks 429th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Walnut Creek
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 Walnut Creek
The parts of Walnut Creek, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Northgate Area & Rancho San Miguel
Woodlands, Diablo Shadows & Scottsdale Area
Diablo Hills
Downtown Walnut Creek & Buena Vista Area
Larkey Park Area
Walnut Heights
Pleasant Valley & Bancroft Village
Parkmead Area & Saranap Area
Scores across Walnut Creek run from about the 27th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Walnut Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walnut Creek ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of cities
- Household income$157,302 median, better than 93% of cities
- BikingBetter than 89% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of cities
Where Walnut Creek ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,942 a month, better than only 3% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Short commute30.7 minutes each way, better than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Walnut Creek
A household needs to earn about $306,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walnut Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $157,302, 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 Creek's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Creek
Walnut Creek 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 Walnut Creek.
Who works in Walnut Creek, and how
Work in Walnut Creek centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Walnut Creek
Walnut Creek has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 79% of cities. The coast is about 28 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Walnut Creek and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Walnut Creek, month by month
Walnut Creek sees roughly 176 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 51° | 41° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 58° |
| October | 82° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Walnut Creek
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 16 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 Walnut Creek
Schools across Walnut Creek average a B+, better than 76% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Burton Valley ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Walnut Acres ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- Springhill ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- M. H. Stanley MiddleA+ · 71% proficient
- Foothill MiddleA · 63% proficient
- Pleasant Hill MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Acalanes HighA · 78% proficient
- Monte Vista HighA · 75% proficient
- Acalanes Center For Independent StudyA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walnut Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walnut Creek 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 Creek against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Walnut Creek suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 79% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 32% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 88% of cities and health care access beats 87%.
Common questions about living in Walnut Creek
Is Walnut Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walnut Creek ranks 429th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, clean air, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Walnut Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,178,162. The overall cost of living runs about 36% above the national average. Set against a $157,302 median income, cost of living beats 79% of cities.
Is Walnut Creek safe?
Walnut Creek is safer than 14% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $480 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Walnut Creek?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 41. That works out to about 176 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Walnut Creek?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Northgate Area & Rancho San Miguel, Woodlands, Diablo Shadows & Scottsdale Area, and Diablo Hills. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Walnut Creek with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walnut Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walnut Creek 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 Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walnut Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walnut Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walnut Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walnut Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walnut Creek 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.