Best PlacesSanta Clara, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Santa Clara area, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Santa Clara ranks 10th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $182,644, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, disaster risk, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Clara
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 Santa Clara
The parts of Santa Clara, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
West San Jose
Southwestern Santa Clara
Ponderosa Park
North San Jose
Rose Garden
Scores across Santa Clara run from about the 52nd to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Santa Clara's strengths and weaknesses
Santa Clara ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. High incomes, population health, and biking are the strongest pieces.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, disaster risk, and noise 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 Santa Clara ranks high
- Household income$182,644 median, better than 100% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 100% of cities
- BikingBetter than 98% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of cities
Where Santa Clara ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,106 a month, better than only 2% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 11% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Clara
A household needs to earn about $396,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Clara home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $182,644, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment and a 6.8% 30-year fixed rate. The rate updates weekly from Freddie Mac; property tax uses Santa Clara's effective rate against the median home value.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first ten 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 Santa Clara
Santa Clara runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Santa Clara.
Who works in Santa Clara, and how
Work in Santa Clara centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Santa Clara
Santa Clara has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 30 minutes away. The map and measures below show how they vary by area.
What the weather is like in Santa Clara, month by month
Santa Clara sees roughly 198 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 42. Spring and fall carry most of the comfortable stretch.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 84° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 80° | 65° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Santa Clara
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 2 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Santa Clara
Schools across Santa Clara average a B+, better than 80% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- D. J. Sedgwick ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Dwight D. Eisenhower ElementaryA · 62% proficient
- Easterbrook DiscoveryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Warren E. Hyde MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
- Herbert Hoover MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Cupertino HighA+ · 98% proficient
- Evergreen Valley HighA · 80% proficient
- Middle College HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Clara school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Clara 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 Santa Clara against the other 444 cities.
Who Santa Clara suits
Families
Schools beat 80% of the country and crime runs low. Compare neighborhoods on the map for the best fit.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 87% of cities and 26% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Santa Clara
Is Santa Clara a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Clara ranks 10th of 445 cities. It scores highest on high incomes, population health, and biking, 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 Santa Clara expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,516,464. The overall cost of living runs about 63% above the national average. Set against a $182,644 median income, cost of living beats 87% of cities.
Is Santa Clara safe?
Yes, Santa Clara is safer than 97% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $220 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Santa Clara?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 42. The area gets its pleasant stretches in spring and fall.
What are the best neighborhoods in Santa Clara?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are West San Jose, Southwestern Santa Clara, and Ponderosa Park. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Santa Clara good for families?
Schools beat 80% of cities, and safety is best away from the urban core. Home prices are usually the catch in the strongest school areas.
Is Santa Clara good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 87% of cities, and internet is widely advertised, so a big-employer salary stretches further here.
Compare Santa Clara with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Clara. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Clara 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.
Santa Clara detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Clara: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Clara: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Clara: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Clara: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Clara 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.