Living in Monterey, CA
Suburb in California
Monterey is a suburb in California, home to about 30,000 people, with 530,000 living within 31 mi. Day to day, you can walk or take transit almost everywhere. Life moves at a moderate pace, and homes are mostly apartments.
Is Monterey a good place to live? Pros and cons
👍 Pros
- Great outdoors: coast or a lake close by
- Mild summers: highs around 67°F
- Sunny: more sunshine and clearer skies than most places
- Dog-friendly: 7 dog parks within 9 mi
👎 Cons
- Pricey housing: a typical 3-bedroom home is about $1.24M, and rent is $3,620 a month
- Fewer family amenities than most places
- Weaker public schools: test results below the US average
- Quieter on culture: few museums and attractions nearby
Whether it's a good place for you depends on what you value. Take the quiz to see how Monterey ranks against your own priorities.
Key facts
Living in Monterey: common questions
What is the cost of living in Monterey?
A typical 3-bedroom home is worth about $1.24M, and a 3-bedroom rents for about $3,620 a month including utilities. Overall living costs are above the US average (index 109, where the US is 100).
What are taxes like in Monterey?
California collects about $3,279 in state income tax per resident, and homeowners here pay about 0.58% of their home's value in property tax each year.
Is Monterey safe?
Violent crime is well below the national rate (0.7× in FBI 2019 data).
How are the schools in Monterey?
Public schools in Monterey test below the US average in math and reading (2018–19 state tests, put on one national scale with NAEP), with about 22 students per teacher.
What is the weather like in Monterey?
Monterey has mild winters: winter days average around 60°F and summer days around 67°F.
Does Monterey get natural disasters?
Natural disaster risk is moderate, mainly from earthquakes and flooding: 9 federally declared disasters have hit the county since 2000, and FEMA expects about 0.64 deaths or injuries per 100,000 residents a year.
What is the nearest major airport to Monterey?
The nearest major airport is SJC, about 53 mi away.
How Monterey scores
Each bar compares Monterey with the other 1,990 places in Best Life Fit Me. A dot shows where it sits between two ends, such as major metro and small town; neither end is better. Coloured bars run from poor (red) to excellent (green).
Places like Monterey
These places have the most similar overall profile across all 24 aspects.
The circle is each place's all-round score out of 100: the average of its 15 quality scores, from red (poor) to green (excellent).
Nearby
See all the best places to live in California.
Is Monterey right for you?
Answer 27 quick questions and see how it ranks against your priorities.