Living in Seaside, CA
Suburb in California
Seaside is a suburb in California, home to about 32,000 people, with 660,000 living within 31 mi. Day to day, much of daily life is walkable. Life moves at a moderate pace, and homes are mostly apartments.
Is Seaside a good place to live? Pros and cons
👍 Pros
- Great outdoors: coast or a lake close by
- Mild summers: highs around 69°F
- Dog-friendly: 7 dog parks within 9 mi
- Safe: violent crime is 0.6× the US rate (FBI 2019)
👎 Cons
- Weaker public schools: test results well below the US average
- Pricey housing: a typical 3-bedroom home is about $797k, and rent is $3,620 a month
- Fewer graduates: 28% of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher
- Smaller job market: about 660,000 people live within 31 mi
Whether it's a good place for you depends on what you value. Take the quiz to see how Seaside ranks against your own priorities.
Key facts
Living in Seaside: common questions
What is the cost of living in Seaside?
A typical 3-bedroom home is worth about $797k, 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 Seaside?
California collects about $3,279 in state income tax per resident, and homeowners here pay about 0.54% of their home's value in property tax each year.
Is Seaside safe?
Violent crime is well below the national rate (0.6× in FBI 2019 data).
How are the schools in Seaside?
Public schools in Seaside test well below the US average in math and reading (2018–19 state tests, put on one national scale with NAEP), with about 21 students per teacher.
What is the weather like in Seaside?
Seaside has mild winters: winter days average around 62°F and summer days around 69°F.
Does Seaside 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 0.95 deaths or injuries per 100,000 residents a year.
What is the nearest major airport to Seaside?
The nearest major airport is SJC, about 52 mi away.
How Seaside scores
Each bar compares Seaside 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 Seaside
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 Seaside right for you?
Answer 27 quick questions and see how it ranks against your priorities.