Los Altos named top California community on WalletHub list of small cities

The San Francisco Bay Area city of Los Altos outranked other California communities in a WalletHub list of America’s best and worst small cities .

None of the state’s cities made the top 1%, but Los Altos, with a population of 31,625 in the 2020 U.S. census, was included in the 97th percentile.

Located in Santa Clara County, Los Altos is known for the Redwood Grove Nature Preserve, San Andreas Fault Trail, and Windy Hill Preserve, according to Tripadvisor .

WalletHub, a personal finance company, based its list on comparing 1,300 American cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000. Criteria varied from housing costs to schools and the number of restaurants per capita.

Palo Alto is list's second-highest California city

The California city with the second highest ranking on the WalletHub list was Palo Alto, famous as the birthplace of Silicon Valley and home to companies such as Google and AOL. It’s in the 96th percentile.

The list’s other California cities in the top 10%, in the order of their ranking, are Livermore; Saratoga; Yorba Linda, home to the President Richard Nixon Library and Museum ; Dublin; Menlo Park; Mountain View; Cupertino, where Apple is based; and Belmont.

Lower California cities in the top 20% in the order of ranking, are Newport Beach, San Ramon, Los Gatos, Pleasanton, Encinitas, Milipitas, Rocklin, Walnut Creek, Danville, Rancho Santa Margarita and Brea.

Santa Barbara, known for tourism, beaches, restaurants, and a prestigious film festival starring Oscar winners and nominees, was in the 84th percentile. See the video attached to this story.

Two Ventura County cities made the list: Camarillo, in the 77th percentile, and Santa Paula, in the 23rd percentile.

From the middle to the worst

In the middle of the list, in the 50th percentile, are South Pasadena, Lakewood and the coastal city of San Luis Obispo, which, like Santa Barbara, is famous for its tourism and film festival .

At the bottom of the list, in the 1% percentile, is Isla Vista, an unincorporated community next to the University of California at Santa Barbara. It’s ranked as the worst small city.

Hawthorne, the headquarters of SpaceX, was toward the bottom of the list, in the 11th percentile. Founder Elon Musk recently announced plans to move SpaceX to the company's launch site in Texas because of his frustration with California laws. Musk previously moved Tesla's headquarters from Palo Alto to Austin, Texas.

Worst town for housing: Isla Vista

In a related WalletHub list, Isla Vista had the nation’s highest housing costs and the second lowest homeownership rate. The unincorporated community consists largely of UCSB and Santa Barbara City College students renting apartments and houses.

San Luis Obispo, home to California Polytechnic State University or CalPoly, had the third highest housing costs.

The best small cities in the U.S.

America’s five best small cities are, according to the WalletHub list, Carmel, Indiana; Brookfield, Wisconsin; Lexington, Massachusetts; Fishers, Indiana; and Appleton, Wisconsin.

The cities with the lowest housing costs are listed as New Lenox, Illinois; Urbandale, Indiana; Gillette, N.Y.; Wildwood, Missouri; and Madison, Alabama.

Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at dave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Los Altos named top California community on WalletHub list of small cities