Is El Segundo a good place to live? The short answer
For many buyers, yes, if the trade-offs below are acceptable. Four numbers frame the decision:
- $1,719,205: Zillow's typical home value in September 2026, about half of Manhattan Beach's $3,353,430.
- +65.1: El Segundo Unified's English score on the 2025 California School Dashboard, points above the state standard (the state average was -8.1).
- Over 70,000: jobs in the city in 2020, against about 16,850 residents, per the city's Housing Element.
- 1,239: El Segundo homes eligible for LAX's current sound insulation program, which covers untreated homes inside the airport's 65 dB noise contour.
El Segundo is a 5.46-square-mile city incorporated in 1917, bordered by LAX to the north, the Pacific to the west, Manhattan Beach to the south and the 405 freeway to the east. All of its homes sit west of Pacific Coast Highway; the land east of it is offices, aerospace and industry.
Pros of living in El Segundo
Pros: El Segundo's state school results
El Segundo Unified scored Blue, the top color, in English, math and graduation rate on the 2025 Dashboard. The district graduated 97.5% of its class against 87.8% statewide, and El Segundo Middle School raised both English and math by more than 11 points in a year. Details are on our El Segundo schools page.
Pros: jobs inside the city limits
The Housing Element counted over 70,000 jobs in El Segundo in 2020, a ratio of about 4.2 jobs per resident, and names the Chevron refinery, The Aerospace Corporation, Boeing and Raytheon among the large employers. Living here can mean walking or biking to work rather than joining the freeway.
Pros: short commutes and remote work
The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 survey found 35.1% of El Segundo workers worked from home and the mean commute for the rest was 23.6 minutes. Just 54.1% drove alone.
Pros: lower prices than the beach cities to the south
On Zillow's typical value for September 2026, El Segundo ($1,719,205) costs less than Hermosa Beach ($2,272,277) and Manhattan Beach ($3,353,430), while sharing the same coastline and airport access. Redondo Beach, at $1,473,478, is the closest match on price.
Pros: a mild coastal climate
NOAA's 1991-2020 normals for the LAX weather station, at the city's northern edge, show an average August high of 76.7 degrees and a January high of 66.3. Average monthly lows stay above 49 degrees. Rainfall averages 12.23 inches a year, almost all between November and March.
Pros: beach and bike path at the west end
Dockweiler State Beach, run by Los Angeles County, is the long public beach on this stretch of Santa Monica Bay. The county lists 3.7 miles of ocean frontage, fire rings, volleyball nets and access to the Marvin Braude Bike Trail, the beach path that runs along Santa Monica Bay.
Pros: a walkable downtown on Main Street
The city adopted a Downtown Specific Plan in 2000 for the compact district around Main Street and Richmond Street. Listings for nearby townhouses describe walking to cafes, restaurants and summer concerts in Library Park. El Segundo High School is at 640 Main Street, at the edge of the district.
Pros: home values that have held up
Zillow's typical value rose 95.6% over ten years and 15.0% over five, and September 2026 was its highest reading on record. Past growth does not predict future prices.
Cons of living in El Segundo
Cons: aircraft noise from LAX
LAX sits directly north of the city, and the Housing Element names the northern residential areas as most affected by traffic, air quality, odor and safety issues tied to flight operations. LAWA's August 2025 briefing listed 1,239 El Segundo homes eligible for its sound insulation program, which adds windows, doors and ventilation at no cost. Spend time at a house at different hours before you buy.
Cons: the refinery and heavy industry
Heavy manufacturing covers about 30% of the city, the Housing Element says, and the Hyperion Treatment Plant and Scattergood power station sit just beyond the western boundary. Many local industries use hazardous materials. Read the Natural Hazard Disclosure carefully and visit on different days.
Cons: high prices for Los Angeles County
Redfin's median sale price in El Segundo was $1,624,227 for the three months to September 2026, against $912,957 for Los Angeles County in September 2026. Buying the median home with 20% down at 7.24% means about $8,855 a month in principal and interest before tax.
Cons: very few homes for sale
Only 42 homes sold in the three months to September 2026 (Redfin), and 57% of occupied homes are rented. Buyers looking for a specific street or home type may wait months for a listing.
Cons: an older housing stock
About 73% of homes were built before 1980, and the median year built is 1964 (Census 2020-2024). Budget for sewer lines, electrical panels, roofs and windows, and check permits for past additions.
Cons: rents rising faster than values
Zillow's observed rent rose 26.0% over five years to $3,253 a month, faster than the 15.0% rise in home values over the same period. Renters planning to buy later should factor that in.
El Segundo crime data: what the official figures show
We use only official figures. California DOJ's OpenJustice data show the El Segundo Police Department reported 67 violent crimes and 570 property crimes in 2025. Violent crime was down from 117 in 2022, and property crime was down 47% from 1,076 in 2023.
Rates per resident need care here. Per 1,000 residents (17,000 in the state's January 2025 estimate), that is 3.9 violent and 33.5 property crimes, against 4.3 and 17.8 statewide. But crimes are counted where they happen, and El Segundo has far more workers, shoppers and hotel guests than residents, so per-resident rates overstate the risk for people who live here. For an address, use the police department's crime map and call its records unit. Our El Segundo crime data page explains how.
What it's like to live in El Segundo
El Segundo weather through the year
Average highs at the LAX station range from 65.6 degrees in February to 76.7 in August, and average lows from 49.1 in December to 64.8 in August (NOAA 1991-2020). June to September is almost rainless. Ask whether an older house has air conditioning or ceiling fans before summer.
Getting around El Segundo
The 405 freeway forms the eastern border and LAX the northern one. Metro's C Line runs from Norwalk to the LAX/Metro Transit Center and the K Line from Expo/Crenshaw to Redondo Beach; check metro.net for the station nearest your address. Only 0.6% of workers commute by transit, so most households keep a car.
Housing types in El Segundo
Detached houses make up 38.4% of the city's homes in the Census 2020-2024 survey. Small buildings of two to four units add 14.4%, and buildings of five or more units 41.2%, most of them apartments. Only 5.9% are attached single-family homes such as townhouses. Redfin's medians for ZIP 90245 over the three months to September 2026 show what each costs: $1,869,528 for a detached house, $1,273,752 for a townhouse, $1,200,000 for a two-to-four-unit building and $649,981 for a condo. The city has little vacant land, so most new homes come from replacing older, lower-density buildings, as the Housing Element notes.
Smoky Hollow and the business district
Between downtown and Pacific Coast Highway sits Smoky Hollow, a 94-acre light industrial district bounded by Standard Street, El Segundo Boulevard, the highway and Grand Avenue. Its 2018 specific plan keeps it for light industry, with a residential overlay the city can activate later. For residents, that means workshops and delivery trucks a few blocks from the houses, and for anyone who wants to work close to home, a very short commute.
Things to do in El Segundo
Most daily life happens on the west side: Main Street's shops and restaurants, Library Park, Recreation Park and the beach. The school district's website links to the El Segundo Aquatics Center.
Salary needed to live in El Segundo
MIT's Living Wage Calculator (Los Angeles County, February 2026) puts the pre-tax income a single adult needs at $60,161, and $140,735 for two working parents with two children. Those figures use county rents, which are below El Segundo's. To rent at Zillow's $3,253 a month and keep rent at 30% of income, you need about $130,100 a year. The city's median household income was $150,737 in the Census 2020-2024 survey. Our El Segundo cost of living page breaks down every bill.
Who is moving to and from El Segundo
El Segundo is a stable town. In the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 survey, 85.5% of residents lived in the same home a year earlier. Of the 14.5% who moved, most (11.4% of all residents) came from elsewhere in Los Angeles County, 2.2% from another California county and 0.6% from another state. The median age was 39.3, and 62.7% of adults 25 and over held a bachelor's degree or higher. The population was 16,769, little changed from the Housing Element's 2020 estimate of 16,777.
Turnover among owners is low. Of 7,437 occupied homes in the 2020-2024 survey, 3,162 were owner-occupied and 4,275 rented, so most people who move into El Segundo arrive as renters. The Housing Element links the two: with about 4.2 jobs for every resident, the city's daytime population far exceeds its nighttime one, and it says the city needs to keep looking for ways to add housing. Expect competition for detached houses in particular, where Redfin showed about one month of supply in the three months to September 2026.
Retiring in El Segundo
About 14.4% of residents are 65 or older (Census 2020-2024). The city owns Park Vista, a 97-unit senior apartment building for independent living opened in 1984; the Housing Element reported waitlists of one and a half to two years. Owners who have held a home for decades may be able to move their low tax base under Prop 19; see our Prop 19 guide. Some recent townhouse listings, such as 703 Main Street, are on three levels, so ask about stairs early.
Where to live in El Segundo
The whole city shares ZIP 90245, so choices come down to block and home type. Downtown blocks near Main Street are closest to the shops; the central grid around Recreation Park and the schools is mostly detached houses; the east side toward Pacific Coast Highway has larger townhouse complexes; and the west side along Imperial Avenue holds the lowest-priced condos, closest to the airport. See our El Segundo homes guide, condos page and ZIP code guide.
Should you move to El Segundo? A checklist
- Visit the house at 7 a.m., midday and in the evening to hear the flight pattern.
- Look up the address on LAWA's sound insulation eligibility tool.
- Price your budget against detached ($1,869,528), townhouse ($1,273,752) and condo ($649,981) medians for 90245 (Redfin, three months to September 2026).
- Ask El Segundo Unified which elementary school has space in your child's grade.
- Read the Natural Hazard Disclosure and drive the industrial edges.
- Time your commute at rush hour if you work outside the city.