Best ZIP codes by state

Best ZIP codes in California: build your own ZIP ranking.

Use SkaldMaps to compare California ZIP codes with the same filters and weights. Start with 2,446 ZIPs, then narrow the map by affordability, schools, commute, weather, broadband, healthcare access, and market signals. Compare major markets like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose with nearby suburbs, exurbs, and smaller ZIPs.

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2,446 ZIPs ZIP codes in California.

33k+ ZIPs Every U.S. ZIP code analyzed.

3k+ Counties Over 3,300 US counties mapped.

85k+ Tracts Every US census tract available for deep dives.

50 States Nationwide coverage.

470+ Data fields - from ownership costs and rent benchmarks to schools and weather.

Here's an example

Top 10 ZIP codes in California by Premium Retail Access

We calculate Premium Retail Access by analyzing the number of retail locations in a ZIP code - just one of our custom KPIs.

Whether you're looking for strong investment signals or just like to be close to amenities for your next home, we got you covered.

Top 10 ZIP codes in California by Premium Retail Access
ZIP	Nearest city	County	Score
94103	Berkeley, CA	San Francisco	99.5
94102	Berkeley, CA	San Francisco	99.3
90717	Torrance, CA	Los Angeles	99.1
92606	Irvine, CA	Orange	99.1
94086	Sunnyvale, CA	Santa Clara	99.1
94706	Berkeley, CA	Alameda	99.1
95118	San Jose, CA	Santa Clara	99.1
91204	Glendale, CA	Los Angeles	99.0
91411	Burbank, CA	Los Angeles	99.0
94107	Berkeley, CA	San Francisco	99.0

What SkaldMaps does

Location intelligence for California and beyond.

Whether you're buying a home, helping a client, relocating, or screening investment markets in California, SkaldMaps brings housing, schools, weather, commute, healthcare access, broadband, demographics, and market signals together on one map of ZIPs, counties, and census tracts.

Our rating engine lets you pick the criteria you care about, set how much each one matters, and rank the areas that match your goals. Save the model, refine it, reuse it. The ranking is yours - not someone else's top-10 list.

SkaldMaps defaults to screening ZIP codes. Start with scanning all 2446 ZIPs in California, then switch to counties when you need the bigger picture or drill down to census tracts for a more local view.

Our data set currently has 473 fields: demographics, market signals, amenities, healthcare access, weather, affordability, schools, custom scores, and quality indicators for California research.

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See how it works

Why SkaldMaps

Why not just Google it?

Because the data lives in dozens of different places - and a generic "Top 10 Suburbs of Los Angeles" list isn't necessarily what you're actually looking for.

Data that's normally scattered across dozens of sources.

Ownership costs, schools, weather, broadband, hospital access, and market context for California live in different places, formats, and geographic scales.

We did the math.

We pull the data together, map non-ZIP data to the ZIP (or county or even census tract, if you prefer) level using geospatial calculations, and build derived signals on top: access scores, affordability ratios, custom indices. One question instead of twenty.

Filter the state, not just one city.

"Show me every ZIP in California under $400k where schools beat the state average and a hospital is within 10 miles and I'm within 20 miles of my office in San Diego"? Try that elsewhere.

Your priorities, your ranking.

Generic top-10 lists rank places with a fixed formula. Yours maybe weighs commute and broadband access higher than nightlife (and maybe it doesn't) - so we let you set the weights yourself.

What you can do with it

Explore and analyze California's eeal estate market.

Explore the map, rank locations by your own weights, and filter the results down to a shortlist that fits.

Build your own rating model

See all of California at a glance, then drill down.

Explore California's 2446 ZIP codes, build and tune your custom rating model to find the perfect place.

ZIP, county, and tract views from the same map workflow
Overlay any data field on the map in one click
Compare adjacent locations before you commit to a market