Why look at Pasadena?
- High-cost housing. Median home is $1.2M — expensive market.
- Stable market. Home values -0.9% year-over-year — neither overheated nor falling.
- Higher tax state. Top marginal income tax rate around 13.3% — factor into salary comparisons.
Where Pasadena stands
Steady, no major recent move.
Home value trajectory · last 10 years
Zillow ZHVI · monthlyLifestyle scores
Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.
Rent trajectory · last 5 years
Zillow ZORI · monthlyHome value vs rent · indexed to 100
Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)Rent vs buy
At a 34.8 price-to-rent ratio, renting beats buying in Pasadena for most shorter stays. The premium you pay to own would take many years of saved rent to recover, and that's before maintenance, taxes, and what your down payment could earn elsewhere.
How the momentum score breaks down
methodology →About Pasadena (Wikipedia)
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.
City facts
Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.
Local safety & alerts
No active National Weather Service alerts for Los Angeles County right now.
Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Los Angeles County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.
Neighborhoods of Pasadena
10 tracked · ranked by median home valueRun the numbers for Pasadena
California context
Schools
Pasadena is served by 20 public schools enrolling about 12,245 students, with a student-teacher ratio of 21.6:1 — larger classes than the US average of ~15:1. Public-school facts are from the NCES Common Core of Data; check ratings and attendance boundaries by exact address below.
Ratings, districts & boundaries:
Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.
Climate & natural-disaster risk
State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.
Local sports teams
Major professional teams the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.
Current weather
Find rentals & listings
Open current Pasadena listings on the major real-estate sites.
Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.
Local news & community
Latest news in Pasadena
3 from local press- Mountain lion lounges in backyard of Pasadena home, video showsLOCALABC7 Los Angeles1w ago
- Pasadena City Officials Caution Residents About Heavy Smoke Smell, Confirm No Fires Burning Within CityLOCALPasadena Now1w ago
- Live StreamLOCALAll Saints Church, Pasadena4d ago
- America’s Last Surviving Wallace Neff Bubble House Is for SaleThe New York Times1d ago
- K-Beauty Giant Olive Young Opens US Stores in Expansion PushBloomberg1w ago
- Olive Young to debut first US store in Pasadena, CaliforniaRetail Insight Network2d ago
What locals are saying
Updated 2026-05-28 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Filtered for Pasadena-specific coverage. Headlines link to original sources.
Local economy & environment
Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.
Find more cities like Pasadena
Open the matchmaker pre-filled to match Pasadena’s price band, region, and size — refine to taste.
Find more like Pasadena →Cities similar to Pasadena
Explore other places with comparable momentum or affordability.
Cost-of-ownership at the median
Snapshot assumes a $150k single earner buying at the median home. Your real numbers depend on bracket, deductions, school district, and HOA. Use the affordability calculator and net-pay calculator for your specific case.
Schools & crime context
School quality is district-by-district and varies dramatically within a city. Check GreatSchools or your state DOE rankings for specific schools before deciding. City-level school data coming soon.
California: 499 violent crimes per 100K residents (state avg, FBI UCR). Neighborhood-level rates can vary 10× within one city — research specific areas via CrimeGrade or local police data.
Compare to where you live now
Set your current city once and we’ll show the cost delta on every city profile.
Jobs & hiring
In Pasadena, unemployment sits around 5.7%, and hiring momentum has been modest. The strongest local sectors are tech, healthcare and hospitality & tourism.
Search current openings: