Best Places92886, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 92886, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

92886 ranks 2,221st of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.

#2,221
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 92886

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 92886 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

92886's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%The weather
Top 3%Big-city access
Top 3%High incomes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 92886 with other zip codes.

Where 92886 ranks high

  • Nice weatherabout 246 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Household income$162,389 median, better than 97% of zip codes
  • Health outlookBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of zip codes

Where 92886 ranks low

  • Air qualityBetter than only 4% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 6% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 10% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 92886

A household needs to earn about $303,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 92886 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $162,389, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$303,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$7,080
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $1,176,893 home
Median rent
$2,830
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$6,001
Property tax$688
Homeowners insurance$392

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 92886's effective rate of 0.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 92886

92886 runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
46
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
20%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.9
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3416%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6422%
65 and older20%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 92886.


Who works in 92886, and how

Work in 92886 centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
20%
above the national average
Unemployment
3.5%
below the national average
Job growth
+1.2%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social14%
Professional & technical13%
Manufacturing11%
Retail trade11%
Education10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 76%
  • Work from home 20%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 92886

92886 has more parkland per resident than 68% of zip codes. The coast is about 20 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of 92886 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
131
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 25.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 38% of zip codes
Coffee shops
21
about 4.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 62% of zip codes
Parkland
171 acres
about 3.4 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 68% of zip codes
To the coast
20 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 92886, month by month

92886 sees roughly 246 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs September through July.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January71°57°46°
April77°64°54°
July87°74°66°
October85°70°58°

Flying in and out of 92886

John Wayne/Orange County sits about 15 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.5 million passengers in 2025, with 80 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
SNA
John Wayne/Orange County, about 15 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
42nd-busiest in the US, 80 nonstop destinations
Average drive
22 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 92886

Schools across 92886 average a B, better than 63% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 92886 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


92886 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 92886 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 92886 suits

Families

Schools beat 63% of zip codes and crime safety beats 85%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of zip codes and 20% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 99% of zip codes and health care access beats 79%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 92886

Is 92886 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 92886 ranks 2,221st of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and high incomes, and lowest on air quality and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 92886 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $1,176,893. The overall cost of living runs about 48% above the national average. Set against a $162,389 median income, cost of living beats 83% of zip codes.

Is 92886 safe?

Yes, 92886 is safer than 85% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $220 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 92886?

July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 46. That works out to about 246 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of zip codes.

Is 92886 good for families?

Schools beat 63% of zip codes, crime safety beats 85%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.


Compare 92886 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 92886. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 92886 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

92886 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 92886: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 92886: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 92886: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 92886: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

92886 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.