Best PlacesAliso Viejo, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Aliso Viejo, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Aliso Viejo ranks 226th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Aliso Viejo
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.
Aliso Viejo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Aliso Viejo ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 329 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of cities
- Household income$154,543 median, better than 92% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of cities
Where Aliso Viejo ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 16% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Aliso Viejo
A household needs to earn about $243,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Aliso Viejo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $154,543, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Aliso Viejo's effective rate of 0.65%, 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.
Who lives in Aliso Viejo
Aliso Viejo's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Aliso Viejo.
Who works in Aliso Viejo, and how
Work in Aliso Viejo centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Aliso Viejo
Aliso Viejo has more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. The coast is about 8 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Aliso Viejo and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Aliso Viejo, month by month
Aliso Viejo sees roughly 329 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 48. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 58° | 48° |
| April | 73° | 63° | 56° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 66° |
| October | 81° | 69° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Aliso Viejo
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 10 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.5 million passengers in 2025, with 80 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Aliso Viejo
Schools across Aliso Viejo average a B, better than 61% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- JourneyB · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Aliso Niguel HighA− · 66% proficient
- Laguna Hills HighB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Aliso Viejo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Aliso Viejo 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 Aliso Viejo against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Aliso Viejo suits
Retirees
The weather beats 99% of cities and health care access beats 66%.
Common questions about living in Aliso Viejo
Is Aliso Viejo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Aliso Viejo ranks 226th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, population health, and high incomes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Aliso Viejo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $948,472. The overall cost of living runs about 48% above the national average. Set against a $154,543 median income, cost of living beats 63% of cities.
Is Aliso Viejo safe?
Aliso Viejo is safer than 40% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $384 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Aliso Viejo?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 48. That works out to about 329 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of cities.
Is Aliso Viejo good for families?
Schools beat 61% of cities, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Compare Aliso Viejo with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Aliso Viejo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Aliso Viejo 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.
Aliso Viejo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Aliso Viejo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Aliso Viejo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Aliso Viejo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Aliso Viejo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Aliso Viejo detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.