Best PlacesAnaheim, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Anaheim, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Anaheim ranks 203rd of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and the weather. The cost shows up in noise, education levels, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Anaheim
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.
The best areas in Anaheim
The parts of Anaheim, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Anaheim Hills & Northeast
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
The Colony
Streets are more walkable, though fewer households have young kids.
Northwest
Scores close to The Colony, except that it is quieter here.
Southwest
Scores close to Northwest, except that biking is better here.
Southeast
Health care is harder to reach and fewer residents vote.
Anaheim shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Anaheim's strengths and weaknesses
Anaheim lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access, the weather, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Education levels and civic engagement also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Anaheim ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 265 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of cities
- School gradeB−, better than 76% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 74% of cities
Where Anaheim ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 12% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 13% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 13% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Anaheim
A household needs to earn about $205,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Anaheim home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,023, 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 Anaheim's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Anaheim
Anaheim runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Anaheim.
Who works in Anaheim, and how
Work in Anaheim centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Anaheim
Anaheim has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Anaheim and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Anaheim, month by month
Anaheim sees roughly 265 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.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 85° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Anaheim
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 11 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 Anaheim
Schools across Anaheim average a B−, better than 76% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Holder ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Cerritos ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
- Twila Reid ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Valadez Middle School AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- El Rancho CharterA− · 57% proficient
- Orangeview Junior HighC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Yorba Linda HighA− · 65% proficient
- Valencia HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Anaheim school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Anaheim 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 Anaheim against the other 444 cities.
Who Anaheim suits
Common questions about living in Anaheim
Is Anaheim a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Anaheim ranks 203rd of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and few empty homes, and lowest on noise and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Anaheim expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $797,745. The overall cost of living runs about 38% above the national average. Set against a $104,023 median income, cost of living beats 13% of cities.
Is Anaheim safe?
Yes, Anaheim is safer than 70% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $340 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Anaheim?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 46. That works out to about 265 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Anaheim?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Anaheim Hills & Northeast, The Colony, and Northwest. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Anaheim good for families?
Schools beat 76% of cities, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Is Anaheim good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 13% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 34% of cities. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Anaheim with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Anaheim. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Anaheim 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.
Anaheim detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Anaheim: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Anaheim: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Anaheim: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Anaheim: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Anaheim 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.