Best PlacesBrea, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brea, 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.
Brea ranks 497th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Brea
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.
Brea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brea ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 267 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of cities
- Household income$138,088 median, better than 86% of cities
- BikingBetter than 85% of cities
Where Brea ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Brea
A household needs to earn about $239,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $138,088, 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 Brea's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Brea
Brea's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Brea.
Who works in Brea, and how
Work in Brea 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 78%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Brea
Brea has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. The coast is about 21 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brea and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brea, month by month
Brea sees roughly 267 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 Brea
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Wayne/Orange County, about 17 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brea
Schools across Brea average a B, better than 61% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Golden ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Mabel M. Paine ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Las Positas ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brea Junior HighB+ · 49% proficient
- Ladera Vista Junior High School Of The ArtsD+ · 25% proficient
- Imperial MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Diamond Bar HighA · 78% proficient
- Yorba Linda HighA− · 65% proficient
- El Dorado HighA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brea 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 Brea against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Brea suits
Retirees
The weather beats 96% of cities and health care access beats 61%.
Common questions about living in Brea
Is Brea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brea ranks 497th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and population health, and lowest on air quality and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $931,606. The overall cost of living runs about 39% above the national average. Set against a $138,088 median income, cost of living beats 56% of cities.
Is Brea safe?
Yes, Brea is safer than 64% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brea?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 46. That works out to about 267 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of cities.
Is Brea good for families?
Schools beat 61% of cities, crime safety beats 64%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Compare Brea with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brea 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.
Brea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brea 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.