Best PlacesCapistrano Beach, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Capistrano Beach, 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.
Capistrano Beach ranks 8,803rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Capistrano Beach
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.
Capistrano Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Capistrano Beach ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 311 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
Where Capistrano Beach ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Capistrano Beach
A household needs to earn about $303,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Capistrano Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $130,371, 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 Capistrano Beach's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Capistrano Beach
Capistrano Beach runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Capistrano Beach.
Who works in Capistrano Beach, and how
Work in Capistrano Beach centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Capistrano Beach
The coast is about 0 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Capistrano Beach, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Capistrano Beach, month by month
Capistrano Beach sees roughly 311 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 Capistrano Beach
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 19 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 Capistrano Beach
Schools across Capistrano Beach average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Marco Forster MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- San Clemente HighA− · 65% proficient
- San Juan Hills HighA− · 63% proficient
- Dana Hills HighB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Capistrano Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Capistrano Beach 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 Capistrano Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Capistrano Beach
Is Capistrano Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Capistrano Beach ranks 8,803rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, biking, and big-city access, and lowest on noise 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 Capistrano Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,190,410. The overall cost of living runs about 82% above the national average. Set against a $130,371 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Capistrano Beach safe?
Capistrano Beach is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $544 per resident a year.
Compare Capistrano Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Capistrano Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Capistrano Beach 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.
Capistrano Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Capistrano Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Capistrano Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Capistrano Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Capistrano Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Capistrano Beach 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.