Best PlacesDana Point, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dana Point, 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.
Dana Point ranks 722nd 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 Dana Point
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.
Dana Point's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dana Point ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 330 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Household income$146,083 median, better than 90% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of cities
Where Dana Point ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Dana Point
A household needs to earn about $340,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dana Point home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $146,083, 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 Dana Point's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Dana Point
Dana Point 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 Dana Point.
Who works in Dana Point, and how
Work in Dana Point 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 61%
- Work from home 35%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Dana Point
Dana Point has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 1 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Dana Point and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dana Point, month by month
Dana Point sees roughly 330 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 Dana Point
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 17 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 Dana Point
Schools across Dana Point average a B−, better than 45% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Richard Henry Dana Exceptional NeedsF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marco Forster MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Niguel Hills MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- California Preparatory AcademyA · 75% 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 Dana Point school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dana Point 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 Dana Point against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Dana Point suits
Retirees
The weather beats 99% of cities and health care access beats 88%.
Common questions about living in Dana Point
Is Dana Point a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dana Point ranks 722nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and health care access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dana Point expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,344,304. The overall cost of living runs about 88% above the national average. Set against a $146,083 median income, cost of living beats 30% of cities.
Is Dana Point safe?
Dana Point is safer than 6% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $667 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dana Point?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 48. That works out to about 330 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of cities.
Is Dana Point good for families?
Schools beat 45% of cities, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Compare Dana Point with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dana Point. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dana Point 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.
Dana Point detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dana Point: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dana Point: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dana Point: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dana Point: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dana Point 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.