Best PlacesDowntown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington 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.
Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach ranks 1,028th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington 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.
Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 325 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of neighborhoods
- Household income$140,488 median, better than 89% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
Where Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
- Short commute31.2 minutes each way, better than only 14% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach
A household needs to earn about $436,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $140,488, 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 Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach'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 Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach
Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington 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 Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach.
Who works in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach, and how
Work in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach
Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 0 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach, month by month
Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach sees roughly 325 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 Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 8 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 Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach
Schools across Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach average a B, better than 81% of neighborhoods.
Top high schools
- Huntington Beach HighA · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington 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 Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach
Is Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach ranks 1,028th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and health care access, and lowest on tree cover and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,695,273. The overall cost of living runs about 62% above the national average. Set against a $140,488 median income, cost of living beats 65% of neighborhoods.
Is Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach safe?
Yes, Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach is safer than 56% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $500 per resident a year.
Compare Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington 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.
Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Downtown Huntington Beach, Huntington 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.