Best PlacesEl Camino Real, Irvine, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around El Camino Real, Irvine, 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.
El Camino Real, Irvine ranks 530th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods 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 El Camino Real, Irvine
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.
El Camino Real, Irvine's strengths and weaknesses
Where El Camino Real, Irvine ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 328 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
- Household income$139,296 median, better than 88% of neighborhoods
Where El Camino Real, Irvine ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 18% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 21% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in El Camino Real, Irvine
A household needs to earn about $254,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Camino Real, Irvine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $139,296, 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 El Camino Real, Irvine's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 El Camino Real, Irvine
El Camino Real, Irvine runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for El Camino Real, Irvine.
Who works in El Camino Real, Irvine, and how
Work in El Camino Real, Irvine centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in El Camino Real, Irvine
El Camino Real, Irvine has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of neighborhoods and more parkland per resident than 85% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of El Camino Real, Irvine and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in El Camino Real, Irvine, month by month
El Camino Real, Irvine sees roughly 328 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 El Camino Real, Irvine
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 5 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 El Camino Real, Irvine
Schools across El Camino Real, Irvine average a B, better than 78% of neighborhoods.
Top high schools
- Irvine HighA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Camino Real, Irvine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Camino Real, Irvine 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 El Camino Real, Irvine against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in El Camino Real, Irvine
Is El Camino Real, Irvine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Camino Real, Irvine ranks 530th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, low crime, and low property taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Camino Real, Irvine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,018,057. The overall cost of living runs about 56% above the national average. Set against a $139,296 median income, cost of living beats 59% of neighborhoods.
Is El Camino Real, Irvine safe?
Yes, El Camino Real, Irvine is safer than 94% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $221 per resident a year.
Compare El Camino Real, Irvine with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Camino Real, Irvine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Camino Real, Irvine 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.
El Camino Real, Irvine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Camino Real, Irvine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Camino Real, Irvine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Camino Real, Irvine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Camino Real, Irvine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Camino Real, Irvine 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.