Best PlacesFountain Valley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fountain Valley, 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.
Fountain Valley ranks 443rd 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 Fountain Valley
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.
Fountain Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fountain Valley ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 324 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 96% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of cities
Where Fountain Valley ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Fountain Valley
A household needs to earn about $258,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fountain Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $129,327, 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 Fountain Valley'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 Fountain Valley
Fountain Valley runs older than the country, 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 Fountain Valley.
Who works in Fountain Valley, and how
Work in Fountain Valley 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 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Fountain Valley
Fountain Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of cities and more parkland per resident than 95% of cities. The coast is about 7 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fountain Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fountain Valley, month by month
Fountain Valley sees roughly 324 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 Fountain Valley
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 Fountain Valley
Schools across Fountain Valley average a B−, better than 65% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Jim Thorpe FundamentalC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fulton (harry C.) MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Vista View MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Fountain Valley HighA+ · 87% proficient
- Huntington Beach HighA · 80% proficient
- La Quinta HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fountain Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fountain Valley 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 Fountain Valley against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Fountain Valley suits
Retirees
The weather beats 99% of cities and health care access beats 60%.
Common questions about living in Fountain Valley
Is Fountain Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fountain Valley ranks 443rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, biking, and few empty homes, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fountain Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,017,052. The overall cost of living runs about 50% above the national average. Set against a $129,327 median income, cost of living beats 35% of cities.
Is Fountain Valley safe?
Fountain Valley is safer than 54% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $317 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fountain Valley?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 48. That works out to about 324 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of cities.
Is Fountain Valley good for families?
Schools beat 65% of cities, crime safety beats 54%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Compare Fountain Valley with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fountain Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fountain Valley 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.
Fountain Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fountain Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fountain Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fountain Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fountain Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fountain Valley 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.