Best PlacesFullerton, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fullerton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fullerton ranks 110th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and the weather. The cost shows up in childcare costs, air quality, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Fullerton
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.
The best areas in Fullerton
The parts of Fullerton, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
La Habra City
More adults hold degrees, it is quieter, and health care is easier to reach.
Brea-Olinda
More residents vote, though streets are more car-dependent.
Southeastern Fullerton
Fewer homes sit empty, though fewer households have young kids.
Downtown Fullerton
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Scores across Fullerton run from about the 16th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Fullerton's strengths and weaknesses
Fullerton ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Big-city access, the weather, and population health carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, air quality, and taxes hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Fullerton ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 270 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 85% of cities
- Household income$115,705 median, better than 82% of cities
Where Fullerton ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 15% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Short commute30.6 minutes each way, better than only 16% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Fullerton
A household needs to earn about $225,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fullerton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $115,705, 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 Fullerton's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Fullerton
Fullerton runs younger 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 Fullerton.
Who works in Fullerton, and how
Work in Fullerton 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 78%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Fullerton
Fullerton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fullerton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fullerton, month by month
Fullerton sees roughly 270 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs September through July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 85° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Fullerton
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Wayne/Orange County, about 14 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fullerton
Schools across Fullerton average a B−, better than 66% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Golden ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Charles G. Emery ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Golden Hill School For Creative & Performing ArtsD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brea Junior HighB+ · 49% proficient
- Ladera Vista Junior High School Of The ArtsD+ · 25% proficient
- Imperial MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Troy HighA+ · 88% proficient
- La Mirada HighA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fullerton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fullerton 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 Fullerton against the other 444 cities.
Who Fullerton suits
Common questions about living in Fullerton
Is Fullerton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fullerton ranks 110th of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fullerton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $880,931. The overall cost of living runs about 41% above the national average. Set against a $115,705 median income, cost of living beats 30% of cities.
Is Fullerton safe?
Yes, Fullerton is safer than 74% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fullerton?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 46. That works out to about 270 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fullerton?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are La Habra City, Brea-Olinda, and Southeastern Fullerton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Fullerton good for families?
Schools beat 66% of cities, crime safety beats 74%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Is Fullerton good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 30% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 44% of cities. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Fullerton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fullerton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fullerton 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.
Fullerton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fullerton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fullerton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fullerton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fullerton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fullerton 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.