Best PlacesIrvine, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Irvine, 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.
Irvine ranks 13th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and population health. The cost shows up in an overheated housing market, childcare costs, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in 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.
The best areas in Irvine
The parts of Irvine, 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.
West Park & Business District
Streets are more walkable, prices have run up less, and transit reaches more jobs.
Northwood Point & Orchard Hills
More households have young kids and it is quieter.
Lower Peters Canyon & Northwood
Incomes run higher and fewer homes sit empty.
Oak Creek & Quail Hill
Scores close to Lower Peters Canyon & Northwood, except that fewer residents vote here.
Woodbury, El Toro Marine Air Station & Portola Springs
Local pay stretches further, though commutes are longer.
Walnut Village
Crime runs higher.
El Camino Real & Spectrum
UC Irvine, Turtle Rock & Woodbridge
Homes cost less, though health care is harder to reach.
Irvine Health and Science Complex
Disaster risk is higher.
Scores across Irvine run from about the 50th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Irvine's strengths and weaknesses
Irvine ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. The weather is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Population health and an educated workforce follow.
The one real hole is an overheated housing market, near the bottom of the country. Childcare costs and taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Irvine ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 328 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of cities
- Household income$147,773 median, better than 97% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of cities
Where Irvine ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 15% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 19% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Irvine
A household needs to earn about $324,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Irvine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $147,773, 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 Irvine's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Irvine
Irvine runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Irvine.
Who works in Irvine, and how
Work in Irvine centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Irvine
Irvine has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of cities and more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Irvine and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Irvine, month by month
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 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 Irvine
Schools across Irvine average a B+, better than 89% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sycamore Magnet AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- Jim Thorpe FundamentalC+ · 37% proficient
- Orchard HillsD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- C. E. Utt MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- University HighA+ · 85% proficient
- Portola HighA+ · 81% proficient
- Northwood HighA · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Irvine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
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 Irvine against the other 444 cities.
Who Irvine suits
Retirees
The weather beats 100% of cities and health care access beats 80%.
Common questions about living in Irvine
Is Irvine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Irvine ranks 13th of 445 cities. It scores highest on the weather, population health, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Irvine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,243,106. The overall cost of living runs about 62% above the national average. Set against a $147,773 median income, cost of living beats 53% of cities.
Is Irvine safe?
Yes, Irvine is safer than 96% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $237 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Irvine?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 48. That works out to about 328 pleasant days a year, more than 100% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Irvine?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are West Park & Business District, Northwood Point & Orchard Hills, and Lower Peters Canyon & Northwood. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Irvine good for families?
Schools beat 89% of cities, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Is Irvine good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 53% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 34% of cities. About 28% of workers already work from home.
Compare Irvine with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Irvine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 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.
Irvine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Irvine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Irvine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Irvine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Irvine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
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.