Best PlacesLadera Ranch, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ladera Ranch, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ladera Ranch ranks 40th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Ladera Ranch
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.
Ladera Ranch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ladera Ranch ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 330 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$194,312 median, better than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of cities
Where Ladera Ranch ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 16% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 23% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ladera Ranch
A household needs to earn about $323,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ladera Ranch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $194,312, 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 Ladera Ranch's effective rate of 0.97%, 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 Ladera Ranch
Ladera Ranch 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 Ladera Ranch.
Who works in Ladera Ranch, and how
Work in Ladera Ranch centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ladera Ranch
Ladera Ranch has more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 10 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Ladera Ranch and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ladera Ranch, month by month
Ladera Ranch sees roughly 330 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 Ladera Ranch
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 16 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 Ladera Ranch
Schools across Ladera Ranch average an A−, better than 77% of cities.
Top middle schools
- Marco Forster MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Tesoro HighA · 70% proficient
- San Juan Hills HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ladera Ranch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ladera Ranch 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 Ladera Ranch against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Ladera Ranch suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of cities and 30% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 99% of cities, health care access beats 71%, and it is quieter than 77%.
Common questions about living in Ladera Ranch
Is Ladera Ranch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ladera Ranch ranks 40th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, a strong job market, and population health, 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 Ladera Ranch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,207,782. The overall cost of living runs about 48% above the national average. Set against a $194,312 median income, cost of living beats 85% of cities.
Is Ladera Ranch safe?
Yes, Ladera Ranch is safer than 76% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $262 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ladera Ranch?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 48. That works out to about 330 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of cities.
Is Ladera Ranch good for families?
Schools beat 77% of cities, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Compare Ladera Ranch with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ladera Ranch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ladera Ranch 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.
Ladera Ranch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ladera Ranch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ladera Ranch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ladera Ranch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ladera Ranch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ladera Ranch 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.