Best PlacesLaguna Beach, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Laguna Beach, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Laguna Beach ranks 20,323rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Laguna Beach
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.
Laguna Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Laguna Beach ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
Where Laguna Beach ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Laguna Beach
A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Laguna Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,052, 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 Laguna Beach's effective rate of 0.50%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Laguna Beach.
Who works in Laguna Beach, and how
Work in Laguna Beach centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns. The coast is about 0 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Laguna Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Laguna Beach, month by month
Laguna Beach sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 56° |
| July | 91° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 84° | 71° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Laguna Beach
The nearest airport, Northwest Florida Beaches International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 250 miles away.
The best schools in and around Laguna Beach
Schools across Laguna Beach average an A−, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Bay Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Surfside Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- J.r. Arnold High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Laguna Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Laguna Beach 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 Laguna Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Laguna Beach
Is Laguna Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Laguna Beach ranks 20,323rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and cell coverage, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Laguna Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $443,562. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $82,052 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Laguna Beach safe?
Yes, Laguna Beach is safer than 87% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $139 per resident a year.
Compare Laguna Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Laguna Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Laguna Beach 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.
Laguna Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Laguna Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Laguna Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Laguna Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Laguna Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Laguna Beach 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.