Best PlacesLaguna Woods, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Laguna Woods, 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.
Laguna Woods ranks 15,062nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Laguna Woods
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 Woods' strengths and weaknesses
Where Laguna Woods ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 331 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
Where Laguna Woods ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Laguna Woods
A household needs to earn about $130,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Laguna Woods home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $66,221, 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 Woods' effective rate of 0.64%, 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 7 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 Woods
Laguna Woods 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 Woods.
Who works in Laguna Woods, and how
Work in Laguna Woods centers on real estate and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Laguna Woods
The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Laguna Woods, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Laguna Woods, month by month
Laguna Woods sees roughly 331 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 Laguna Woods
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 9 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 Laguna Woods
Schools across Laguna Woods average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top high schools
- University HighA+ · 85% proficient
- Aliso Niguel HighA− · 66% proficient
- Laguna Hills HighB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Laguna Woods school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Laguna Woods 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 Woods against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Laguna Woods
Is Laguna Woods a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Laguna Woods ranks 15,062nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and health care access, and lowest on air quality and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Laguna Woods expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $510,493. The overall cost of living runs about 23% above the national average. Set against a $66,221 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Laguna Woods safe?
Laguna Woods is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $456 per resident a year.
Compare Laguna Woods with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Laguna Woods. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Laguna Woods 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 Woods detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Laguna Woods: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Laguna Woods: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Laguna Woods: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Laguna Woods: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Laguna Woods 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.