Best PlacesMid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana, 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.
Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana ranks 1,576th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana
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.
Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 327 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
Where Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana
A household needs to earn about $165,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $130,781, 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 Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana
Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana 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 Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana.
Who works in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana, and how
Work in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana
The coast is about 9 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana, month by month
Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana sees roughly 327 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 Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 4 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 Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana
Schools across Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana average a C, better than 40% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Jim Thorpe FundamentalC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Hector G. GodinezC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana 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 Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana
Is Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana ranks 1,576th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and low crime, and lowest on education levels and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $651,772. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $130,781 median income, cost of living beats 58% of neighborhoods.
Is Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana safe?
Yes, Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana is safer than 92% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $237 per resident a year.
Compare Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana 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.
Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mid City-Santa Ana, Santa Ana 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.