Best PlacesMission Viejo, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mission Viejo, 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.
Mission Viejo ranks 373rd 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 Mission Viejo
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.
Mission Viejo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mission Viejo ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 322 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Household income$152,659 median, better than 92% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of cities
- BikingBetter than 83% of cities
Where Mission Viejo ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% 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
- QuietBetter than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Mission Viejo
A household needs to earn about $259,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mission Viejo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $152,659, 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 Mission Viejo'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 Mission Viejo
Mission Viejo runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mission Viejo.
Who works in Mission Viejo, and how
Work in Mission Viejo centers on professional & technical 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 72%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Mission Viejo
Mission Viejo has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities and more parkland per resident than 98% of cities. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mission Viejo and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mission Viejo, month by month
Mission Viejo sees roughly 322 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 Mission Viejo
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 13 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 Mission Viejo
Schools across Mission Viejo average a B−, better than 54% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Oxford Preparatory Academy - South Orange CountyA+ · 72% proficient
- Philip J. Reilly ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Newhart MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Trabuco Hills HighA · 74% proficient
- Tesoro HighA · 70% proficient
- Aliso Niguel HighA− · 66% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mission Viejo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mission Viejo 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 Mission Viejo against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Mission Viejo suits
Retirees
The weather beats 99% of cities and health care access beats 76%.
Common questions about living in Mission Viejo
Is Mission Viejo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mission Viejo ranks 373rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, high incomes, and big-city access, 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 Mission Viejo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,023,238. The overall cost of living runs about 47% above the national average. Set against a $152,659 median income, cost of living beats 61% of cities.
Is Mission Viejo safe?
Mission Viejo is safer than 33% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $426 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mission Viejo?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 48. That works out to about 322 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of cities.
Is Mission Viejo good for families?
Schools beat 54% of cities, crime safety beats 33%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Compare Mission Viejo with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mission Viejo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mission Viejo 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.
Mission Viejo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mission Viejo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mission Viejo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mission Viejo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mission Viejo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mission Viejo 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.