Best PlacesModjeska, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Modjeska, 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.
Modjeska ranks 12,291st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Modjeska
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.
Modjeska's strengths and weaknesses
Where Modjeska ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 212 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$156,898 median, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
Where Modjeska ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Modjeska
A household needs to earn about $303,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Modjeska home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $156,898, 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 Modjeska's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Modjeska
Modjeska runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Modjeska.
Who works in Modjeska, and how
Work in Modjeska centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Modjeska
The coast is about 20 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Modjeska, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Modjeska, month by month
Modjeska sees roughly 212 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs January through June and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 55° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 62° | 46° |
| July | 93° | 76° | 60° |
| October | 86° | 67° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Modjeska
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 14 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 Modjeska
Schools across Modjeska average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top high schools
- Trabuco Hills HighA · 74% proficient
- El Toro HighA− · 65% proficient
- El Modena HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Modjeska school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Modjeska 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 Modjeska against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Modjeska
Is Modjeska a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Modjeska ranks 12,291st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and high incomes, and lowest on disaster risk and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Modjeska expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,180,936. The overall cost of living runs about 52% above the national average. Set against a $156,898 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Modjeska safe?
Modjeska is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $386 per resident a year.
Compare Modjeska with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Modjeska. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Modjeska 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.
Modjeska detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Modjeska: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Modjeska: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Modjeska: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Modjeska: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Modjeska 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.