Best PlacesOrange, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orange, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Orange ranks 82nd of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and big-city access. The cost shows up in noise, an overheated housing market, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Orange
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.
The best areas in Orange
The parts of Orange, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Anaheim Hills
Local pay stretches further, more adults hold degrees, and incomes run higher.
Southeastern Orange
It is quieter and more residents vote.
Northeast
More households have young kids.
Southern Orange
Biking is better, though streets are more car-dependent.
Southeast & Southwest
Health care is harder to reach and prices have run up more.
Northwest & Park Santiago
Transit reaches more jobs, though crime runs higher.
Scores across Orange run from about the 24th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Orange's strengths and weaknesses
Orange ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. The weather is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. Big-city access and high incomes follow.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. An overheated housing market and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Orange ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 312 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of cities
- Household income$129,297 median, better than 91% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of cities
Where Orange ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 15% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Orange
A household needs to earn about $234,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orange home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $129,297, 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 Orange's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Orange
Orange's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Orange.
Who works in Orange, and how
Work in Orange centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Orange
Orange has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Orange and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Orange, month by month
Orange sees roughly 312 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 Orange
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 Orange
Schools across Orange average a C+, better than 36% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Jim Thorpe FundamentalC+ · 37% proficient
- Orchard HillsD+ · 25% proficient
- Peters Canyon ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Valadez Middle School AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- El Rancho CharterA− · 57% proficient
- Yorba MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Arnold O. Beckman HighA · 72% proficient
- Valencia HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orange school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orange 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 Orange against the other 444 cities.
Who Orange suits
Families
Schools land around the 36th percentile and crime safety beats 77%.
Common questions about living in Orange
Is Orange a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orange ranks 82nd of 445 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and high incomes, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orange expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $917,306. The overall cost of living runs about 44% above the national average. Set against a $129,297 median income, cost of living beats 45% of cities.
Is Orange safe?
Yes, Orange is safer than 77% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $299 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Orange?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 48. That works out to about 312 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Orange?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Anaheim Hills, Southeastern Orange, and Northeast. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Orange good for families?
Schools beat 36% of cities, crime safety beats 77%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Is Orange good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 45% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 29% of cities. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Orange with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orange. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orange 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.
Orange detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orange: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orange: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orange: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orange: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orange 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.