Best PlacesQuail Hill, Irvine, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Quail Hill, Irvine, 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.
Quail Hill, Irvine ranks 129th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods 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 Quail Hill, Irvine
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.
Quail Hill, Irvine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Quail Hill, Irvine ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 330 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- Local economyBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
Where Quail Hill, Irvine ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than only 21% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$1,494 a month, better than only 21% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Quail Hill, Irvine
A household needs to earn about $315,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Quail Hill, Irvine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $163,293, 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 Quail Hill, Irvine's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Quail Hill, Irvine
Quail Hill, Irvine runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Quail Hill, Irvine.
Who works in Quail Hill, Irvine, and how
Work in Quail Hill, Irvine centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Quail Hill, Irvine
The coast is about 10 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Quail Hill, Irvine, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Quail Hill, Irvine, month by month
Quail Hill, Irvine sees roughly 330 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 Quail Hill, Irvine
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 6 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 Quail Hill, Irvine
Schools across Quail Hill, Irvine average an A−, better than 90% of neighborhoods.
Top high schools
- University HighA+ · 85% proficient
- Woodbridge HighA · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Quail Hill, Irvine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Quail Hill, Irvine 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 Quail Hill, Irvine against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Quail Hill, Irvine
Is Quail Hill, Irvine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Quail Hill, Irvine ranks 129th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, low crime, and population health, 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 Quail Hill, Irvine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,179,813. The overall cost of living runs about 86% above the national average. Set against a $163,293 median income, cost of living beats 60% of neighborhoods.
Is Quail Hill, Irvine safe?
Yes, Quail Hill, Irvine is safer than 98% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $184 per resident a year.
Compare Quail Hill, Irvine with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Quail Hill, Irvine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Quail Hill, Irvine 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.
Quail Hill, Irvine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Quail Hill, Irvine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Quail Hill, Irvine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Quail Hill, Irvine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Quail Hill, Irvine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Quail Hill, Irvine 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.