Best PlacesSanta Ana, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Ana, 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.
Santa Ana ranks 189th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 9 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and few empty homes. The cost shows up in civic engagement, education levels, and thin health care access.
The best neighborhoods in 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.
The best areas in Santa Ana
The parts of Santa Ana, 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.
Centennial Park, Valley Adams & Laurelhurst
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Memorial Park, Sandpointe & Sunwood Central
Fewer households have young kids.
Riverview West, Townsend-Raitt & Santa Anita
It is quieter and prices have run up less.
Delhi & Madison Park
Streets are more walkable.
Artesia Pilar
Scores close to Delhi & Madison Park, except that crime runs lower here.
Floral Park, Washington Square & Flower Park
Scores close to Artesia Pilar, except that more homes sit empty here.
Lacy, Park Santiago & Mabury Park
Health care is easier to reach, though biking is worse.
Henninger Park, Pico-Lowell & Mid City-Santa Ana
Scores close to Lacy, Park Santiago & Mabury Park, except that advertised internet is faster here.
Eastside Santa Ana, Lyon Street & Cornerstone Village
Homes cost less, though fewer residents vote.
Scores across Santa Ana run from about the 16th to the 93rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Santa Ana's strengths and weaknesses
Santa Ana lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Few empty homes and big-city access follow.
The one real hole is civic engagement, near the bottom of the country. Education levels and thin health care access also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Santa Ana ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 327 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 96% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of cities
- TransitBetter than 88% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of cities
Where Santa Ana ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Ana
A household needs to earn about $171,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Ana home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,685, 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 Santa Ana's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 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 Santa Ana.
Who works in Santa Ana, and how
Work in Santa Ana centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Santa Ana
Santa Ana has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 9 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Santa Ana and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Santa Ana, month by month
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 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 Santa Ana
Schools across Santa Ana average a C, better than 29% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sycamore Magnet AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- Jim Thorpe FundamentalC+ · 37% proficient
- Greenville Fundamental ElementaryC · 34% proficient
Top middle schools
- Columbus Tustin MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Vista Heritage Global AcademyD− · 15% proficient
- Raymond A. Villa Fundamental IntermediateF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- La Quinta HighA · 75% proficient
- Arnold O. Beckman HighA · 72% proficient
- OcsaA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Ana school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
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 Santa Ana against the other 444 cities.
Who Santa Ana suits
Families
Schools land around the 29th percentile and crime safety beats 87%.
Common questions about living in Santa Ana
Is Santa Ana a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Ana ranks 189th of 445 cities. It scores highest on the weather, few empty homes, and big-city access, and lowest on civic engagement and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Ana expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $675,573. The overall cost of living runs about 38% above the national average. Set against a $97,685 median income, cost of living beats 7% of cities.
Is Santa Ana safe?
Yes, Santa Ana is safer than 87% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Santa Ana?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 48. That works out to about 327 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Santa Ana?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Centennial Park, Valley Adams & Laurelhurst, Memorial Park, Sandpointe & Sunwood Central, and Riverview West, Townsend-Raitt & Santa Anita. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Santa Ana good for families?
Schools beat 29% of cities, crime safety beats 87%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Is Santa Ana good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 7% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 44% of cities. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Santa Ana with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Ana. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 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.
Santa Ana detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Ana: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Ana: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Ana: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Ana: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
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.