Best PlacesSouthwest, Anaheim, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Southwest, Anaheim, 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.
Southwest, Anaheim ranks 3,175th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods 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 air quality, education levels, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Southwest, Anaheim
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.
Southwest, Anaheim's strengths and weaknesses
Southwest, Anaheim lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather, big-city access, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Air quality, education levels, and disaster risk hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Southwest, Anaheim ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 272 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than 82% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than 79% of neighborhoods
- School gradeB−, better than 76% of neighborhoods
Where Southwest, Anaheim ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 13% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of neighborhoods
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Southwest, Anaheim
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Southwest, Anaheim home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $85,773, 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 Southwest, Anaheim's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Southwest, Anaheim
Southwest, Anaheim 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 Southwest, Anaheim.
Who works in Southwest, Anaheim, and how
Work in Southwest, Anaheim centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Southwest, Anaheim
Southwest, Anaheim has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 13 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Southwest, Anaheim and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Southwest, Anaheim, month by month
Southwest, Anaheim sees roughly 272 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs September through July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 85° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Southwest, Anaheim
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 11 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 Southwest, Anaheim
Schools across Southwest, Anaheim average a B−, better than 76% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Holder ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Cerritos ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
- Twila Reid ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Orangeview Junior HighC− · 27% proficient
- Dale Junior HighD+ · 26% proficient
- Brookhurst Junior HighD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Garden Grove HighA− · 60% proficient
- Polaris HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Southwest, Anaheim school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Southwest, Anaheim 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 Southwest, Anaheim against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Who Southwest, Anaheim suits
Common questions about living in Southwest, Anaheim
Is Southwest, Anaheim a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Southwest, Anaheim ranks 3,175th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and few empty homes, and lowest on air quality and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Southwest, Anaheim expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $759,846. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $85,773 median income, cost of living beats 22% of neighborhoods.
Is Southwest, Anaheim safe?
Yes, Southwest, Anaheim is safer than 76% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $343 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Southwest, Anaheim?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 46. That works out to about 272 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of neighborhoods.
Is Southwest, Anaheim good for families?
Schools beat 76% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Is Southwest, Anaheim good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 22% of neighborhoods, though advertised internet speeds beat only 47% of neighborhoods. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Southwest, Anaheim with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Southwest, Anaheim. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Southwest, Anaheim 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.
Southwest, Anaheim detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Southwest, Anaheim: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Southwest, Anaheim: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Southwest, Anaheim: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Southwest, Anaheim: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Southwest, Anaheim 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.