Best PlacesTustin, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tustin, 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.
Tustin ranks 563rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tustin
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 Tustin
The parts of Tustin, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Lower Peters Canyon
West Park & Irvine Business Complex
Lyon Street
Scores across Tustin run from about the 21st to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Tustin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tustin ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 328 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of cities
- BikingBetter than 87% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of cities
Where Tustin ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Tustin
A household needs to earn about $226,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tustin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $122,946, 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 Tustin's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Tustin
Tustin 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 Tustin.
Who works in Tustin, and how
Work in Tustin centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Tustin
Tustin has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 79% of cities. The coast is about 10 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Tustin and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tustin, month by month
Tustin sees roughly 328 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 Tustin
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 5 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 Tustin
Schools across Tustin average a B−, better than 59% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sycamore Magnet AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- Jim Thorpe FundamentalC+ · 37% proficient
- Orchard HillsD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- C. E. Utt MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Columbus Tustin MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Northwood HighA · 79% proficient
- Woodbridge HighA · 79% proficient
- Arnold O. Beckman HighA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tustin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tustin 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 Tustin against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Tustin suits
Common questions about living in Tustin
Is Tustin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tustin ranks 563rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and population health, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tustin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $881,795. The overall cost of living runs about 46% above the national average. Set against a $122,946 median income, cost of living beats 35% of cities.
Is Tustin safe?
Tustin is safer than 50% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $352 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Tustin?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 48. That works out to about 328 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Tustin?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lower Peters Canyon, West Park & Irvine Business Complex, and Lyon Street. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Tustin with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tustin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tustin 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.
Tustin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tustin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tustin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tustin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tustin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tustin 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.