Best PlacesWashington Square, Santa Ana, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Washington Square, Santa Ana, 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.
Washington Square, Santa Ana ranks 3,428th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Washington Square, 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.
Washington Square, Santa Ana's strengths and weaknesses
Where Washington Square, Santa Ana ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 328 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
Where Washington Square, Santa Ana ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Washington Square, Santa Ana
A household needs to earn about $226,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Washington Square, Santa Ana home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,383, 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 Washington Square, Santa Ana's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Washington Square, Santa Ana
Washington Square, 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 Washington Square, Santa Ana.
Who works in Washington Square, Santa Ana, and how
Work in Washington Square, Santa Ana centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Washington Square, Santa Ana
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Washington Square, Santa Ana, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Washington Square, Santa Ana, month by month
Washington Square, Santa Ana 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 Washington Square, Santa Ana
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 Washington Square, Santa Ana
Schools across Washington Square, Santa Ana average a C, better than 38% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Jim Thorpe FundamentalC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Hector G. GodinezC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Washington Square, Santa Ana school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Washington Square, 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 Washington Square, Santa Ana against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Washington Square, Santa Ana
Is Washington Square, Santa Ana a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Washington Square, Santa Ana ranks 3,428th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and low property taxes, and lowest on thin health care access and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Washington Square, Santa Ana expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $894,399. The overall cost of living runs about 40% above the national average. Set against a $74,383 median income, cost of living beats 6% of neighborhoods.
Is Washington Square, Santa Ana safe?
Yes, Washington Square, Santa Ana is safer than 87% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $262 per resident a year.
Compare Washington Square, Santa Ana with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Washington Square, Santa Ana. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Washington Square, 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.
Washington Square, Santa Ana detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Washington Square, Santa Ana: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Washington Square, Santa Ana: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Washington Square, Santa Ana: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Washington Square, Santa Ana: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Washington Square, 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.