Best PlacesWestminster, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westminster, 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.
Westminster ranks 1,172nd 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 Westminster
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.
Westminster's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westminster ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 273 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of cities
- TransitBetter than 90% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of cities
Where Westminster ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Westminster
A household needs to earn about $202,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westminster home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,736, 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 Westminster'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 Westminster
Westminster runs older 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 Westminster.
Who works in Westminster, and how
Work in Westminster 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 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Westminster
Westminster has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Westminster and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Westminster, month by month
Westminster sees roughly 273 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 43. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 55° | 43° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 51° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 82° | 67° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Westminster
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 9 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 Westminster
Schools across Westminster average a C+, better than 46% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Finley ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Merton E. Hill ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
- Ernest O. Lawrence ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hilton D. Bell IntermediateD+ · 25% proficient
- Helen Stacey MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Vista View MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Fountain Valley HighA+ · 87% proficient
- La Quinta HighA · 75% proficient
- Marina HighA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westminster school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westminster 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 Westminster against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Westminster suits
Families
Schools land around the 46th percentile and crime safety beats 58%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Westminster
Is Westminster a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westminster ranks 1,172nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise 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 Westminster expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $794,598. The overall cost of living runs about 42% above the national average. Set against a $95,736 median income, cost of living beats 6% of cities.
Is Westminster safe?
Yes, Westminster is safer than 58% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Westminster?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 43. That works out to about 273 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of cities.
Is Westminster good for families?
Schools beat 46% of cities, crime safety beats 58%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Compare Westminster with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westminster. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westminster 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.
Westminster detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westminster: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westminster: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westminster: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westminster: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westminster 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.