Best PlacesWilshire Square, Santa Ana, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wilshire 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.
Wilshire Square, Santa Ana ranks 1,803rd of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wilshire 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.
Wilshire Square, Santa Ana's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wilshire Square, Santa Ana ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 327 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than 84% of neighborhoods
Where Wilshire Square, Santa Ana ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of neighborhoods
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 17% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Wilshire Square, Santa Ana
A household needs to earn about $162,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wilshire Square, Santa Ana home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $116,933, 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 Wilshire Square, 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 Wilshire Square, Santa Ana
Wilshire 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 Wilshire Square, Santa Ana.
Who works in Wilshire Square, Santa Ana, and how
Work in Wilshire Square, Santa Ana centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Wilshire Square, Santa Ana
The coast is about 9 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Wilshire Square, Santa Ana, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wilshire Square, Santa Ana, month by month
Wilshire Square, 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 Wilshire Square, 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 Wilshire Square, Santa Ana
Schools across Wilshire Square, Santa Ana average a C, better than 40% 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 Wilshire Square, Santa Ana school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wilshire 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 Wilshire Square, Santa Ana against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Wilshire Square, Santa Ana
Is Wilshire Square, Santa Ana a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wilshire Square, Santa Ana ranks 1,803rd of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on the weather, few empty homes, and big-city access, and lowest on civic engagement and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wilshire Square, Santa Ana expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $639,217. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $116,933 median income, cost of living beats 47% of neighborhoods.
Is Wilshire Square, Santa Ana safe?
Yes, Wilshire Square, Santa Ana is safer than 79% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $321 per resident a year.
Compare Wilshire Square, Santa Ana with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wilshire Square, Santa Ana. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wilshire 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.
Wilshire Square, Santa Ana detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wilshire Square, Santa Ana: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wilshire Square, Santa Ana: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wilshire Square, Santa Ana: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wilshire Square, Santa Ana: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wilshire 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.