5 Best Orange County Beach Cities To Live In 2019: Study

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — The intangibles of living in a beach city are vast, from that fresh ocean air to the healthy, relaxed seaside lifestyle. That kind of living is a dream for many, and might be more attainable than you think. Lucky for the residents of Orange County, five of our beach cities ranked in the top 50 of all beach cities to call home.

Newport Beach ranks at the third best beach city to hang your hat. Laguna Beach was found to be one of the best beach cities, ranked at number 15 out of 146. Also rounding out the county's best towns were San Clemente at 18, Seal Beach at 25, and Dana Point at 50.

When it comes to the questions of affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health and quality of life, all Orange County towns ranked high in the economy and education categories, middle of the road in the areas of weather and safety, but lower in the categories of affordability.

The 25 best beach cities to live in the United States for 2019 are:

1. Naples, FL
2. Lahaina, HI
3. Newport Beach, CA
4. Carlsbad, CA
5. Boca Faton, FL
6. Sarasota, FL
7. North Myrtle Beach, SC
8. Encinitas, CA
9. Santa Monica, CA
10. Venice, FL
11. Jupiter, FL
12. Mill Valley, CA
13. Coronado, CA
14. Destin, FL
15. Laguna Beach, CA
16. Hermosa Beach, CA
17. Key Biscayne, FL
18. San Clemente, CA
19. Jacksonville, FL
20. Coral Gables, FL
21. Vero Beach, FL
22. Fernandina Beach, FL
23. Morro Bay, CA
24. Myrtle Beach, SC
25. Seal Beach, CA

The Orange County seaside community of Dana Point weighed in at #50.

The 10 worst beach cities in the United States are:

• Holiday, FL
• Shirley, NY
• Hampton Bays, NY
• Riviera Beach, FL
• Hull, MA
• Panama City, FL
• Apollo Beach, FL
• Essex, MD
• Dania Beach, FL
• Hilo, HI

Methodology:

WalletHub evaluated those dimensions using 62 relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for beach-town living.

Finally, WalletHub determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its total score and used the resulting scores to rank-order their sample.

WalletHub's sample includes all cities with populations between 10,000 and 150,000 and at least one beach listed on TripAdvisor. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), the square root of the population was used to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for minor differences across cities.

To read more about the best and worst beach towns to live in, visit WalletHub.