Everything else equal, I think we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Santa Ana might be more expensive than living in rural California, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
So what exactly are those Santa Ana neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and find out which neighborhoods in Santa Ana are the cheapest.
Here are the cheapest neighborhoods in Santa Ana for 2020:
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Santa Ana for 2020? According to the most recent census data, Mar-Les looks to be the cheaptest Santa Ana neighborhood to live in.
At this point we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Santa Ana. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates in return for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Santa Ana that deserve a little bragging rights or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Santa Ana.
Once you’re done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of every neighborhood we looked at from cheapest to most expensive.
For more California reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In California
- Best Counties To Live In California
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
How We Determined The Cheapest Santa Ana Hoods In 2020
In order to rank the cheapest places to live in Santa Ana, we had to determine what criteria defines “cheap”.
Using census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 56 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Santa Ana.” We’re lookin’ at you, Mar-Les.
Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in the cheapest places Santa Ana. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city from cheapest to most expensive.
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Santa Ana For 2020
/10
Population: 763
Cost Of Living Index: 116 (5th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.6 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (4th cheapest)
More on Mar-Les: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Mar-Les comes in at $64,427 and the median home value is $229,900 for 2020.
/10
Population: 1,590
Cost Of Living Index: 117 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.1 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (2nd cheapest)
More on Northwest: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Northwest comes in at $52,813 and the median home value is $269,350 for 2020.
/10
Population: 1,006
Cost Of Living Index: 117 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.1 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (2nd cheapest)
More on Riverglen: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Riverglen comes in at $52,813 and the median home value is $269,350 for 2020.
/10
Population: 2,905
Cost Of Living Index: 133 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.0 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (1st cheapest)
More on Bristol-Warner: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Bristol-Warner comes in at $92,045 and the median home value is $365,200 for 2020.
/10
Population: 2,559
Cost Of Living Index: 138 (32nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.2 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (5th cheapest)
More on Windsor Village: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Windsor Village comes in at $90,750 and the median home value is $378,700 for 2020.
/10
Population: 5,857
Cost Of Living Index: 90 (1st cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.7 (1st cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.037 (53rd cheapest)
More on Cornerstone Village: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Cornerstone Village comes in at $26,935 and the median home value is $20,000 for 2020.
/10
Population: 12,569
Cost Of Living Index: 118 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.6 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.029 (42nd cheapest)
More on Santa Anita: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Santa Anita comes in at $49,834 and the median home value is $229,471 for 2020.
/10
Population: 3,352
Cost Of Living Index: 143 (38th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.3 (15th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (7th cheapest)
More on Thornton Park: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Thornton Park comes in at $80,580 and the median home value is $429,700 for 2020.
/10
Population: 568
Cost Of Living Index: 147 (46th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.5 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (9th cheapest)
More on Concord: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Concord comes in at $95,446 and the median home value is $432,900 for 2020.
/10
Population: 5,566
Cost Of Living Index: 112 (3rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.4 (18th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.028 (40th cheapest)
More on Lacy: Homes For Sale | Data
The median income in Lacy comes in at $37,852 and the median home value is $204,433 for 2020.
Summing Up The Cheapest Places In Santa Ana
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Santa Ana where prices are low and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Santa Ana aren’t all cheap. Bristol Memory takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Santa Ana.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more California reading, check out:
- Cheapest Places To Live In California
- Best Places To Raise A Family In California
- Best Places To Retire In California
- Richest Cities In California
- Safest Places In California
- Worst Places To Live In California
