The 10 Cheapest Santa Ana, CA Neighborhoods To Live In For 2023


The cheapest Santa Ana neighborhoods are Mar-Les and Delhi for 2023 based on Saturday Night Science.

By: Chris Kolmar | About HomeSnacks
Last Updated: October 30, 2023
Worst Neighborhoods In Santa Ana
Source: Wikipedia User Aharoon12 | GFDL

Everything else equal, 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.

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 determine which neighborhoods in Santa Ana are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.

What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Santa Ana for 2023? According to the most recent census data, Mar-Les looks to be the cheapest 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 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.

For more California reading, check out:

Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Santa Ana For 2023

1. Mar-Les

Population: 763
Cost Of Living Index: 115 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.6 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (11th cheapest)
More on Mar-Les: Data | Real Estate

2. Delhi

Population: 5,406
Cost Of Living Index: 131 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.4 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (5th cheapest)
More on Delhi: Data | Real Estate

3. Wilshire Square

Population: 5,172
Cost Of Living Index: 133 (24th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.7 (14th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (7th cheapest)
More on Wilshire Square: Data | Real Estate

4. Windsor Village

Population: 3,128
Cost Of Living Index: 136 (3cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.9 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (12th cheapest)
More on Windsor Village: Data | Real Estate

5. Flower Park

Population: 5,166
Cost Of Living Index: 107 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.7 (28th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (16th cheapest)
More on Flower Park: Data | Real Estate

6. Memorial Park

Population: 12,607
Cost Of Living Index: 134 (28th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.1 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (19th cheapest)
More on Memorial Park: Data | Real Estate

7. South Coast

Population: 3,168
Cost Of Living Index: 135 (30th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.0 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (18th cheapest)
More on South Coast: Data | Real Estate

8. Bella Vista

Population: 4,633
Cost Of Living Index: 118 (10th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.2 (23rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (20th cheapest)
More on Bella Vista: Data | Real Estate

9. Bristol-Warner

Population: 3,205
Cost Of Living Index: 131 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.2 (22nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (13th cheapest)
More on Bristol-Warner: Data | Real Estate

10. Fairbridge Square

Population: 309
Cost Of Living Index: 134 (28th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.2 (8th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (2cheapest)
More on Fairbridge Square: Data | Real Estate

Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Santa Ana Hoods In 2023

To rank the cheapest places to live in Santa Ana, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.

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 55 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.

We updated this article for 2023. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Santa Ana. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.

Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live 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 mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Santa Ana aren’t all cheap. Morrison-Eldridge Par 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:

Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Santa Ana For 2023

Rank Neighborhood Cost Of Living Index
1 Mar-Les 115
2 Delhi 131
3 Wilshire Square 133
4 Windsor Village 136
5 Flower Park 107
6 Memorial Park 134
7 South Coast 135
8 Bella Vista 118
9 Bristol-Warner 131
10 Fairbridge Square 134
11 Sunwood Central 144
12 Laurelhurst 145
13 Sandpointe 143
14 Republic Homes 146
15 Concord 146
16 Santa Anita 117
17 Central City 133
18 Lyon Street 114
19 Artesia Pilar 130
20 Fisher Park 175
21 Valley Adams 137
22 Thornton Park 142
23 Mid-City 132
24 West Grove Valley 144
25 Portola Park 147
26 Saddleback View 130
27 Edna Park 144
28 Pico-Lowell 132
29 Centennial Park 138
30 Madison Park 134
31 Eastside 120
32 Riverview West 126
33 Lacy 110
34 Santa Ana Triangle 123
35 Heninger Park 118
36 Mabury Park 134
37 New Horizons 133
38 Cornerstone Village 88
39 West Floral Park 151
40 Logan 125
41 Riverglen 115
42 Riverview 138
43 French Park 120
44 French Court 121
45 Northwest 115
46 Park Santiago 144
47 Morning Sunwood 160
48 Meredith Parkwood 144
49 Grand Sunrise 138
50 Shadow Run 140
51 Washington Square 143
52 Cedar Evergreen 137
53 Floral Park 151
54 Bristol Memory 150
55 Morrison-Eldridge Par 150
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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