Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Huntington Beach is a city of 191,451, and it grades B− overall, 167th of 841 graded towns in California. Its public schools beat 88% of California towns on state tests and graduation and residents are healthier than 84% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The trade-offs: homes are expensive, about $1.3 million for a typical one and 14 times the Los Angeles metro’s $96K median household income, and FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 80% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. Huntington Beach’s value of a typical home is $1,345,000, against $709,000 in California’s towns and $332,000 across U.S. towns. Huntington Beach is home to Golden West College.
Where Huntington Beach beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Harbour View Elementary | K–5 | 677 |
| Agnes L. Smith Elementary | K–5 | 591 |
| Circle View Elementary | K–5 | 582 |
| Widest gap | Huntington Beach | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.4% | 10.6% |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Huntington Beach is from typical.
Its grades run from A for walkability (better than 88% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 1%), so the B− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 815 in 1910, 198,711 in 2020. The archive holds 10 old photos and papers going back to 1898 and a map from 1901 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Huntington Beach. Close and well known come first.
Big draw9 mi Theme parkDisneyland17.3M visitors a year
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaSoFi Stadium
Big draw16 mi MuseumUSS Iowa
Big draw10 mi Theme parkKnott's Berry Farm4.5M visitors a year
Big draw34 mi LandmarkHollywood Walk of Fame10.0M visitors a year
Big draw27 mi MuseumLucas Museum of Narrative ArtDisneyland: HarshLight from San Jose, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0 · SoFi Stadium: Thank You (21 Millions+) views, CC BY 2.0 · USS Iowa: PH1 Jeff Hilton, Public domain · Knott's Berry Farm: Phydend at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Hollywood Walk of Fame: BenSherman, Public domain · Lucas Museum of Narrative Art: Kriddl, CC0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Huntington Beach, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Huntington Beach.
Huntington Beach has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns and has less no health insurance than most of California, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of California.
At 14 years of the Los Angeles metro’s $96K median household income, the typical home (about $1.34M) costs more against local pay than in 90% of California towns; that ratio is one input to that grade. Home values rose 40% in five years, to about $1.34M, against 13% across California.
A typical home in Huntington Beach is worth about $1,345,000, up 5.6% in a year, 77% above the California typical home. The rent at the middle of the market here is $2,510 a month. The share of households in Huntington Beach who are owner-occupiers: 55%.
| Huntington Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,510 a month | $1,895 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 55% | 64% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 52% | 55% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
That grade comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.34M.
Three of its 43 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. The 6 public schools in Huntington Beach teach 3,443 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helen Stacey MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 947 | C− |
| Huntington Beach HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,645 | A+ |
| Edison HighTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,049 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with California is no health insurance: 6.4% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 10.6% statewide. Against the 5,635 U.S. towns with household incomes like Huntington Beach’s, it is healthier than 63%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Huntington Beach: just over one in ten adults worry about having enough food. Among adults here, 8.9% smoke cigarettes and 12% report frequent physical distress.
| Huntington Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 29% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.9% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 14% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 72% | 79% |
| What stands out | Huntington Beach | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.4% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.3% | 17.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.5% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Since 1978, 490 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Huntington Beach. Expected losses in Huntington Beach break down as 58% from earthquakes and 39% from inland flooding. Federal aid has come to Huntington Beach households in 6 declared disasters; the latest was in 2017.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Across 64 parks and preserves: 20 miles of trail. The biggest place to walk is Huntington Central Park, 234 acres with 1.8 miles of trail. Huntington Beach’s concentration of trails comes in at 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Huntington Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7.6% | 4.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Huntington Central Park | 1.8 mi | 234 |
| 2. Bartlett Park | 1.2 mi | 28 |
| 3. Harriett M. Wieder Regional Park | 1.1 mi | 44 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Reported crimes fell from 4,325 to 3,133 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Within California, it does better than 61% of towns. In Huntington Beach, the property offense rate is 14.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Huntington Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 14.5 per 1,000 residents | 13.3 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.8 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
January nights average 49°, milder than in 98% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 75.4°.
Huntington Beach brings warm winters and cool summers, with very little rain. For Huntington Beach, the typical July afternoon high is 75°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Huntington Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 75°F | 89°F | 85°F |
| January low | 49°F | 40°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
For most workers, Huntington Beach is a place to come home to: only 14% work in town. The town’s typical household income stands at $121,000. The top destinations are Irvine (9%), Los Angeles (7%) and Newport Beach (5%). 22% of workers do their job from home in the town.
| Huntington Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 22% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $121,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
38 within 15 miles of the center of Huntington Beach
About 8 of every 100 Huntington Beach residents are enrolled in college, about the same as California.
6 places in Huntington Beach on the National Register of Historic Places.
44 notable people were born in Huntington Beach.
City in California, United States
Huntington Beach is a city in Orange County, California, United States. The city was originally called Pacific City, but it was changed in 1903 to be named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 as of the 2020 United States census, making it the fourth most populous city in Orange County, the most populous beach city in Orange County, and the seventh most populous city in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Downtown Los Angeles, it is bordered by Bolsa Chica Basin State Marine Conservation Area on the west, the Pacific Ocean on the southwest, by Seal Beach on the northwest, by Westmin…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Huntington Beach.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntington Beach | #167 | B− | D− | C | A | A− |
| Westminster | #519 | C− | D− | C− | A− | C+ |
| Seal Beach | #230 | B− | D | D | A | A− |
| Fountain Valley | #226 | B− | D− | C+ | A− | A− |
| Midway City | #481 | C− | D | — | A− | C |
| Costa Mesa | #125 | B | D− | — | A− | A− |
Midway City and Costa Mesa report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Huntington Beach with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Huntington Beach grades B− overall, better than 55% of U.S. towns and #167 of 841 in California. It grades A− for health, C for safety and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Within California, it does better than 61% of towns.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
44 notable people were born here, including Lauren German and Sacha Kljestan.
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