Community Corner

Best CA Beach Towns To Live In 2019: List

WalletHub ranked 192 beach towns by factors such as affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life.

People riding bicycles on the beach at sunset in Encinitas, California.
People riding bicycles on the beach at sunset in Encinitas, California. (Maggie Avants/Patch)

CALIFORNIA – Beach living is a dream for many, but living on the coast or near a lake can be costly. That's why WalletHub looked at affordability, as well as weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life to determine the best beach and lakeside communities for living in the country.

Experts at the personal finance website compared 192 cities across 62 key indicators of livability, from housing costs to share of for-sale homes to quality of beach water.

The sample included cities with populations between 10,000 and 150,000 and at least one beach listed on TripAdvisor. The communities were then divided into two categories: ocean towns and lake towns.

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Naples, Florida, landed at the top of the list of best ocean towns. Lahaina, Hawaii, and Newport Beach, California, rounded out the top three at second and third, respectively.

Traverse City, Michigan, topped the list of best lake towns. Folsom, California, and Cornelius, North Carolina, rounded out the top three at second and third, respectively.

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More than three dozen cities in California made the rankings, with four ranking among the top 10 ocean towns. Newport Beach in Orange County ranked third, while Carlsbad and Encinitas, both in San Diego County, ranked fourth and eighth, respectively. Santa Monica in Los Angeles County ranked ninth. Folsom, a city in Sacramento County that's commonly known for Folsom Prison, ranked as the second best lake town.

These are the ocean beach cities in California that made the rankings. National rankings are in parenthesis:

  1. Newport Beach (3)
  2. Carlsbad (4)
  3. Encinitas (8)
  4. Santa Monica (9)
  5. Mill Valley (12)
  6. Coronado (13)
  7. Laguna Beach (15)
  8. Hermosa Beach (16)
  9. San Clemente (18)
  10. Morro Bay (23)
  11. Seal Beach (25)
  12. Santa Barbara (26)
  13. Santa Cruz (28)
  14. Alameda (30)
  15. Redondo Beach (34)
  16. San Mateo (35)
  17. Manhattan Beach (36)
  18. San Buenaventura (Ventura) (37)
  19. Goleta (38)
  20. Benicia (41)
  21. Monterey (48)
  22. Dana Point (50)
  23. Pacific Grove (52)
  24. Carpinteria (62)
  25. Half Moon Bay (69)
  26. Palos Verdes Estates (70)
  27. Pacifica (73)
  28. Daly City (75)
  29. Marina (89)
  30. Malibu (98)
  31. Eureka (99)
  32. Lompoc (100)
  33. Capitola (111)
  34. Watsonville (115)
  35. Richmond (133)
Source: WalletHub

These are the lake beach towns in California that made the rankings. National rankings are in parenthesis:

  1. Folsom (2)
  2. South Lake Tahoe (16)
  3. Lake Elsinore (41)
Source: WalletHub

See the full rankings and report here.


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