Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Costa Mesa's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Costa Mesa?
Your $100,000 in Costa Mesa has the same purchasing power as $72,690 in the average US city. You'd need $27,310 more here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Costa Mesa's cost index of 138, sorted by closest match.
Wondering whether you should move to Costa Mesa? It depends on what you're optimizing for, but the city has real arguments in its favor: solidly above-average earnings and bike infrastructure that actually exists, plus 2 more things worth knowing. The data behind each is below.
Median household income in Costa Mesa is $104,981, a step above the national median of about $75k. The local job market leans toward industries that pay better than average, and that shows up in the take-home for most working households here.
Costa Mesa's Bike Score is 62/100 — the kind of number you only get when a city has built real bike infrastructure (protected lanes, connected routes, drivers who expect cyclists). For commuting or just for getting around, the bike is a serious option here, not a hobby.
The average one-way commute in Costa Mesa is about 22 minutes — short by US standards (the national average is closer to 27). Over a year of working days, that's hundreds of hours that don't get spent in traffic, which is the kind of thing you notice in the weekend rather than the weekday.
43% of adults 25 and over in Costa Mesa hold a bachelor's degree or higher — meaningfully above the US average of around 36%. That correlates with the things you'd expect: stronger schools, more white-collar employers, more bookstores than the population alone would predict.
Reasons are pulled from Costa Mesa's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Now and then. Costa Mesa's winters are cool rather than truly cold — about 37°F on average — so most of the precipitation falls as rain. A snowy morning happens a few times a season; sustained accumulation is rare.
Mild on the cold side. Costa Mesa's winter average of about 37°F is the kind of weather where you want a jacket but the heating bill is manageable. Snow is rare, frost is occasional, and the lawn never really browns out.
Genuinely hot. Summer in Costa Mesa averages about 103°F, and peak afternoons run well over a hundred. Outdoor plans move to mornings and evenings; AC is the most-used appliance in the house.
Costa Mesa falls in roughly USDA Zone 9. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Costa Mesa sits at about 72 feet (22 m) above sea level — low-lying, but with enough cushion that day-to-day life isn't affected by ocean levels.
Higher than average. Costa Mesa reports about 4,166 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the US average of around 3,500. Citywide numbers are often dragged up by a few hotspots; specific neighborhoods can be very safe in cities that don't look great on paper, and vice versa.
Yes — Costa Mesa is one of the more expensive places to live in the US. The cost-of-living index is 138, about 38% above the national average. Housing is the dominant factor, and salaries here have to be high to compensate.
Somewhat. Costa Mesa earns a Walk Score of 52/100 — many daily errands are doable on foot, especially in the denser neighborhoods, but a car still helps for longer trips. Transit Score is 43 out of 100.
Roughly $96,299 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in Costa Mesa runs about $2,268/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.