Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Orange's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Orange?
Your $100,000 in Orange has the same purchasing power as $72,881 in the average US city. You'd need $27,119 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 Orange's cost index of 137, sorted by closest match.
These are the reasons people actually move to Orange, ordered roughly by what shows up loudest in the data. A higher-income labor market than the national norm and among the safer us cities of its size lead, plus 2 more things worth knowing — the rest unpacked below.
The typical household in Orange pulls in $109,335 — comfortably above the US median. Combined with the cost of living here, the income-to-expense ratio works out better than a quick look at either number in isolation would suggest.
The reported crime rate in Orange runs about 1,702 per 100,000 residents — meaningfully below the national norm. People who care about safety as a baseline rather than a feature tend to land in cities with numbers like these.
With a Walk Score of 96/100, Orange is in the category where car ownership becomes a real choice rather than the default. Errands work on foot, the city's built dense enough that things are actually close together, and the parking-and-gas budget can quietly disappear.
Orange has a college-educated share of about 40% among adults 25+, which is higher than the national norm. It shows up in the local job mix, in the school district's reputation, and in the kind of conversations you have at the coffee shop.
Reasons are pulled from Orange'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.
Not really a snow town. With winters averaging 37°F, Orange sits in the mild-cold band where snowflakes appear occasionally and everything melts within a day. Most years see one storm worth talking about.
Cool, not cold. Winters in Orange sit around 37°F — sweater-and-jacket weather most days, with the occasional cold front that reminds you it's still winter.
Properly hot. Orange's summer averages around 103°F with daily highs that routinely break 100°F. The trick to summer here is starting the day at sunrise and staying inside through the worst of it.
Zone 9, give or take a half-zone. Orange's typical winter low puts it in that band on the USDA Hardiness map, which is what nurseries label plants against. Use Zone 9 as your starting filter; the USDA's interactive map is more precise for borderline cases.
Around 203 feet (62 m) above sea level — flat enough that nothing about Orange's altitude shows up in daily life.
The headline number is reassuring. Orange's reported incident rate of about 1,702 per 100,000 is comfortably below the US norm of around 3,500 per 100k. Specific neighborhoods always vary, but the broader picture is on the safer side.
Significantly. Orange's index of 137 puts it in the top tier of US cities for cost of living — roughly 37% above the national baseline. The pattern is familiar: housing eats a large share of incomes, and people earning median-equivalent jobs from cheaper metros feel the difference fast.
Yes, by US standards it's extraordinary. Orange scores 96/100, one of the highest in the country. Transit Score is 43 out of 100. Living here without a car isn't just possible; for many residents it's the default.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $96,047 to live in Orange the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Orange runs about $2,148/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.