Top of the World median real estate price is $3,392,026, which is more expensive than 97.4% of the neighborhoods in California and 99.5% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Top of the World is currently $5,438, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 92.2% of the neighborhoods in California.
Top of the World is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Laguna Beach, California. This is a coastal neighborhood (i.e., is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet).
Top of the World real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to small (studio to two bedroom) single-family homes and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is owner occupied. Many of the residences in the Top of the World neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Top of the World. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 24.3%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 92.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods. A relatively large percentage of housing here is seasonally occupied (13.7%). This can occur in vacation areas, and occasionally it is also found in neighborhoods that are primarily filled with college students, as some apartments could be vacant when school is not in session. If you live here year round, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Do you like a coastal setting? If so, this neighborhood may be to your liking. The Top of the World neighborhood is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Often such coastal places have amenities and recreational activities on the waterfront that are attractive to residents and visitors alike. In addition to being coastal, Top of the World is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.
In a nation where 1 out of every 4 children lives in poverty, the Top of the World neighborhood stands out as being ranked among the lowest 0.0% of neighborhoods affected by this global issue.
In addition, think about the people you know personally. How many of them would purchase box seats to opening night at the symphony? How many of them regularly attend gallery openings, or are the first to reserve tickets to opening night at the ballet? If they're like most of us, they don't do any of these things. But if you're among an exclusive crowd of wealthy and refined patrons of the arts, then you'll feel right at home in the Top of the World neighborhood: a neighborhood in which more "urban sophisticates" live than 97.1% of neighborhoods across the U.S. Here, your neighbors are defined as having urbane tastes in literature, music, live theatre and the arts. They are wealthy, educated, travel in style, and live a big city lifestyle whether or not they live in or near a big city. In addition to being an excellent choice for urban sophisticates, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for highly educated executives, active retirees and families with school-aged children.
Also, do you like to read, write, and learn? Are you curious about the world? If so, this neighborhood may be a good fit for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that a full 74.4% of the adults living in the Top of the World neighborhood have earned at least a bachelor's degree. This is a higher rate than NeighborhoodScout found in 95.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. In this way, this neighborhood truly stands out.
In the Top of the World neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 34.7% of residents worked from home. This may not seem like a large number, but Scout's research shows that this is a higher percentage of people working from home than 97.4% of the neighborhoods in America. Often people who work from home are engaged in the creative or technological economy, such as is found in areas around Boston, and in Silicon Valley. Other times, people may be engaged in other businesses like trading stocks from home, or running a small beauty salon.
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The Top of the World neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the Top of the World neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 10.3% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.0% of all neighborhoods in America.
Did you know that the Top of the World neighborhood has more Iranian and Armenian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Iranian ancestry and 1.6% have Armenian ancestry.
Top of the World is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.0% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Persian at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.1% of the neighborhoods in America.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the Top of the World neighborhood in Laguna Beach are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 91.9% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the Top of the World neighborhood, 68.0% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 16.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (9.7%), and 4.8% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Top of the World neighborhood is English, spoken by 88.3% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, German/Yiddish and Persian.
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the Top of the World neighborhood in Laguna Beach, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (17.9%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (14.3%), and residents who report German roots (14.0%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (9.9%), along with some Mexican ancestry residents (5.0%), among others. In addition, 11.3% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in Top of the World neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (37.1% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans. However, there is also a significant group of residents (10.3%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (54.6%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (7.8%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
