The city of Disneyland is popular worldwide as a tourist destination, but it could also be a great place to live. If you plan to move to Anaheim, you should learn about what it means to live in the city. So, what’re the pros and cons of living in Anaheim?
Anaheim is an elegant city with scenic settings. Living here comes with many benefits such as the great weather, strong economy, location, and several outdoor activities. But there are also issues to living here too. They include the cost of living, crime rate, tourist dependency, and overcrowding.
Despite all these, you’ll find that this city, which is only 25 miles away from Los Angeles, is an exciting place. Read on to learn about the great qualities of the city and the negatives too.
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Pros of Living in Anaheim
Anaheim was established in the 1800s, and this city has grown from a wine colony to a bustling midsize city. Here are the pros of living in Anaheim.
Weather
South California has an incredibly temperate climate that ensures it has the best weather all year. The winters are warm, and the summer is sunny in this part of California, and Anaheim is right in the middle of it all. Living here means you have weather that makes you believe anything is possible. Gloomy days are rare, and you don’t have to worry much about extreme weather. Most times, the change in seasons is so subtle that you might not even notice it immediately.
Strong Economy
Anaheim is Orange County’s biggest city. The unemployment rate in the county in June 2021 was 6.4% which is much lower than the California average of 8.0%. Even though it’s a little higher than the national rate of 6.1%, the numbers show that the economy is doing well to a large extent.
Anaheim’s economy is mostly dependent on tourism which means the pandemic affected it severely. But there are other industries such as oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, agriculture, trade, etc. This means there are plenty of job opportunities in the city if you’re moving.
Ideal Location
Location is very important in real estate and when moving too. The central location of Anaheim makes it possible to access Los Angeles, Long Beach, Newport Beach, and Santa Ana within minutes. So, if you’re working in any of these places, you can conveniently commute from Anaheim.
The central location also makes the city more fun because it means access to more amenities and activities. For instance, even though the city is not on the coastline, you can access beaches and the Pacific Ocean. All you need to do is drive to neighboring cities to access the state’s top beaches. However, you may need to navigate highway traffic and congestion when driving from Anaheim to any of the close cities.
Plenty Activities to Get Involved In
You shouldn’t experience a dull time here because there are so many things to do. The city is home to the only Disneyland Park built and completed with the supervision of Walt Disney himself. Every year, millions of people visit this city.
There are other fun places such as the Yorba Regional Park and Anaheim GardenWalk. The city has two major sports arenas, Angel Stadium and Honda Centre, for its two sports teams, MLB’s Los Angeles Angels and NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. Of course, you can always visit the cities and beaches close by if you get bored.
Cons of Living in Anaheim
Things are not all rosy in Anaheim. It has a few problems that anyone that chooses to live there will have to contend with—this includes.
Cost of Living
Anaheim is a wealthy city and very expensive to live in. Its cost of living is even higher than the California average, which shows how expensive it is. The cost of living here is 52.2% higher than the national average. Also, it’s slightly higher than the California average by 2.3%.
Several expensive neighborhoods abound here if you’re planning to buy a house. The average cost is $777,598, slightly above the California average and more than double the national average. But this is not surprising considering that homes in neighboring cities such as Long Beach, Santa Ana, Irvine, and LA are within the same range or even higher.
Tourist Dependent
Anaheim has only 357,000 residents, but annually, it welcomes about 25 million people from different parts of the world. That means around 68,500 tourists are in the city at each point in time.
This heavy dependence on tourism can be problematic as any unforeseen occurrence like the COVID-19 pandemic affected the economy severely. It also has environmental consequences and influences prices.
Crime Rate
The crime rate here is not as alarming as what you’ll find in some neighboring cities, but it’s still high. The total crime rate is 6% above the national average, and property crimes are 11% higher. As a result, the chance of being a victim of a crime in Anaheim is 1 in 38.
However, violent crimes are lower here by 17% than the national average, and the city is safer than 32% of cities in the US. No wonder AreaVibes give it a C rating for its crime rate.
Overcrowding
Orange County has over 3 million residents and is the sixth most populated. If it were a state, it would be more populous than 20 other states. However, as a tourist city in the epicenter of the county, Anaheim is quite overpopulated, which means more demand and competition for almost everything.
This overcrowding has a telling effect on the traffic within the city and the whole county itself. The fact that the city is a car-dependent one doesn’t help matters coupled with its proximity to LA. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim had the worst congestion overall in 2019. As a regular commuter, you must be ready for the traffic.
In Conclusion
Anaheim is a livable city to a large extent, with a 63% score for livability. It has several qualities that make it ideal as a residence, and unlike places like LA, it has a residential and laid-back vibe. But it also has issues plaguing it that residents have to cope with. Since no city is perfect, it’ll be up to you to decide.
