California’s Best Beach Towns

It’s summertime and that means even more people are flocking to California’s beaches. Whether you’re looking to move, vacay, or spend a warm Saturday near the shore, you’ll want to check out WalletHub’s latest list of the Best Beach Towns in America.

The winner was Naples, Florida. But Laguna Beach in Orange County was a close second. Nine California cities made it into the top 20 rankings.

The researchers looked at affordability, weather, safety, the economy, education, health, and quality of life. The sample included all cities with populations between 10,000 and 150,000 and at least one beach listed on TripAdvisor.

These were the top 20 beach towns in California:

1. Laguna Beach
2. Newport Beach
3. Santa Monica
4. Morro Bay
5. Santa Barbara
6. Carlsbad
7. Encinitas
8. Santa Cruz
9. San Clemente
10. Hermosa Beach
11. San Mateo
12. Coronado
13. Dana Point
14. Goleta
15. Redondo Beach
16. Manhattan Beach
17. Alameda
18. Half Moon Bay
19. Seal Beach
20. Monterey

List and data were compiled by WalletHub and do not reflect statistics on all California cities.