It’s hundreds of miles from the AI boom and tech billionaire class of Silicon Valley.
It maintains an image, at least in some minds, as a beachside mecca for old money, big yachts and conspicuous consumption.
And now, a new Times analysis of the highest home values in California shows Newport Beach perched at the top. Among California’s most upscale neighborhoods, a subtle reshuffling has taken place in recent decades, with the highest home values migrating from Northern California to Southern California.
A Times analysis for 2026 shows three of the top 10 zip codes for highest home value were on Newport Beach. Only one other community showed up twice on the list: Los Altos in Silicon Valley.
Shift from north to south
Property values are just one way of assessing wealth and do not take into account such markers as income and tax base. But they do offer a window into the demographic patterns of the rich.
In 2001, seven of the 10 zip codes with the highest home prices were in Northern California: Atherton, Portola Valley, two in Los Altos, Ross, Palo Alto and Tiburon. Three were in Southern California: Rancho Santa Fe, Newport Beach and Montecito, per Zillow data.
By 2026, the dynamic had flipped. Seven of the state’s 10 richest zip codes are now in Southern California, and three are within Newport Beach — up from just one in 2001. Beverly Hills and Santa Monica zip codes also joined the list, replacing Portola Valley, Ross, Palo Alto and Tiburon.
Newport Beach’s advantages
Newport Beach gained several spots on the list partly due to the migration of well-heeled home buyers and the appreciation of existing properties.
Fleeing Angelenos — whether running from COVID-era masking policies and school shutdowns or the flames that devoured Pacific Palisades — have contributed to Newport’s ascension, according to Annie Clougherty, a real estate agent who grew up in Newport Beach and works there now.
“We look like a deal compared to L.A. real estate,” she said. “We used to just compete for buyers in Orange County, and L.A. has definitely pushed that,” bringing prices up.
In the most selective of Newport Beach’s zip codes, the priciest houses have docks along the ocean or Newport Bay, but only a select few have room for a 70- to 100-foot boat, Clougherty explained. “We’re not making more water.”
Many new buyers found Newport Beach attractive because of its similarity to Pacific Palisades: a tight-knit community with the beach nearby. “Many L.A. areas don’t have great schools and so that’s a huge draw,” she said.
“So many of these huge sales came from people relocating from Los Angeles either after the fires or after COVID,” Clougherty said, and many who left Los Angeles for Newport often preferred the area’s more conservative politics.
Newport Beach Mayor Lauren Kleiman pointed to her city’s location on the water, safe neighborhoods and quality schools as major factors driving housing prices up.
Since the pandemic, “we are seeing even more people gravitating towards Newport,” she said. Indeed, Newport’s wealthiest zip codes have shot up the list since 2019, when its highest-valued area ranked 8th in the state.
With the Palisades fire forcing many affluent Angelenos to look for a new place to live, demand has increased again, she said.
“The bottom line is: We only have so many homes here, and people want to be here, whether it’s to live and raise a family or to visit,” Kleiman said. “It’s a pretty special place.”
Shedding ‘John Wayne’ image
Newport Beach has long been a playground for Hollywood and L.A.’s elites.
“Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall kept a boat in Newport Harbor. Jane Russell and Gloria Swanson hung out at the Balboa Bay Club. Joey Bishop, the last surviving member of the Rat Pack, still lives on Lido Isle. And, of course, Orange County’s favorite cowboy, John Wayne, called Newport Beach home for 15 years,” The Times reported in 2006.
But it was Wayne who came to dominate the celebrity scene. He surfed there in the 1920s, kept a massive boat in the harbor and lived in a compound on Bayshore Drive.
The longtime clubhouse for the Newport elite was the Balboa Bay Club, where Wayne, Bogart, the Reagans and many other bold-face names were members.
Wayne died in 1979 (the airport just north of the city is named for him). And over the years, Newport Beach’s scene has modernized. It’s now home to such business powerhouses as PIMCO, Pacific Life and the Irvine Co.
Where Newport was once an old-money town, “the face of the city has changed quite a bit,” Kleiman said, with more newcomers buying homes in recent decades.
But she also pointed to empty nesters in Newport Beach who might typically downsize but cannot find cheaper homes within Newport Beach and instead choose to stay put. “You’re just seeing a lot less movement,” she said.
“As much as Newport might be the tip of the spear when you’re talking about valuation, these economic factors are not specific to us,” Kleiman said. If people can afford to, “they’re going to pay the price because it’s harder and harder to find the lifestyle, the quality of life you can attain.”
The 92657 zip code, Newport’s most luxurious, covers the Newport Coast area. The median home value there was $5.42 million as of Jan. 31, according to Zillow data reviewed by The Times.
That could buy you almost 100 homes in Trona’s 93562 zip code, where the median home value was $64,000 — the lowest in California.
The 92661 and 92662 zip codes, which cover the Balboa Peninsula and Balboa Island, respectively, and were also in California’s top 10 richest areas, had median home values near $4.25 million, also as of Jan. 31.
The median home in California was about $750,000, per Zillow’s home value index.
Downside
Skyrocketing valuations can come with downsides, though. As prices rise, many homebuyers are priced out of Newport Beach. “I do think it’s harder and harder, especially if you’re a young professional or a family just starting out, it’s not attainable if you’re trying to do it on your own,” she said.
The average monthly rent across all homes in Newport Beach was $9,000 and the average home was worth $3.5 million, according to Zillow.
A UC Irvine poll of Orange County last year foundhousing costs are a top concern of residents. The poll found a third of respondents would consider moving somewhere else due to the affordability crisis.
These were the zip codes with the highest median home values in 2001, per Zillow data: Atherton (94027) Portola Valley (94028) Rancho Santa Fe (92067) Los Altos (94022) Newport Beach (92662) Los Altos (94024) Ross (94957) Montecito (93108) Palo Alto (94301) Tiburon (94920)
These were the zip codes with the highest median home values in 2026, per Zillow data: Atherton (94027) Newport Beach (92657) Beverly Hills (90210) Los Altos (94022) Montecito (93108) Rancho Santa Fe (92067) Santa Monica (90402) Los Altos (94024) Newport Beach (92661) Newport Beach (92662)
Nationwide, six of the 10 zip codes with the highest-priced homes are within the Golden State. Atherton, in San Mateo County, long the country’s richest enclave, maintained its place at the top of the list with a median home value of $7.7 million, followed by Miami Beach, Sagaponack in New York, Woody Creek in Colorado and Newport Beach.
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