Garden Grove is compact — about 18 square miles — but it changes character fast. The west side around Brookhurst is dense, Vietnamese-anchored and endlessly walkable for food. The center holds downtown Main Street and the civic buildings. The east side toward Chapman and the 22 is quieter and more suburban.
92840 covers downtown and the Harbor Resort District: the most walkable blocks, the hotels, and the shortest drive to Disneyland. 92841 sits northwest and is largely residential with good access to the 22.
92843 runs along Garden Grove Boulevard through the Korean Business District — great food, busy arterials, older housing stock at friendlier prices. 92844 is the Little Saigon side, tight-knit and full of markets. 92845 in the far west is the quietest, closest to Los Alamitos and the county line.
Housing is mostly 1950s and 1960s single-story tract homes on generous lots, with newer townhome infill along the boulevards. Garden Grove Unified is the district for most of the city, with parts served by Anaheim Union and Huntington Beach Union high school districts — check the boundary before you sign.
The honest trade-off: you give up newness and you gain location. You are 20 minutes from the beach, 10 from Disneyland, 15 from South Coast Plaza and John Wayne, and inside one of the best food cities in America.