Best PlacesButte County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Butte County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Butte County ranks 1,725th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on taxes and childcare costs. It does better on biking, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Butte County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Butte County
The parts of Butte County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Chico
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Durham
Biking is better, though fewer households have young kids.
Magalia & Paradise
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Oroville, Oroville East & South Oroville
Heat risk is higher and more homes sit empty.
Gridley, Thermalito & Biggs
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Butte County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 8%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Butte County's strengths and weaknesses
Butte County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Biking, transit, and the weather carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Taxes, childcare costs, and summer heat hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Butte County to another than it does between Butte County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Butte County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 95% of counties
- TransitBetter than 94% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of counties
Where Butte County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,205 a month, better than only 9% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Butte County
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Butte County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,128, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Butte County's effective rate of 0.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Butte County
Butte County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Butte County.
Who works in Butte County, and how
Work in Butte County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Butte County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Butte County.
Is Butte County growing, and who is moving in?
Butte County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from San Francisco, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Butte County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Butte County, month by month
Butte County sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 48° | 40° |
| April | 74° | 62° | 50° |
| July | 97° | 83° | 69° |
| October | 79° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Butte County
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 67 miles away.
The best schools in and around Butte County
Schools across Butte County average a C, better than 38% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Children's Community CharterB+ · 55% proficient
- Chico Country DayB · 47% proficient
- Wildflower Open ClassroomB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Paradise Charter MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Durham IntermediateC− · 31% proficient
- Sycamore MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Chico HighA− · 59% proficient
- Pleasant Valley HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Inspire School Of Arts And SciencesB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Butte County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Butte County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Butte County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Butte County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Butte County
Is Butte County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Butte County ranks 1,725th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, transit, and the weather, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Butte County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $438,301. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $76,128 median income, cost of living beats 31% of counties.
Is Butte County safe?
Butte County is safer than 32% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $427 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Butte County?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 40. That works out to about 139 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Butte County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Chico, Durham, and Magalia & Paradise. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Butte County good for families?
Schools beat 38% of counties, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $1,205 a month.
Is Butte County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 31% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 68% of counties. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Butte County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Butte County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Butte County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Butte County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Butte County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Butte County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Butte County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Butte County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Butte County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.