Best PlacesCastella, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Castella, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Castella ranks 39,284th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. An overheated housing market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on biking.
The best neighborhoods in Castella
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.
Castella's strengths and weaknesses
Where Castella ranks high
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 114 pleasant days a year, better than 76% of towns
- Short commute23.0 minutes each way, better than 74% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 74% of towns
Where Castella ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Castella
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Castella home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,033, 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 Castella's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Castella
Castella runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Castella.
Who works in Castella, and how
Work in Castella centers on public administration and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Castella
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Castella.
What the weather is like in Castella, month by month
Castella sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 65° | 49° | 35° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 52° |
| October | 69° | 51° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Castella
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 172 miles away.
The best schools in and around Castella
Schools across Castella average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shasta LakeC− · 28% proficient
- Castle Rock ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Valley HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Dunsmuir HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Castella school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Castella 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 Castella against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Castella
Is Castella a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Castella ranks 39,284th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and the weather, and lowest on an overheated housing market and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Castella expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $409,800. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $78,033 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Castella safe?
Castella is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $314 per resident a year.
Compare Castella with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Castella. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Castella 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.
Castella detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Castella: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Castella: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Castella: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Castella: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Castella 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.
- 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.