Best PlacesChallenge, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Challenge, 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.
Challenge ranks 49,206th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Challenge
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.
Challenge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Challenge ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 155 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 74% of towns
Where Challenge ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$43,363 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Challenge
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Challenge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $43,363, 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 Challenge's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Challenge
Challenge 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 Challenge.
Who works in Challenge, and how
Work in Challenge centers on construction and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Challenge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Challenge.
What the weather is like in Challenge, month by month
Challenge sees roughly 155 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 45° | 39° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 63° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Challenge
Sacramento International sits about 56 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Challenge
Schools across Challenge average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Camptonville ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
- Yuba Feather ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Foothill IntermediateD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Marysville HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Challenge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Challenge 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 Challenge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Challenge
Is Challenge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Challenge ranks 49,206th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, quiet, and tree cover, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Challenge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $316,708. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $43,363 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Challenge safe?
Challenge is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $484 per resident a year.
Compare Challenge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Challenge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Challenge 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.
Challenge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Challenge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Challenge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Challenge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Challenge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Challenge 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.