Best PlacesChico, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Chico metro, 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.
Photo by Suzi Rosenberg, CC BY 2.0, via wiki
Chico ranks 314th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on a weak job market and the cost of living against local pay. It does better on biking, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Chico metro
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 Chico
The towns and districts of the Chico metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Downtown 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.
Chico 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.
Chico's strengths and weaknesses
Chico ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Biking, the weather, and transit are the strongest pieces, though none of them is exceptional.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: a weak job market, the cost of living against local pay, and taxes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Chico ranks high
- BikingBetter than 84% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 80% of metro areas
- Short commute21.0 minutes each way, better than 76% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 75% of metro areas
Where Chico ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Chico
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chico 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 Chico'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 Chico
Chico'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 Chico.
Who works in Chico, and how
Work in Chico 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 Chico
Chico has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chico and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Chico growing, and who is moving in?
Chico 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 Chico go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Chico, month by month
Chico 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 Chico
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chico
Schools across Chico average a C, better than 26% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Chico Country DayB · 47% proficient
- Wildflower Open ClassroomB · 47% proficient
- Durham ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Durham IntermediateC− · 31% proficient
- Bidwell Junior HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Marsh (harry M.) Junior HighD+ · 25% 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 Chico school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chico 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 Chico against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Chico suits
Retirees
The weather beats 83% of metro areas and it is quieter than 62%.
Common questions about living in Chico
Is Chico a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chico ranks 314th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on biking, the weather, and transit, and lowest on a weak job market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chico 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 7% of metro areas.
Is Chico safe?
Chico is safer than 28% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $427 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Chico?
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 83% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Chico?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Chico, Durham, and Magalia & Paradise. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Chico good for families?
Schools beat 26% of metro areas, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $1,205 a month.
Is Chico good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 7% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 29% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Chico with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chico. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chico 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.
Chico detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chico: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chico: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chico: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chico: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chico 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.