Best PlacesCreston, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Creston, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Creston ranks 13,963rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Creston
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.
Creston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Creston ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 164 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$113,827 median, better than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
Where Creston ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,391 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Creston
A household needs to earn about $310,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Creston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $113,827, 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 Creston's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Creston
Creston runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Creston.
Who works in Creston, and how
Work in Creston centers on manufacturing and admin & support services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Creston
The coast is about 40 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Creston, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Creston, month by month
Creston sees roughly 164 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 48° | 36° |
| April | 77° | 57° | 41° |
| July | 97° | 73° | 54° |
| October | 85° | 62° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Creston
The nearest airport, San Luis Obispo County Regional, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 149 miles away.
The best schools in and around Creston
Schools across Creston average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cuyama ElementaryD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Teach ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- San Luis Obispo HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Paso Robles HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Creston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Creston 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 Creston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Creston
Is Creston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Creston ranks 13,963rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, population health, and high incomes, and lowest on civic engagement and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Creston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,222,875. The overall cost of living runs about 27% above the national average. Set against a $113,827 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Creston safe?
Yes, Creston is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
Compare Creston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Creston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Creston 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.
Creston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Creston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Creston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Creston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Creston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Creston 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.