Best PlacesMill Creek, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mill Creek, 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.
Mill Creek ranks 45,846th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mill Creek
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.
Mill Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mill Creek ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 61% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 56% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 52% of towns
Where Mill Creek ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mill Creek
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mill Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $57,334, 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 Mill Creek's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Mill Creek
Mill Creek 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 Mill Creek.
Who works in Mill Creek, and how
Work in Mill Creek centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Mill Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mill Creek.
What the weather is like in Mill Creek, month by month
Mill Creek sees roughly 146 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 Mill Creek
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mill Creek
Schools across Mill Creek average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Plum Valley ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Lassen View ElementaryB · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Berrendos MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Red Bluff HighC− · 27% proficient
- Chester Junior/senior HighC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mill Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mill Creek 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 Mill Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mill Creek
Is Mill Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mill Creek ranks 45,846th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and tree cover, and lowest on internet speeds and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mill Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $346,498. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $57,334 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Mill Creek safe?
Mill Creek is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $455 per resident a year.
Compare Mill Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mill Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mill Creek 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.
Mill Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mill Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mill Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mill Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mill Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mill Creek 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.