Best PlacesOroville, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oroville, 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.
Oroville ranks 41,281st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oroville
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.
Oroville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oroville ranks high
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
Where Oroville ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oroville
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oroville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $58,941, 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 Oroville's effective rate of 0.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Oroville
Oroville runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oroville.
Who works in Oroville, and how
Work in Oroville centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Oroville
Oroville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oroville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oroville, month by month
Oroville sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 100 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 50° | 41° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 100° | 83° | 66° |
| October | 82° | 66° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Oroville
Sacramento International sits about 57 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 Oroville
Schools across Oroville average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Durham ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Stream CharterB− · 43% proficient
- Wilson ElementaryC+ · 36% proficient
Top middle schools
- Durham IntermediateC− · 31% proficient
- Sycamore MiddleC− · 29% proficient
- Nelson Avenue MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Durham HighB · 47% proficient
- Gridley HighB− · 43% proficient
- Paradise Senior HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oroville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oroville 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 Oroville against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Oroville suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Oroville
Is Oroville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oroville ranks 41,281st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and biking, and lowest on summer heat and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oroville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $330,650. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $58,941 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Oroville safe?
Oroville is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $501 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oroville?
July highs average about 100 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 41. That works out to about 134 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of towns.
Is Oroville good for families?
Schools beat 23% of towns, crime safety beats 19%, and childcare runs $1,205 a month.
Compare Oroville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oroville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oroville 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.
Oroville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oroville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oroville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oroville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oroville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oroville 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.