Best PlacesParadise, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paradise, 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.
Paradise ranks 40,141st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Paradise
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.
Paradise's strengths and weaknesses
Where Paradise ranks high
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 147 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
Where Paradise ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,205 a month, better than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Paradise
A household needs to earn about $136,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paradise home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $73,575, 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 Paradise's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Paradise
Paradise 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 Paradise.
Who works in Paradise, and how
Work in Paradise centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Paradise
Paradise has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Paradise and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Paradise, month by month
Paradise sees roughly 147 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 Paradise
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 64 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paradise
Schools across Paradise average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Children's Community CharterB+ · 55% proficient
- Durham ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Paradise Ridge ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Paradise Charter MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Durham IntermediateC− · 31% proficient
- Marsh (harry M.) Junior HighD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Chico HighA− · 59% proficient
- Durham HighB · 47% proficient
- Paradise Senior HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paradise school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paradise 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 Paradise against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Paradise
Is Paradise a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paradise ranks 40,141st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, the weather, and fast internet, and lowest on crime and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Paradise expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $533,737. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $73,575 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Paradise safe?
Paradise is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,220 per resident a year.
Compare Paradise with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paradise. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paradise 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.
Paradise detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paradise: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paradise: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paradise: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paradise: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paradise 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.