Best PlacesParamount, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paramount, 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.
Paramount ranks 1,842nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Paramount
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.
Paramount's strengths and weaknesses
Where Paramount ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 303 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of cities
- TransitBetter than 94% of cities
Where Paramount ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 2% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 3% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Paramount
A household needs to earn about $138,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paramount home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,232, 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 Paramount's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Paramount
Paramount runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Paramount.
Who works in Paramount, and how
Work in Paramount centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Paramount
Paramount has more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. The coast is about 10 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Paramount and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Paramount, month by month
Paramount sees roughly 303 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 47. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 57° | 47° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 54° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 65° |
| October | 83° | 69° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Paramount
The nearest airport, Long Beach (Daugherty Field), is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Los Angeles International, about 14 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paramount
Schools across Paramount average a C, better than 25% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Abraham LincolnD+ · 25% proficient
- Wesley GainesD+ · 25% proficient
- Grant ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Helen Keller MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Hamilton MiddleC− · 28% proficient
- Alondra MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Eunice Sato Academy Of Math & ScienceA+ · 83% proficient
- Paramount HighC+ · 39% proficient
- Marco Antonio Firebaugh HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paramount school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paramount 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 Paramount against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Paramount suits
Common questions about living in Paramount
Is Paramount a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paramount ranks 1,842nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, few empty homes, and the weather, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Paramount expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $533,956. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $77,232 median income, cost of living beats 2% of cities.
Is Paramount safe?
Paramount is safer than 10% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $529 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Paramount?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 47. That works out to about 303 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of cities.
Is Paramount good for families?
Schools beat 25% of cities, crime safety beats 10%, and childcare runs $1,130 a month.
Compare Paramount with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paramount. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paramount 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.
Paramount detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paramount: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paramount: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paramount: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paramount: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paramount 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.