Best PlacesPennington, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pennington, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pennington ranks 22,138th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pennington
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.
Pennington's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pennington ranks high
- Household income$116,277 median, better than 92% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 132 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
Where Pennington ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pennington
A household needs to earn about $127,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pennington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $116,277; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Pennington's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Pennington
Pennington runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pennington.
Who works in Pennington, and how
Work in Pennington centers on agriculture & forestry and wholesale trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Pennington
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pennington.
What the weather is like in Pennington, month by month
Pennington sees roughly 132 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 99 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 49° | 39° |
| April | 76° | 61° | 46° |
| July | 99° | 80° | 61° |
| October | 83° | 64° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Pennington
Sacramento International sits about 42 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 Pennington
Schools across Pennington average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wilson ElementaryC+ · 36% proficient
- James M. Burchfield PrimaryC · 33% proficient
- Brittan ElementaryC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sycamore MiddleC− · 29% proficient
- George T. Egling MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Colusa HighB · 48% proficient
- Gridley HighB− · 43% proficient
- Live Oak HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pennington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pennington 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 Pennington against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pennington
Is Pennington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pennington ranks 22,138th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, few empty homes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on summer heat and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pennington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $490,373. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $116,277 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Pennington safe?
Pennington is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
Compare Pennington with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pennington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pennington 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.
Pennington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pennington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pennington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pennington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pennington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pennington 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.