Best PlacesPenryn, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Penryn, 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.
Penryn ranks 7,006th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Penryn
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.
Penryn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Penryn ranks high
- Household income$129,769 median, better than 95% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 152 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
Where Penryn ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,572 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Penryn
A household needs to earn about $239,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Penryn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $129,769, 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 Penryn'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 Penryn
Penryn runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Penryn.
Who works in Penryn, and how
Work in Penryn centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Penryn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Penryn.
What the weather is like in Penryn, month by month
Penryn sees roughly 152 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 47° | 40° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 67° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Penryn
Sacramento International sits about 24 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 Penryn
Schools across Penryn average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Twelve Bridges ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Newcastle ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Carlin C. Coppin ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Twelve Bridges MiddleA− · 56% proficient
- Glen Edwards MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Spring View MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Del Oro HighA− · 61% proficient
- Lincoln HighB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Penryn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Penryn 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 Penryn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Penryn
Is Penryn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Penryn ranks 7,006th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, the weather, and health care access, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Penryn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $927,828. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $129,769 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Penryn safe?
Yes, Penryn is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $212 per resident a year.
Compare Penryn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Penryn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Penryn 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.
Penryn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Penryn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Penryn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Penryn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Penryn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Penryn 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.