Best PlacesPetrolia, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Petrolia, 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.
Petrolia ranks 42,600th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Petrolia
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.
Petrolia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Petrolia ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of towns
- Short commute24.5 minutes each way, better than 66% of towns
Where Petrolia ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Petrolia
A household needs to earn about $171,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Petrolia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,654, 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 Petrolia's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Petrolia
Petrolia runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Petrolia.
Who works in Petrolia, and how
Work in Petrolia centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Petrolia
The coast is about 13 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Petrolia, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Petrolia, month by month
Petrolia sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 65 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 47° | 42° |
| April | 58° | 50° | 44° |
| July | 65° | 57° | 52° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Petrolia
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 181 miles away.
The best schools in and around Petrolia
Schools across Petrolia average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mattole ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Ferndale ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Ferndale HighD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Petrolia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Petrolia 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 Petrolia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Petrolia
Is Petrolia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Petrolia ranks 42,600th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and low property taxes, and lowest on cell coverage and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Petrolia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $688,818. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $75,654 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Petrolia safe?
Petrolia is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $486 per resident a year.
Compare Petrolia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Petrolia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Petrolia 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.
Petrolia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Petrolia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Petrolia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Petrolia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Petrolia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Petrolia 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.