Best PlacesPhilo, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Philo, 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.
Philo ranks 44,633rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Philo
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.
Philo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Philo ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 124 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 79% of towns
Where Philo ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Philo
A household needs to earn about $196,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Philo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $58,785, 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 Philo's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Philo
Philo runs older 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 Philo.
Who works in Philo, and how
Work in Philo centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Philo
Philo has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns. The coast is about 30 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Philo and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Philo, month by month
Philo sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 74° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 98° | 76° | 56° |
| October | 82° | 61° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Philo
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 105 miles away.
The best schools in and around Philo
Schools across Philo average a B−, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Manchester ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Philo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Philo 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 Philo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Philo
Is Philo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Philo ranks 44,633rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, quiet, and transit, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Philo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $782,612. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $58,785 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Philo safe?
Philo is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $609 per resident a year.
Compare Philo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Philo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Philo 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.
Philo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Philo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Philo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Philo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Philo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Philo 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.