Best PlacesPlacentia, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Placentia, 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.
Placentia ranks 700th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Placentia
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.
Placentia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Placentia ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 270 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of cities
- TransitBetter than 83% of cities
Where Placentia ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Placentia
A household needs to earn about $229,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Placentia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $120,602, 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 Placentia's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Placentia
Placentia's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Placentia.
Who works in Placentia, and how
Work in Placentia centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Placentia
Placentia has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of cities and more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. The coast is about 17 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Placentia and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Placentia, month by month
Placentia sees roughly 270 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs September through July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 85° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Placentia
John Wayne/Orange County sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.5 million passengers in 2025, with 80 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Placentia
Schools across Placentia average a B−, better than 55% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Golden ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Charles Wagner ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- John O. Tynes ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Valadez Middle School AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- Brea Junior HighB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- El Dorado HighA− · 61% proficient
- Valencia HighA− · 60% proficient
- Esperanza HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Placentia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Placentia 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 Placentia against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Placentia suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Placentia
Is Placentia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Placentia ranks 700th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Placentia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $889,592. The overall cost of living runs about 40% above the national average. Set against a $120,602 median income, cost of living beats 35% of cities.
Is Placentia safe?
Yes, Placentia is safer than 78% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $253 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Placentia?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 46. That works out to about 270 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of cities.
Is Placentia good for families?
Schools beat 55% of cities, crime safety beats 78%, and childcare runs $1,494 a month.
Compare Placentia with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Placentia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Placentia 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.
Placentia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Placentia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Placentia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Placentia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Placentia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Placentia 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.