Best PlacesPlacer County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Placer County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Placer County ranks 166th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $125,856, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, taxes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Placer County
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.
The best areas in Placer County
The parts of Placer County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Lincoln
More households have young kids, crime runs lower, and local pay stretches further.
Rocklin & Loomis
Incomes run higher, though biking is worse.
Roseville
Fewer homes sit empty, though tree cover is thinner.
Granite Bay
More adults hold degrees and commutes are shorter.
Colfax, North Auburn & Foresthill
It is quieter, though disaster risk is higher.
Auburn
Streets are more walkable, though health outcomes score lower.
Placer County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 8% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Placer County's strengths and weaknesses
Placer County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. High incomes is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Biking and population health follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and noise also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Placer County ranks high
- Household income$125,856 median, better than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 96% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of counties
Where Placer County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,572 a month, better than only 2% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 12% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Placer County
A household needs to earn about $187,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Placer County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $125,856, 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 Placer County's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Placer County
Placer County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Placer County.
Who works in Placer County, and how
Work in Placer County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Placer County
Placer County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Placer County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Placer County growing, and who is moving in?
Placer County has grown about 18% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Sacramento, CA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Placer County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Placer County, month by month
Placer County sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 46° | 38° |
| April | 73° | 58° | 45° |
| July | 98° | 79° | 61° |
| October | 80° | 62° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Placer County
Sacramento International sits about 23 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 Placer County
Schools across Placer County average a B−, better than 69% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Donner Trail ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Creekside CharterA+ · 82% proficient
- Oakhills ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ridgeview ElementaryA+ · 69% proficient
- Olympus Junior HighA · 67% proficient
- Willma Cavitt Junior HighA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Western Sierra Collegiate AcademyA− · 65% proficient
- Oakmont HighA− · 64% proficient
- Rocklin HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Placer County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Placer County 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 Placer County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Placer County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 91% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 23% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 90% of counties and health care access beats 77%.
Common questions about living in Placer County
Is Placer County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Placer County ranks 166th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on high incomes, biking, and population health, 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 Placer County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $716,893. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $125,856 median income, cost of living beats 91% of counties.
Is Placer County safe?
Yes, Placer County is safer than 81% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $284 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Placer County?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 38. That works out to about 143 pleasant days a year, more than 90% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Placer County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lincoln, Rocklin & Loomis, and Roseville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Placer County good for families?
Schools beat 69% of counties, crime safety beats 81%, and childcare runs $1,572 a month.
Is Placer County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 91% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 69% of counties. About 23% of workers already work from home.
Compare Placer County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Placer County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Placer County 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.
Placer County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Placer County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Placer County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Placer County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Placer County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Placer County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.