Best PlacesPlumas County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Plumas County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Plumas County ranks 2,288th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Plumas 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 Plumas County
The parts of Plumas 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.
Quincy
Fewer homes sit empty, commutes are shorter, and incomes run higher.
Chester
Disaster risk is lower, though fewer households have young kids.
Portola
Prices have run up less, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Plumas County run from about the 7th to the 68th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Plumas County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plumas County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of counties
- Short commute19.8 minutes each way, better than 80% of counties
- TransitBetter than 79% of counties
- QuietBetter than 79% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 78% of counties
Where Plumas County ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Plumas County
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plumas County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,664, 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 Plumas County'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 Plumas County
Plumas County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Plumas County.
Who works in Plumas County, and how
Work in Plumas County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Plumas County
Plumas County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Plumas County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Plumas County growing, and who is moving in?
Plumas County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from San Francisco, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Plumas County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Plumas County, month by month
Plumas County sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 65° | 50° | 36° |
| July | 93° | 75° | 54° |
| October | 68° | 48° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Plumas County
The nearest airport, Reno/Tahoe International, is about 65 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Plumas County
Schools across Plumas County average a C−, better than 22% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Janesville ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Quincy Junior/senior HighC · 33% proficient
- Portola Junior/senior HighC− · 30% proficient
- Loyalton HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plumas County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plumas 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 Plumas County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Plumas County
Is Plumas County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plumas County ranks 2,288th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, short commutes, and transit, and lowest on empty homes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plumas County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $368,245. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $70,664 median income, cost of living beats 30% of counties.
Is Plumas County safe?
Plumas County is safer than 26% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $461 per resident a year.
Compare Plumas County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plumas County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plumas 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.
Plumas County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plumas County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plumas County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plumas County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plumas County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plumas 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.