Best PlacesPrinceton, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Princeton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Princeton ranks 46,490th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on the weather.
The best neighborhoods in Princeton
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.
Princeton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Princeton ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 81% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of towns
- Short commute22.4 minutes each way, better than 78% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 61% of towns
Where Princeton ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Princeton
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Princeton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,533, 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 Princeton's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Princeton
Princeton runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Princeton.
Who works in Princeton, and how
Work in Princeton centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Princeton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Princeton.
What the weather is like in Princeton, month by month
Princeton sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 100 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 50° | 41° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 100° | 83° | 66° |
| October | 82° | 66° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Princeton
Sacramento International sits about 56 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 Princeton
Schools across Princeton average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- James M. Burchfield PrimaryC · 33% proficient
- Princeton ElementaryD+ · 21% proficient
- Murdock ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- George T. Egling MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
- Willows IntermediateD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Colusa HighB · 48% proficient
- Willows HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Princeton Junior-senior HighD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Princeton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Princeton 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 Princeton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Princeton
Is Princeton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Princeton ranks 46,490th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and low property taxes, and lowest on education levels and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Princeton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $431,830. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $64,533 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Princeton safe?
Princeton is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $831 per resident a year.
Compare Princeton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Princeton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Princeton 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.
Princeton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Princeton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Princeton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Princeton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Princeton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Princeton 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.