Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Placerville grades C overall, 398th among California's 841 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns. On the other side, its crime rate is higher than 81% of U.S. towns, with 47 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Placerville has 9 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Eddy Tree Breeding Station and Episcopal Church of Our Saviour. Placerville’s July high is 93°F, above both California’s towns (89°F) and U.S. towns (85°F). The biggest park or preserve is Gold Bug Park, at 35 acres.
Where Placerville beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,466 in 1860, a low of 1,562 in 1870, 10,747 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1859 and 3 maps from 1949 on.
9 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Placerville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Placerville, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Placerville.
Placerville draws workers from Diamond Springs and beyond, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and fares better on crime within California than nationally.
8,138 jobs are based in Placerville, 1.9 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Placerville for work: only 18% work in town. 16% of residents live below the poverty line in Placerville. Jobs based in Placerville fell to 8,138 in 2023, 900 fewer than in 2013.
| Placerville | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $67,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 16% | 14% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Placerville Union Elementary school district. Two of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edwin Markham MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 431 | B− |
| El Dorado HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,135 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
At 37.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 69% of California’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 235 to 168 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Placerville’s violent crime rate is 4.4 per 1,000 residents. Placerville reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 81% report less.
| Placerville | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.4 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11.3 per 1,000 residents | 13.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 80% of U.S. communities. Since 1980, 7 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Placerville.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Placerville home is worth about $525,000, up 0.7% in a year, 31% below the California typical home. The median rent in Placerville is $1,234 a month.
| Placerville | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 58% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,234 a month | $1,898 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Placerville has mild winters and hot summers. July afternoons reach 93° and January nights drop to 37°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 10,243 U.S. towns with household incomes like Placerville’s, it is healthier than 77%, so its B isn’t only a matter of income.
Placerville beats the California average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7. 74% of Placerville adults had a checkup this year.
| Placerville | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 74% | 72% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 22% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 35% | 36% |
| What stands out | Placerville | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.6% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13.8% | 17.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.1% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
1.3 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves.
| Placerville | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.6% | 4.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gold Bug Park | — | 35 |
| 2. Lions Park | — | 11 |
| 3. Lumsden Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Placerville. Close and well known come first.
38 mi State parkSutter's Fort
39 mi Stadium & arenaARCO Arena
36 mi Stadium & arenaHornet Stadium
39 mi State parkGovernor's Mansion State Historic Park
39 mi MuseumCalifornia State Railroad Museum500K visitors a year
35 mi State parkEmpire Mine State Historic ParkSutter's Fort: Ian Howard, CC BY 2.5 · ARCO Arena: CLopez63, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hornet Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · Governor's Mansion State Historic Park: Mark James Miller, CC BY 3.0 · California State Railroad Museum: The original uploader was Swampyank at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 · Empire Mine State Historic Park: Beej71, CC BY 2.5
None within 15 miles of Placerville; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Placerville residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Where Placerville’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
9 places in Placerville on the National Register of Historic Places.
13 notable people were born in Placerville.
City in California, United States
Placerville ( PLASS-ər-vil; placer, Spanish for "sand deposit", representing the placer mining that was predominant in the town's development, and ville, French for "town") is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California, United States. The population was 10,747 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,389 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Sacramento metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Placerville.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Placerville | #398 | C | C | C− | B+ | B |
| Diamond Springs | #362 | C | C− | — | B+ | B |
Diamond Springs reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Placerville with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Placerville grades C overall, better than 29% of U.S. towns and #398 of 841 in California. It grades B for health, C− for safety and B+ for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C−.
That is 5.4 years of the area's median household income ($97,188 across the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
13 notable people were born here, including George Hernandez and John Thomas Dunlop.
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