It’s not easy to say which part of California is the best place to live — there are many choices and far too many variables.

But a challenge rarely stops my trusty spreadsheet. WalletHub’s recent ranking of the quality of life in 1,319 small U.S. cities — including 213 from California — offered one window into where life is good in the Golden State.

Instead of simply rehashing which cities fared well by WalletHub’s calculations, what do these rankings tell us about California regions? Small cities are a solid yardstick for desirability.

So the spreadsheet carved the Golden State into seven regions of 30 or so cities — population 25,000 to 100,000 — based on their north/south latitude.

The top scoring region, by this math, is what I’ll call Basic North — the second-most northern area by the spreadsheet’s trusty math. Its north-south extremes run from Martinez to Turlock. This geography, roughly stated, covers communities level with much of San Francisco Bay — and then goes as far east as you can go to Nevada.

This slice was No. 1 because its cities averaged a 61 ranking out of California’s 213 small cities tracked. It’s best city was Livermore. Worst? Ceres.

WalletHub’s ranking were based on scoring five local traits — affordability, economics, health and education, livability and safety. The Basic North’s top grades came in its economics. Its worst was livability.

At the other end of this ranking spectrum, what you might say, is California’s least-livable region. I’m calling this South Middle. North to south, it goes from Alhambra to La Habra. It’s primarily Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

The geography averaged a 142 rank out of 213. Its best city was Brentwood. Its worst, Huntington Park. Best grade was livability. Worst? Health and education.

But it’s not like WalletHub has a northern bias. No. 2 was what I dubbed Deep South — from Palm Desert to Imperial Beach. Loosely speaking, it stretches from south Orange County to Arizona and south to Mexico.

Its cities averaged a 98 rank out of 213. Its best city was Newport Beach. The worst was Brawley. Best grade was safety. Worst? Economics.

Details

Here’s how the other four slices fared in my rankings …

No. 3 Far North >> From Eureka to Hercules, or everything from the Bay to Oregon to Tahoe. Best city? Rocklin. Worst? North Highlands. It averaged a 102 rank of 213. Best grades? Affordability. Worst? Safety.

No. 4 North Middle >> From Redwood City to Ridgecrest, or life from Silicon Valley to Hearst Castle to Death Valley. Its cities averaged a 107 rank of 213. Best city? Los Altos. Worst? Delano. Best grades? Affordability. Worst? Safety.

No. 5 Basic South >> From Banning to Tustin, or lots of Orange and Riverside counties to the Colorado River. The cities within averaged a 113 rank of 213. Best city? Yorba Linda. Worst? Lynwood. Best grades? Economy. Worst? Health/education.

No. 6 The Middle >> From Delano to West Hollywood, or from desolate California near where James Dean died in a wreck to Tinseltown to Havasu. These places averaged a 125 rank of 213. Best city? Santa Barbara. Worst? Isla Vista. (Yes, that seems odd!) Best grades? Livability. Worst? Affordability.

Bottom line

California may be better known for its giant cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego — for good, bad and indifferent reasons. But its extensive collection of small cities certainly has a say in the state’s quality of life.

It’s about the coast. The vast majority of high-rated small cities are close to the water.

The westernmost city in each of the seven slices averaged a 76 rank out of the 213 cities tracked. That’s decidedly above par for life near a beach.

Yet the easternmost cities averaged a lowly 156 ranking.

That’s inland living.

By the way, there’s a southern bias among the 213 cities that’s tied to a far larger population. This midpoint of the 213 cities studied, geographically speaking, was Moorpark in Ventura County. The state’s actual geographical center is North Fork, outside of Fresno — 250 miles to the northeast.

Postscript

OK! If you got this far, now you get a peek at the state’s best and worst small cities, by WalletHub’s math …

Top 10: Los Altos was No. 1 in the state. Then came Palo Alto, Livermore, Saratoga, Yorba Linda, Dublin, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Cupertino and Belmont.

Bottom 10: Isla Vista got California’s worst score (and the nation’s low, too!) Next was Wasco, then Delano, Huntington Park, Bell Gardens, Madera, Apple Valley, Reedley, Brawley and Montclair.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com.