The 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Oregon For 2022


We used science and data to determine which cities in Oregon have the best set up for children: a lot to do, good schools, and no crime.

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Did you know that Oregon is home to the world's smallest park in Portland, the University of Oregon Ducks in Eugene, Bart Simpson's home in Springfield, and some pretty cool family friendly places to call home.

That's right, The Beaver State knows how to keep families safe, educated, happy, healthy, and entertained. And lucky for you, HomeSnacks has found all of those qualities and rolled them into the top ten best places for families in Oregon for 2022. How did we determine Oregon's most family friendly places? We consulted the US Census on places in this Pacific Northwest state with more than 10,000 residents. We looked at several factors: crime, education, family friendly activities, and the percent of households that currently have children. We ended up with 39 family friendly Oregon places that any family would be lucky to call home.

Besides being a great state for families, Oregon is also one of the fastest growing states. Are we surprised? Absolutely not. Oregon currently has 1.3 million families, and that number is expected to increase over the next ten years; and that folks, is because the state has a ton of awesome "Oregon" stuff to do. Like, biking the world class trails in Bend, visiting one of the state's 120 farmers' markets, or spending the day at the Medford Railroad Park. And it wouldn't be right if we didn't mention all of the great companies that keep Oregon families safe and comfortable, and the state affordable. Just think, if you live in Oregon, you and/or your kids could work for Nike in Beaverton or the biggest cheese factory in Tillamook.

More importantly, if you want to hear more about where your cheddar will go the furthest for your family in Oregon, keep reading.

The 10 Best Cities To Raise A Family In Oregon For 2022

  1. Monmouth
  2. Silverton
  3. Sherwood
  4. West Linn
  5. La Grande
  6. Lake Oswego
  7. Forest Grove
  8. Pendleton
  9. Gladstone
  10. Newport

Oregon has a ton of family friendly places for every budget. There are places like Salem for the outdoorsy family, and places like HIllsboro for families just starting out. But, the number one most family friendly place in Oregon is, Monmouth.

To learn more about our methodology and to see why Oregon's top ten best places to raise a family are truly the best of the best, take a look below. And if you don't see your favorite there, head to the bottom.

Check out some more reading about Oregon and the best places for families in the country:

The 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Oregon For 2022

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 10,411
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 39
Closest Major City: Portland
Households with kids: 34.2%
More on Monmouth: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Monmouth, OR

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 10,426
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 56
Closest Major City: Portland
Households with kids: 36.0%
More on Silverton: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Silverton, OR

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 19,745
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 60
Closest Major City: Portland
Households with kids: 42.6%
More on Sherwood: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Sherwood, OR

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

10
/10

Population: 26,764
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 59
Closest Major City: Portland
Households with kids: 38.3%
More on West Linn: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

West Linn, OR

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 13,380
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 58
Closest Major City: Boise City
Households with kids: 31.3%
More on La Grande: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

La Grande, OR

Overall SnackAbility

10
/10

Population: 39,476
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 64
Closest Major City: Portland
Households with kids: 31.5%
More on Lake Oswego: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Lake Oswego, OR

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 24,847
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 58
Closest Major City: Portland
Households with kids: 32.5%
More on Forest Grove: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Forest Grove, OR

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 16,685
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 52
Closest Major City: Spokane
Households with kids: 33.8%
More on Pendleton: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Pendleton, OR

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 12,316
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 43
Closest Major City: Portland
Households with kids: 27.6%
More on Gladstone: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Gladstone, OR

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 10,767
Family Friendly Amenities Score: 50
Closest Major City: Portland
Households with kids: 22.6%
More on Newport: PhotosHomes For Sale | Data

Newport, OR

Methodology: How do you determine which place is best for families in Oregon anyways?

To give you the places in Oregon which are best for families, we have to look at a handful of metrics. Of course, we want to measure the type of people who live in each city, and make some assumptions about what's family-friendly and what isn't.

So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.

How we crunched the family friendly numbers for the Beaver State

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of Oregon, we looked at every single city in the state. We paid particular attention to:

  • Crime (Both violent and property)
  • Quality of local schools
  • Distance to a major city without necessarily being in it
  • % of households with children
  • Family-friendly amenities nearby (museums, libraries and colleges)

We then gave each city a Family Score.

The higher the score, the better the city is for families. We also limited our results to cities with populations over 10,000 people. For Oregon, that meant a total of 39 cities. You can download the data here.

Summary: The Best Places To Raise A Family In Oregon

If you're looking for a breakdown of cities in Oregon ranked by criteria that most would agree make a place a great spot for families, this is an accurate list.

Here's a look at the best cities for singles Oregon according to the data:

  1. Redmond
  2. Eugene
  3. Springfield

For more Oregon reading, check out:

Where Are The Best Places For Families In Oregon?

Rank City Population Amenities Score
1 Monmouth, OR 10,411 43
2 Silverton, OR 10,426 63
3 Sherwood, OR 19,745 39
4 West Linn, OR 26,764 57
5 La Grande, OR 13,380 37
6 Lake Oswego, OR 39,476 51
7 Forest Grove, OR 24,847 37
8 Pendleton, OR 16,685 55
9 Gladstone, OR 12,316 35
10 Newport, OR 10,767 60

How Is The Area In ?

Editor's Note: We updated this article for 2022. This is our ninth time ranking the best cities for families in Oregon.

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.