Most Expensive Places To Live In Oregon For 2020

The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Oregon For 2020

1. Hood River

The city of Hood River is the seat of Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is a port on the Columbia River, and is named for the nearby Hood River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,167.

The median income in Hood River comes in at $54,437 and the median home value is $344,200 for 2020.

2. Ashland

Ashland is a city in Jackson County, in the State of Oregon. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. As of 2015, the city's population was approaching 21,000.

The median income in Ashland comes in at $50,613 and the median home value is $428,100 for 2020.

3. Seaside

Seaside is a city in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. The name Seaside is derived from Seaside House, a historic summer resort built in the 1870s by railroad magnate Ben Holladay. The city's population was 6,457 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Seaside comes in at $42,169 and the median home value is $279,600 for 2020.

4. Corvallis

Corvallis is a city in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County and the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 54,462. Its population was estimated by the Portland Research Center to be 55,298 in 2013. Corvallis is the location of Oregon State University, a large Hewlett-Packard research campus, and Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.

The median income in Corvallis comes in at $49,835 and the median home value is $305,100 for 2020.

5. Wilsonville

Wilsonville is a city primarily in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A portion of the northern section of the city is in Washington County. It was founded as Boones Landing because of the Boones Ferry which crossed the Willamette River at the location; the community became Wilsonville in 1880. The city was incorporated in 1969 with a population of approximately 1,000. The population was 13,991 at the 2000 census, and grew to 19,509 as of 2010. Slightly more than 90% of residents at the 2000 census were white, with Hispanics comprising the largest minority group.

The median income in Wilsonville comes in at $69,043 and the median home value is $404,800 for 2020.

Lincoln City is a city in on the Oregon Coast between Newport and Florence. It is the county seat of Lincoln County. It is named after the county, which was named in honor of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The population was 8,722 in 2016. During the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, this city was the first in the path of totality to view a partial solar eclipse.

The median income in Lincoln City comes in at $38,010 and the median home value is $226,200 for 2020.

7. Bend

Bend is a city in, and the county seat of, Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, and despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis of the region, owing to the low population density of that area. Bend recorded a population of 76,693 at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census, up from 52,029 at the 2000 census. The estimated population of the city as of 2013 is 81,236. Bend's metro population was estimated at 165,954 as of July 1, 2013. The Bend MSA is the fifth largest metropolitan area in Oregon.

The median income in Bend comes in at $63,468 and the median home value is $363,200 for 2020.

8. Talent

Talent is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. The population was 6,066 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Talent comes in at $34,321 and the median home value is $205,300 for 2020.

9. Brookings

Brookings is a city in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It was named after John E. Brookings, president of the Brookings Lumber and Box Company, which founded the city in 1908. As of the 2010 census the population was 6,336.

The median income in Brookings comes in at $53,087 and the median home value is $296,900 for 2020.

10. Eugene

Eugene is a city of the Pacific Northwest located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers, about 50 miles east of the Oregon Coast.

The median income in Eugene comes in at $49,029 and the median home value is $272,000 for 2020.

How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Beaver State For 2020

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2014-2018 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Oregon to figure out which is the most expensive.

What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 75 places in Oregon that have more than 5,000 people.

The place with the highest cost of living in Oregon according to the data is Hood River. You can download the data here.