Here Are The 11 Best Places To Live In Oregon… And Why
Ask any Oregonian; Oregon is a wonderful place to live. However, making the choice of where to live can be difficult. To put together this list, I sifted through many articles and statistics about places in Oregon based on specific attractions and overall livability. Of course, rating livability is always going to be subjective to an extent, and what makes a place “the best” is reliant on individual experiences. When it comes down to it, pretty much anywhere you end up in Oregon is going to be amazing. However, if you’re looking to make a move and you’re not sure where to start, here are 11 amazing places you could hang your hat, broken down into categories.
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Brookings, a coastal town near the California border, is home to 6,313 residents and has the lowest crime rate in the state according to Value Penguin. Plus, it's beautiful!
Ashland is home to the wonderful Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and it's also a fantastic place to retire. This lovely city has mild weather, access to great outdoor activities, a charming downtown, and it's very pedestrian friendly, making it a popular place to retire.
This suburb of Portland has a population of slightly over 25,000 residents. Although the cost of living is higher than many cities in Oregon, the crime rate is very low and the education, amenities, and housing make this a wonderful city to raise a family.
Corvallis is home to Oregon State University and businesses like Hewlett-Packard, and at 3.5% unemployment, it has the lowest unemployment rate in the state.
It's hard to choose between Oregon's many wonderful seaside towns, but when it comes to livability, Florence came in first place. The lovely town has a high graduation rate, a stable housing market, low crime rate, relatively sunny weather, and more.
Although you could argue that Portland has the most variety of food and the most nationally recognized restaurants, Mcminnville takes the cake on this one. McMinnville is located in the Willamette Valley and is surrounded by farms and vineyards that make their farm-to-fork food culture possible (and delicious!). Bon Appétit even named McMinnville one of the six "foodiest towns" in the country.
Oregon is full of incredible small towns, so this one was a particularly hard choice. With less than 10,000 residents, Silverton is a beautiful little town with a median housing value 6% lower than the state's average, a higher median household income, a high graduation rate, and low crime rates.
Overall, Oregon is an amazing place to live.
Do you live in any of these places? Have you ever? Everyone has their own idea of what makes somewhere the best place to live, and honestly, it’s hard to go wrong in a state as lovely as Oregon. What other places do you think are the best to live in? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
