Best Places97114, OR Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 97114, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

97114 ranks 14,908th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.

#14,908
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 97114

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 97114 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

97114's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%State infrastructure
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 97114 with other zip codes.

Where 97114 ranks high

  • State infrastructureBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than 89% of zip codes
  • TransitBetter than 82% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than 81% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than 78% of zip codes

Where 97114 ranks low

  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 14% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,249 a month, better than only 19% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than only 25% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 97114

A household needs to earn about $121,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 97114 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $88,110, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$121,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,828
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $476,434 home
Median rent
$1,394
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,429
Property tax$240
Homeowners insurance$159

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 97114's effective rate of 0.60%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 97114

97114's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
39
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
16%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
3.2
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1825%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6419%
65 and older16%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 97114.


Who works in 97114, and how

Work in 97114 centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
16%
about the national average
Unemployment
6.3%
above the national average
Job growth
−1.1%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social16%
Construction14%
Manufacturing13%
Retail trade10%
Education7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 79%
  • Work from home 16%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in 97114

97114 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 97114 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
53
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 106.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 88% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 97114, month by month

97114 sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January50°42°35°
April64°51°39°
July87°69°52°
October67°54°42°

Flying in and out of 97114

The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 35 miles away.

Nearest airport
SLE
McNary Field, about 21 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
3 nonstop destinations
Average drive
30 min
from the area, with no traffic

97114 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 97114 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 97114

Is 97114 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 97114 ranks 14,908th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on state infrastructure, clean air, and transit, and lowest on thin health care access and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 97114 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $476,434. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $88,110 median income, cost of living beats 39% of zip codes.

Is 97114 safe?

Yes, 97114 is safer than 58% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.


Compare 97114 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 97114. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 97114 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

97114 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 97114: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 97114: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 97114: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 97114: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

97114 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.