Best Places97223, OR Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 97223, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

97223 ranks 1,999th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#1,999
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 97223

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 97223 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.

97223's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Clean air
Top 5%Biking
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 97223 with other zip codes.

Where 97223 ranks high

  • Air qualityBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • TransitBetter than 92% of zip codes

Where 97223 ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$1,642 a month, better than only 3% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 21% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 24% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 34% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 37% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 97223

A household needs to earn about $160,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 97223 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $114,360, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$160,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,731
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $605,398 home
Median rent
$1,893
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$3,087
Property tax$443
Homeowners insurance$202

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 97223's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 97223

97223's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
41
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
17%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1818%
18 to 3423%
35 to 4922%
50 to 6420%
65 and older17%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 97223.


Who works in 97223, and how

Work in 97223 centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
27%
above the national average
Unemployment
5.0%
about the national average
Job growth
+3.2%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social14%
Retail trade13%
Manufacturing13%
Professional & technical11%
Education8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 66%
  • Work from home 27%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 7%

Life in 97223

97223 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 78% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 97223 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
301
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 60.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 76% of zip codes
Coffee shops
56
about 11.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 85% of zip codes
Parkland
272 acres
about 5.5 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 78% of zip codes
Open past 10pm
~79
food and drink venues open late, about 15.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 84% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 97223, month by month

97223 sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 33. 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
January49°41°33°
April64°51°38°
July86°69°52°
October67°53°41°

Flying in and out of 97223

Portland International sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
PDX
Portland International, about 14 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
32nd-busiest in the US, 117 nonstop destinations
Average drive
20 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 97223

Schools across 97223 average an A−, better than 84% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 97223 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


97223 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 97223 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 97223 suits

Families

Schools beat 84% of zip codes.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of zip codes, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 27% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 63% of zip codes.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 97223

Is 97223 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 97223 ranks 1,999th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on clean air, biking, and state infrastructure, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 97223 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $605,398. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $114,360 median income, cost of living beats 83% of zip codes.

Is 97223 safe?

97223 is safer than 44% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $452 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 97223?

July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 33. That works out to about 100 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of zip codes.

Is 97223 good for families?

Schools beat 84% of zip codes, crime safety beats 44%, and childcare runs $1,642 a month.


Compare 97223 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 97223. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 97223 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.

97223 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 97223: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 97223: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 97223: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 97223: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

97223 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.