Best Places97734, OR Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 97734, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

97734 ranks 9,795th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.

#9,795
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 97734

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 97734 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.

97734's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Low crime
Top 5%State infrastructure
Top 10%The weather
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 97734 with other zip codes.

Where 97734 ranks high

  • Crime safetyBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 167 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than 85% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than 74% of zip codes

Where 97734 ranks low

  • Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 13% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than only 15% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 20% of zip codes
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 21% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 97734

A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 97734 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $87,127; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.

Income to buy the median home
$89,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,067
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $355,085 home
Median rent
$1,146
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,810
Property tax$138
Homeowners insurance$118

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 97734's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 97734

97734 runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
37
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
15%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.9
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3424%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6420%
65 and older14%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 97734.


Who works in 97734, and how

Work in 97734 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
9%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.7%
below the national average
Job growth
−2.5%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing20%
Health care & social12%
Construction11%
Retail trade11%
Hospitality & food7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 87%
  • Work from home 9%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 97734

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 97734.


What the weather is like in 97734, month by month

97734 sees roughly 167 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 23. 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
January47°34°23°
April64°47°29°
July92°72°48°
October68°49°32°

Flying in and out of 97734

The nearest airport, Roberts Field, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 100 miles away.

Nearest airport
RDM
Roberts Field, about 18 miles
Airport size
Small hub
127th-busiest in the US, 24 nonstop destinations
Average drive
26 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 97734

Schools across 97734 average a C−, better than 24% 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 97734 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


97734 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 97734 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 97734

Is 97734 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 97734 ranks 9,795th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low crime, state infrastructure, and the weather, and lowest on tree cover and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 97734 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $355,085. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $87,127 median income, cost of living beats 50% of zip codes.

Is 97734 safe?

Yes, 97734 is safer than 97% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $206 per resident a year.


Compare 97734 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 97734. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 97734 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.

97734 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 97734: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 97734: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 97734: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 97734: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

97734 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.