Best PlacesAlsea, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alsea, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Alsea ranks 26,966th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Alsea
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.
Alsea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alsea ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 83% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 78% of towns
Where Alsea ranks low
- Short commute43.3 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,391 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Alsea
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alsea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $90,827; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Alsea's effective rate of 0.61%, 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.
Who lives in Alsea
Alsea runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alsea.
Who works in Alsea, and how
Work in Alsea centers on education and information. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Alsea
The coast is about 46 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Alsea, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Alsea, month by month
Alsea sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 36° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 67° | 52° |
| October | 66° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Alsea
The nearest airport, Mahlon Sweet Field, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Alsea
Schools across Alsea average a B−, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Philomath Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Territorial Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Monroe Grade SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Philomath Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Oaklea Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Philomath High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Junction City High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Monroe High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alsea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alsea 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 Alsea against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Alsea
Is Alsea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alsea ranks 26,966th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, clean air, and population health, and lowest on long commutes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alsea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $380,001. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $90,827 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Alsea safe?
Alsea is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $459 per resident a year.
Compare Alsea with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alsea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alsea 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.
Alsea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alsea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alsea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alsea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alsea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alsea detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.