Best PlacesAshland, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ashland, 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.
Ashland ranks 12,689th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ashland
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.
Ashland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ashland ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
Where Ashland ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,112 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ashland
A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ashland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,487, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Ashland's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Ashland
Ashland 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 Ashland.
Who works in Ashland, and how
Work in Ashland centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Ashland
Ashland has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ashland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ashland, month by month
Ashland sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| April | 70° | 54° | 40° |
| July | 96° | 77° | 59° |
| October | 73° | 56° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Ashland
The nearest airport, Rogue Valley International/Medford, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 235 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ashland
Schools across Ashland average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Keno Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Talent Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Henley Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Talent Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Eagle Point High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Phoenix High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ashland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ashland 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 Ashland against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Ashland suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 22% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 80% of towns and health care access beats 56%.
Common questions about living in Ashland
Is Ashland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ashland ranks 12,689th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and transit, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ashland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $569,155. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $72,487 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Ashland safe?
Ashland is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $475 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ashland?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 32. That works out to about 120 pleasant days a year, more than 80% of towns.
Is Ashland good for families?
Schools beat 66% of towns, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $1,112 a month.
Compare Ashland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ashland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ashland 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.
Ashland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ashland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ashland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ashland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ashland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ashland 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.