Best PlacesBaker City, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Baker City, 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.
Baker City ranks 9,370th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Baker City
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.
Baker City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Baker City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute14.8 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
Where Baker City ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Baker City
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Baker City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $66,911; 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 Baker City's effective rate of 0.81%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Baker City
Baker City 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 Baker City.
Who works in Baker City, and how
Work in Baker City centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Baker City
Baker City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Baker City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Baker City, month by month
Baker City sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 45° | 29° |
| July | 91° | 70° | 47° |
| October | 65° | 46° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Baker City
The nearest airport, Eastern Oregon Regional at Pendleton, is about 80 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Baker City
Schools across Baker City average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Haines Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Brooklyn Primary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Union Elementary SchoolC− · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Baker Intermediate SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Union High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Baker City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Baker City 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 Baker City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Baker City
Is Baker City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Baker City ranks 9,370th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Baker City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $278,455. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $66,911 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Baker City safe?
Yes, Baker City is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
Compare Baker City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Baker City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Baker City 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.
Baker City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Baker City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Baker City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Baker City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Baker City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Baker City 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.