Best PlacesBenton County, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Benton County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Benton County ranks 383rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Benton County
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.
The best areas in Benton County
The parts of Benton County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Albany
More households have young kids, crime runs lower, and fewer homes sit empty.
Corvallis
Biking is better and more adults hold degrees.
Philomath
Tree cover is thicker, though commutes are longer.
Benton County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 10% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Benton County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Benton County ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 98% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 94% of counties
Where Benton County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,442 a month, better than only 3% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 31% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 32% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 33% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Benton County
A household needs to earn about $134,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Benton County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,041, 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 Benton County's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Benton County
Benton County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Benton County.
Who works in Benton County, and how
Work in Benton County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Benton County
Benton County has more late-night spots per resident than 79% of counties. The coast is about 58 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Benton County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Benton County growing, and who is moving in?
Benton County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Portland, OR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Benton County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Benton County, month by month
Benton County sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 34° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 68° | 53° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Benton County
The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 78 miles away.
The best schools in and around Benton County
Schools across Benton County average a B+, better than 85% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Philomath Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Oak Grove Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- North Albany Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Philomath Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- North Albany Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Memorial Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Central High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Corvallis High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Philomath High SchoolA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Benton County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Benton County 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 Benton County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Benton County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 20% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Benton County
Is Benton County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Benton County ranks 383rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, biking, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Benton County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $505,138. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $82,041 median income, cost of living beats 59% of counties.
Is Benton County safe?
Benton County is safer than 49% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $453 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Benton County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 34. That works out to about 101 pleasant days a year, more than 61% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Benton County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Albany, Corvallis, and Philomath. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Benton County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Benton County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Benton County 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.
Benton County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Benton County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Benton County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Benton County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Benton County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Benton County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.