Best PlacesBlaine, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blaine, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Blaine ranks 17,862nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Blaine
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.
Blaine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blaine ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$112,708 median, better than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
Where Blaine ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blaine
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blaine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $112,708; 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 Blaine's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Blaine
Blaine 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 Blaine.
Who works in Blaine, and how
Work in Blaine centers on education and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Blaine
The coast is about 49 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Blaine, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Blaine, month by month
Blaine sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 44° | 38° |
| April | 58° | 49° | 41° |
| July | 70° | 60° | 52° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Blaine
The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blaine
Schools across Blaine average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Prairie Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Nestucca K8D+ · 24% proficient
- Willamina Elementary SchoolD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tillamook Junior High SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Tillamook High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Nestucca High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blaine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blaine 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 Blaine against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blaine
Is Blaine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blaine ranks 17,862nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, tree cover, and high incomes, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blaine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $450,700. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $112,708 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Blaine safe?
Yes, Blaine is safer than 59% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $330 per resident a year.
Compare Blaine with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blaine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blaine 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.
Blaine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blaine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blaine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blaine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blaine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blaine 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.