Best PlacesBoardman, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Boardman, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Boardman ranks 34,433rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Boardman
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.
Boardman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Boardman ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
Where Boardman ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Boardman
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boardman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $66,089; 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 Boardman's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Boardman
Boardman runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Boardman.
Who works in Boardman, and how
Work in Boardman centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Boardman
Boardman has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Boardman and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Boardman, month by month
Boardman sees roughly 156 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 69° | 53° | 38° |
| July | 96° | 78° | 58° |
| October | 69° | 53° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Boardman
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 141 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boardman
Schools across Boardman average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Condon Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Stanfield Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Sam Boardman Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Irrigon Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Windy River Elementary SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Condon High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Riverside Junior/senior High SchoolD · 19% proficient
- Irrigon Junior/senior High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boardman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boardman 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 Boardman against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Boardman
Is Boardman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boardman ranks 34,433rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, biking, and a strong job market, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Boardman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $277,109. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $66,089 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Boardman safe?
Boardman is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $441 per resident a year.
Compare Boardman with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boardman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boardman 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.
Boardman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boardman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boardman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boardman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boardman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boardman 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.