Best PlacesCave Junction, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cave Junction, 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.
Cave Junction ranks 43,986th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cave Junction
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.
Cave Junction's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cave Junction ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
Where Cave Junction ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Household income$47,984 median, better than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cave Junction
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cave Junction home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $47,984, 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 Cave Junction's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Cave Junction
Cave Junction 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 Cave Junction.
Who works in Cave Junction, and how
Work in Cave Junction centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Cave Junction
Cave Junction has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Cave Junction and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cave Junction, month by month
Cave Junction sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 37° | 32° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 36° |
| July | 80° | 65° | 54° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Cave Junction
The nearest airport, Jack McNamara Field, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 244 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cave Junction
Schools across Cave Junction average a D+, better than 19% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Evergreen Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lorna Byrne Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Illinois Valley High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cave Junction school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cave Junction 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 Cave Junction against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cave Junction
Is Cave Junction a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cave Junction ranks 43,986th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, transit, and walkability, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cave Junction expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $340,338. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $47,984 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Cave Junction safe?
Cave Junction is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $439 per resident a year.
Compare Cave Junction with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cave Junction. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cave Junction 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.
Cave Junction detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cave Junction: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cave Junction: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cave Junction: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cave Junction: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cave Junction 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.