Best PlacesCayuse, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cayuse, 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.
Cayuse ranks 26,295th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cayuse
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.
Cayuse's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cayuse ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$94,063 median, better than 80% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 74% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 66% of towns
Where Cayuse ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cayuse
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cayuse home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,063, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Cayuse's effective rate of 0.37%, 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 Cayuse
Cayuse 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 Cayuse.
Who works in Cayuse, and how
Work in Cayuse centers on hospitality & food and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cayuse
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cayuse.
What the weather is like in Cayuse, month by month
Cayuse sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 56° | 41° | 28° |
| July | 83° | 64° | 42° |
| October | 60° | 43° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Cayuse
The nearest airport, Eastern Oregon Regional at Pendleton, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 183 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cayuse
Schools across Cayuse average a C−, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Athena Elementary SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sunridge Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Weston Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Pendleton High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Weston-mcewen High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cayuse school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cayuse 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 Cayuse against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cayuse
Is Cayuse a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cayuse ranks 26,295th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low property taxes, and high incomes, and lowest on internet speeds and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cayuse expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $341,100. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $94,063 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Cayuse safe?
Yes, Cayuse is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $341 per resident a year.
Compare Cayuse with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cayuse. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cayuse 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.
Cayuse detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cayuse: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cayuse: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cayuse: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cayuse: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cayuse 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.