Best PlacesCorvallis, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Corvallis metro, 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.
Photo by Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via wiki
Corvallis ranks 102nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 58 minutes away. Its strengths are an educated workforce and biking. The cost shows up in childcare costs, disaster risk, and a weak job market.
The best neighborhoods in the Corvallis metro
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 Corvallis
The towns and districts of the Corvallis metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Albany
More households have young kids, crime runs lower, and fewer homes sit empty.
Downtown Corvallis
Biking is better and more adults hold degrees.
Philomath
Tree cover is thicker, though commutes are longer.
Corvallis 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.
Corvallis' strengths and weaknesses
Corvallis lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. An educated workforce is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Biking and population health follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, disaster risk, and a weak job market hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Corvallis to another than it does between Corvallis and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Corvallis ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of metro areas
Where Corvallis ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,442 a month, better than only 7% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 18% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 30% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 31% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 33% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Corvallis
A household needs to earn about $134,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Corvallis 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 Corvallis' 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 Corvallis
Corvallis'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 Corvallis.
Who works in Corvallis, and how
Work in Corvallis 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 Corvallis
Corvallis has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 77% of metro areas. The coast is about 58 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Corvallis and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Corvallis growing, and who is moving in?
Corvallis has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Portland, OR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Corvallis go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Corvallis, month by month
Corvallis 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 Corvallis
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 Corvallis
Schools across Corvallis average a B+, better than 85% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Philomath Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Monroe Grade SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Tangent Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Philomath Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Memorial Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Corvallis High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Philomath High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- West Albany High SchoolA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Corvallis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Corvallis 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 Corvallis against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Corvallis suits
Retirees
The weather beats 60% of metro areas and it is quieter than 74%.
Common questions about living in Corvallis
Is Corvallis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Corvallis ranks 102nd of 387 metro areas. 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 Corvallis 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 33% of metro areas.
Is Corvallis safe?
Corvallis is safer than 48% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $453 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Corvallis?
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 60% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Corvallis?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Albany, Downtown Corvallis, and Philomath. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Corvallis good for families?
Schools beat 85% of metro areas, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $1,442 a month.
Is Corvallis good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 33% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 37% of metro areas. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Corvallis with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Corvallis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Corvallis 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.
Corvallis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Corvallis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Corvallis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Corvallis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Corvallis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Corvallis 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.