Best PlacesDouglas County, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Douglas County, 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.
Douglas County ranks 1,583rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Its strengths are state infrastructure and few empty homes. The cost shows up in disaster risk, the cost of living against local pay, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Douglas County
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 Douglas County
The parts of Douglas County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Winston & Green
Crime runs lower, local pay stretches further, and fewer homes sit empty.
Roseburg
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Sutherlin
Commutes are longer.
Glide
Incomes run higher and prices have run up less.
Reedsport
Disaster risk is higher and fewer households have young kids.
Myrtle Creek
Advertised internet is faster, though schools score lower.
Scores across Douglas County run from about the 7th to the 82nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Douglas County's strengths and weaknesses
Douglas County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure, few empty homes, and low crime carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Disaster risk, the cost of living against local pay, and an overheated housing market hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Douglas County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of counties
- TransitBetter than 84% of counties
- BikingBetter than 78% of counties
Where Douglas County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 23% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of counties
- Cheap childcare$908 a month, better than only 27% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 29% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Douglas County
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Douglas County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $66,548, 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 Douglas County's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Douglas County
Douglas County 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 Douglas County.
Who works in Douglas County, and how
Work in Douglas County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Douglas County
The coast is about 71 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Douglas County, which the map shows.
Is Douglas County growing, and who is moving in?
Douglas County has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Eugene, OR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Douglas County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Douglas County, month by month
Douglas County sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 43° | 36° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 73° | 57° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Douglas County
The nearest airport, Southwest Oregon Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Douglas County
Schools across Douglas County average a C, better than 37% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Melrose Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Hucrest Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Oakland Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lincoln Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Joseph Lane Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- John C Fremont Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- North Bend Senior High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Cottage Grove High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Glide High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Douglas County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Douglas County 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 Douglas County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Douglas County suits
Families
Schools land around the 37th percentile and crime safety beats 86%.
Common questions about living in Douglas County
Is Douglas County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Douglas County ranks 1,583rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, few empty homes, and low crime, and lowest on disaster risk and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Douglas County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,479. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $66,548 median income, cost of living beats 23% of counties.
Is Douglas County safe?
Yes, Douglas County is safer than 86% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $333 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Douglas County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 36. That works out to about 124 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Douglas County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Winston & Green, Roseburg, and Sutherlin. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Douglas County good for families?
Schools beat 37% of counties, crime safety beats 86%, and childcare runs $908 a month.
Is Douglas County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 23% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 56% of counties. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Douglas County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Douglas County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Douglas County 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.
Douglas County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Douglas County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Douglas County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Douglas County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Douglas County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Douglas County 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.