Best PlacesDunes City, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dunes City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dunes City ranks 21,425th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dunes City
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.
Dunes City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dunes City ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute18.8 minutes each way, better than 91% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
Where Dunes City ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,397 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 27% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dunes City
A household needs to earn about $136,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dunes City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $66,787, 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 Dunes City's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Dunes City
Dunes City 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 Dunes City.
Who works in Dunes City, and how
Work in Dunes City centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Dunes City
The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Dunes City, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dunes City, month by month
Dunes City sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 67 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs June through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 47° | 40° |
| April | 58° | 50° | 43° |
| July | 67° | 60° | 53° |
| October | 64° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Dunes City
The nearest airport, Southwest Oregon Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dunes City
Schools across Dunes City average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Siuslaw Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Siuslaw Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Siuslaw High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dunes City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dunes City 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 Dunes City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dunes City
Is Dunes City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dunes City ranks 21,425th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, short commutes, and civic engagement, 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 Dunes City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $538,462. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $66,787 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Dunes City safe?
Yes, Dunes City is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $304 per resident a year.
Compare Dunes City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dunes City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dunes City 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.
Dunes City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dunes City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dunes City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dunes City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dunes City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dunes City 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.