Best PlacesElsie, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elsie, 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.
Elsie ranks 38,214th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elsie
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.
Elsie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elsie ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 73% of towns
Where Elsie ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Short commute37.2 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elsie
A household needs to earn about $151,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elsie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,477, 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 Elsie's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Elsie
Elsie 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 Elsie.
Who works in Elsie, and how
Work in Elsie centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Elsie
The coast is about 28 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Elsie, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Elsie, month by month
Elsie sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 44° | 37° |
| April | 59° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 70° | 61° | 53° |
| October | 63° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Elsie
Portland International sits about 54 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Elsie
Schools across Elsie average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Nehalem Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Pacific Ridge Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Neah-kah-nie Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Seaside Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Neah-kah-nie High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Seaside High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elsie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elsie 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 Elsie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elsie
Is Elsie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elsie ranks 38,214th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, clean air, and tree cover, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elsie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $591,358. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $72,477 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Elsie safe?
Elsie is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $409 per resident a year.
Compare Elsie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elsie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elsie 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.
Elsie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elsie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elsie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elsie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elsie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elsie 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.