Best PlacesEugene, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Eugene metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Jsayre64, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Eugene ranks 226th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on childcare costs and a weak job market. It does better on biking, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Eugene 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 Eugene
The towns and districts of the Eugene 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.
Cottage Grove
Tree cover is thicker, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Downtown Eugene
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Junction City
More households have young kids, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Veneta
It is quieter.
Springfield
Schools score lower and health care is harder to reach.
Florence
More homes sit empty and disaster risk is higher.
Creswell, Oakridge & Pleasant Hill
Transit reaches fewer jobs and commutes are longer.
Eugene shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 5%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Eugene's strengths and weaknesses
Eugene lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Biking, state infrastructure, and clean air carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, a weak job market, and the cost of living against local pay hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Eugene to another than it does between Eugene and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Eugene ranks high
- BikingBetter than 95% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 90% of metro areas
Where Eugene ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,397 a month, better than only 9% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 20% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Eugene
A household needs to earn about $117,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Eugene home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,999, 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 Eugene's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Eugene
Eugene 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 Eugene.
Who works in Eugene, and how
Work in Eugene centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Eugene
Eugene has more late-night spots per resident than 82% of metro areas. The coast is about 70 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Eugene and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Eugene growing, and who is moving in?
Eugene has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Portland, OR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Eugene go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Eugene, month by month
Eugene sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 42° | 35° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 70° | 51° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Eugene
The nearest airport, Mahlon Sweet Field, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Eugene
Schools across Eugene average a C+, better than 46% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Ridgeline MontessoriA+ · 75% proficient
- Village SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Charlemagne French Immersion Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Roosevelt Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Spencer Butte Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Cal Young Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Creswell High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- South Eugene High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Churchill High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Eugene school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Eugene 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 Eugene against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Eugene suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Eugene
Is Eugene a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Eugene ranks 226th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on biking, state infrastructure, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Eugene expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $445,282. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $76,999 median income, cost of living beats 15% of metro areas.
Is Eugene safe?
Eugene is safer than 39% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $485 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Eugene?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 35. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 51% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Eugene?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cottage Grove, Downtown Eugene, and Junction City. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Eugene good for families?
Schools beat 46% of metro areas, crime safety beats 39%, and childcare runs $1,397 a month.
Is Eugene good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 15% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 59% of metro areas. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Eugene with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Eugene. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Eugene 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.
Eugene detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Eugene: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Eugene: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Eugene: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Eugene: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Eugene 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.