Best PlacesFern Hill, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fern Hill, 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.
Fern Hill ranks 19,441st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fern Hill
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.
Fern Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fern Hill ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
Where Fern Hill ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap childcare$991 a month, better than only 25% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 27% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fern Hill
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fern Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $92,978, 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 Fern Hill's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Fern Hill
Fern Hill runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fern Hill.
Who works in Fern Hill, and how
Work in Fern Hill centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Fern Hill
The coast is about 10 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Fern Hill, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fern Hill, month by month
Fern Hill sees roughly 110 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 Fern Hill
Portland International sits about 67 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.
Fern Hill 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 Fern Hill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fern Hill
Is Fern Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fern Hill ranks 19,441st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, clean air, and cell coverage, and lowest on disaster risk and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fern Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $467,527. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $92,978 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Fern Hill safe?
Yes, Fern Hill is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $332 per resident a year.
Compare Fern Hill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fern Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fern Hill 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.
Fern Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fern Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fern Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fern Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fern Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fern Hill 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.