Best PlacesGold Beach, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gold Beach, 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.
Gold Beach ranks 28,238th 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 Gold Beach
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.
Gold Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gold Beach ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute15.5 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
Where Gold Beach ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gold Beach
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gold Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,972, 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 Gold Beach's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 Gold Beach
Gold Beach 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 Gold Beach.
Who works in Gold Beach, and how
Work in Gold Beach centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Gold Beach
Gold Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Gold Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gold Beach, month by month
Gold Beach sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs June through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 48° | 41° |
| April | 61° | 51° | 43° |
| July | 70° | 59° | 52° |
| October | 67° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Gold Beach
The nearest airport, Jack McNamara Field, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 236 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gold Beach
Schools across Gold Beach average a C−, better than 21% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riley Creek Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Gold Beach High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gold Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gold Beach 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 Gold Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gold Beach
Is Gold Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gold Beach ranks 28,238th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on disaster risk and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gold Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $414,708. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $68,972 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Gold Beach safe?
Gold Beach is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
Compare Gold Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gold Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gold Beach 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.
Gold Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gold Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gold Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gold Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gold Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gold Beach 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.