Best PlacesGold Hill, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gold Hill, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gold Hill ranks 30,803rd 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 Gold 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.
Gold Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gold Hill ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 86% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 115 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 77% of towns
Where Gold Hill ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,112 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gold Hill
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gold Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,453, 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 Hill's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Hill
Gold Hill runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gold Hill.
Who works in Gold Hill, and how
Work in Gold Hill centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Gold Hill
Gold Hill has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Gold Hill and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gold Hill, month by month
Gold Hill sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| April | 70° | 54° | 40° |
| July | 96° | 77° | 59° |
| October | 73° | 56° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Gold Hill
The nearest airport, Rogue Valley International/Medford, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 220 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gold Hill
Schools across Gold Hill average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jacksonville Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Ruch Outdoor Community SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Rogue River Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Scenic Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Hanby Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Mcloughlin Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- South Medford High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Crater Renaissance AcademyB− · 45% proficient
- Rogue River Junior/senior HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gold Hill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gold 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 Gold Hill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gold Hill
Is Gold Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gold Hill ranks 30,803rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, transit, and biking, and lowest on an overheated housing market and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gold Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $423,429. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $75,453 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Gold Hill safe?
Gold Hill is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $513 per resident a year.
Compare Gold Hill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gold Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gold 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.
Gold Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gold Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gold Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gold Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gold Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gold 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.