Best PlacesGresham, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gresham, 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.
Gresham ranks 263rd of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on clean air and state infrastructure. The weaker spots are childcare costs, education levels, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in Gresham
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 Gresham
The parts of Gresham, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Gresham-Gresham Butte
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and tree cover is thicker.
Gresham-Southwest
More households have young kids, though streets are more car-dependent.
Gresham-Kelly Creek
Prices have run up less and more residents vote.
Gresham-North Central
More adults hold degrees, though more homes sit empty.
Gresham-Powell Valley & Gresham-Mt. Hood
Scores close to Gresham-North Central, except that commutes are longer here.
Gresham-Northwest, Gresham-City Central & Gresham-Holly Brook
Transit reaches more jobs, though crime runs higher.
Centennial & Gresham-Centennial
Schools score higher, though health care is harder to reach.
Gresham-Rockwood & Gresham-North Gresham
It is noisier and disaster risk is higher.
Gresham-Northeast
Scores across Gresham run from about the 9th to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Gresham's strengths and weaknesses
Gresham lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Clean air is the standout, in the top 3% of cities. State infrastructure and biking follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, education levels, and summer heat hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Gresham to another than it does between Gresham and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Gresham ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of cities
- BikingBetter than 84% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of cities
- TransitBetter than 78% of cities
Where Gresham ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,740 a month, better than only 7% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 18% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 22% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 24% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 29% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Gresham
A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gresham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,176, 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 Gresham's effective rate of 0.90%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gresham
Gresham runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gresham.
Who works in Gresham, and how
Work in Gresham centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Gresham
Gresham has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gresham and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gresham, month by month
Gresham sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 42° | 37° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 71° | 57° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Gresham
Portland International sits about 10 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 Gresham
Schools across Gresham average a C+, better than 54% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Scouters Mountain ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Gresham Arthur AcademyC · 30% proficient
- Verne A Duncan Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Happy Valley Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Rock Creek Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Centennial High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- New Urban High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gresham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gresham 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 Gresham against the other 444 cities.
Who Gresham suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Gresham
Is Gresham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gresham ranks 263rd of 445 cities. It scores highest on clean air, state infrastructure, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gresham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $443,820. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $84,176 median income, cost of living beats 29% of cities.
Is Gresham safe?
Gresham is safer than 46% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $519 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gresham?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 37. That works out to about 107 pleasant days a year, more than 51% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Gresham?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Gresham-Gresham Butte, Gresham-Southwest, and Gresham-Kelly Creek. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Gresham good for families?
Schools beat 54% of cities, crime safety beats 46%, and childcare runs $1,740 a month.
Is Gresham good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 29% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 83% of cities. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Gresham with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gresham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gresham 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.
Gresham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gresham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gresham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gresham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gresham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gresham 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.