Best PlacesHillsboro, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hillsboro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hillsboro ranks 64th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $110,639, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, a weak job market, and thin health care access.
The best neighborhoods in Hillsboro
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 Hillsboro
The parts of Hillsboro, 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.
Sommerset West-Elmonica South
Streets are more walkable, more adults hold degrees, and schools score higher.
Cooper Mountain-Aloha North
Local pay stretches further, though fewer households have young kids.
Industrial District
Incomes run lower and prices have run up more.
Scores across Hillsboro run from about the 18th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Hillsboro's strengths and weaknesses
Hillsboro ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Clean air is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. Few empty homes and heat safety follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, a weak job market, and thin health care access hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Hillsboro ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of cities
- BikingBetter than 89% of cities
Where Hillsboro ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,640 a month, better than only 9% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 29% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 32% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 33% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 41% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Hillsboro
A household needs to earn about $139,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hillsboro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $110,639, 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 Hillsboro's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 Hillsboro
Hillsboro runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hillsboro.
Who works in Hillsboro, and how
Work in Hillsboro centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Hillsboro
Hillsboro has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hillsboro and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hillsboro, month by month
Hillsboro sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 38° |
| July | 86° | 69° | 52° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Hillsboro
Portland International sits about 17 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 Hillsboro
Schools across Hillsboro average a B−, better than 58% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Bethany Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Springville K-8 SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Mckinley Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stoller Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Meadow Park Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Five Oaks Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Southridge High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Westview High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Beaverton Academy Of Science And EngineeringA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hillsboro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hillsboro 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 Hillsboro against the other 444 cities.
Who Hillsboro suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 21% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Hillsboro
Is Hillsboro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hillsboro ranks 64th of 445 cities. It scores highest on clean air, few empty homes, and heat safety, 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 Hillsboro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $530,521. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $110,639 median income, cost of living beats 77% of cities.
Is Hillsboro safe?
Yes, Hillsboro is safer than 70% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $406 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hillsboro?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 33. That works out to about 99 pleasant days a year, more than 47% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hillsboro?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sommerset West-Elmonica South, Cooper Mountain-Aloha North, and Industrial District. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Hillsboro good for families?
Schools beat 58% of cities, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $1,640 a month.
Is Hillsboro good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 82% of cities. About 21% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hillsboro with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hillsboro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hillsboro 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.
Hillsboro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hillsboro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hillsboro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hillsboro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hillsboro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hillsboro 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.