Best PlacesJosephine County, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Josephine County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Josephine County ranks 1,463rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Josephine County
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 Josephine County
The parts of Josephine County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Grants Pass
Biking is better, more households have young kids, and crime runs lower.
Merlin
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Cave Junction
More homes sit empty and incomes run lower.
Scores across Josephine County run from about the 1st to the 85th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Josephine County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Josephine County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- TransitBetter than 86% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 86% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of counties
Where Josephine County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,109 a month, better than only 10% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 27% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Josephine County
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Josephine County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,589, 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 Josephine County's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Josephine County
Josephine County 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 Josephine County.
Who works in Josephine County, and how
Work in Josephine County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Josephine County
Josephine County has less parkland per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 80% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Josephine County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Josephine County growing, and who is moving in?
Josephine County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Medford, OR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Josephine County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Josephine County, month by month
Josephine County sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 37° | 32° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 36° |
| July | 80° | 65° | 54° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Josephine County
The nearest airport, Rogue Valley International/Medford, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 224 miles away.
The best schools in and around Josephine County
Schools across Josephine County average a B−, better than 64% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sunny Wolf Charter SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Williams Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Fruitdale Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- South Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Lincoln Savage Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- New Bridge High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- North Valley High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Hidden Valley High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Josephine County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Josephine County 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 Josephine County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Josephine County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Josephine County
Is Josephine County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Josephine County ranks 1,463rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low crime, and transit, and lowest on childcare costs and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Josephine County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $411,613. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $64,589 median income, cost of living beats 11% of counties.
Is Josephine County safe?
Yes, Josephine County is safer than 95% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Josephine County?
July highs average about 80 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 32. That works out to about 126 pleasant days a year, more than 79% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Josephine County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Grants Pass, Merlin, and Cave Junction. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Josephine County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Josephine County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Josephine County 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.
Josephine County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Josephine County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Josephine County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Josephine County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Josephine County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Josephine County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.