Best PlacesKeating, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Keating, 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.
Keating ranks 18,979th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Keating
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.
Keating's strengths and weaknesses
Where Keating ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute16.1 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 162 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Keating ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Keating
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Keating home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,204, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Keating's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Keating
Keating 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 Keating.
Who works in Keating, and how
Work in Keating centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Keating
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Keating.
What the weather is like in Keating, month by month
Keating sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 45° | 29° |
| July | 91° | 70° | 47° |
| October | 65° | 46° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Keating
The nearest airport, Eastern Oregon Regional at Pendleton, is about 83 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Keating
Schools across Keating average a B−, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn Primary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Baker Intermediate SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Keating school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Keating 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 Keating against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Keating
Is Keating a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Keating ranks 18,979th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on distance from a big city and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Keating expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $262,119. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $72,204 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Keating safe?
Yes, Keating is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $234 per resident a year.
Compare Keating with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Keating. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Keating 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.
Keating detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Keating: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Keating: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Keating: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Keating: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Keating 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.