Best PlacesLa Grande, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around La Grande, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
La Grande ranks 17,643rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in La Grande
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.
La Grande's strengths and weaknesses
Where La Grande ranks high
- Short commute12.9 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
Where La Grande ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 21% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in La Grande
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Grande home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $69,457; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 La Grande'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 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 La Grande
La Grande runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 La Grande.
Who works in La Grande, and how
Work in La Grande 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 81%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in La Grande
La Grande has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns and more parkland per resident than 84% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of La Grande and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in La Grande, month by month
La Grande sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 62° | 47° | 33° |
| July | 91° | 72° | 51° |
| October | 64° | 49° | 35° |
Flying in and out of La Grande
The nearest airport, Eastern Oregon Regional at Pendleton, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 153 miles away.
The best schools in and around La Grande
Schools across La Grande average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mckay Creek Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Island City Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Central Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- La Grande Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Sunridge Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- La Grande High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Pilot Rock High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every La Grande school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
La Grande 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 La Grande against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in La Grande
Is La Grande a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Grande ranks 17,643rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, walkability, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is La Grande expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $293,356. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $69,457 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is La Grande safe?
La Grande is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $440 per resident a year.
Compare La Grande with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Grande. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Grande 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.
La Grande detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Grande: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Grande: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Grande: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Grande: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Grande 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.