Best PlacesLinn County, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Linn County, 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.
Linn County ranks 1,071st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on state infrastructure and low crime. The weaker spots are childcare costs, disaster risk, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Linn 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 Linn County
The parts of Linn 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.
Scio
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and it is quieter.
Albany
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Harrisburg
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Brownsville
Disaster risk is lower, though more homes sit empty.
Lebanon
Schools score lower and prices have run up more.
Sweet Home
Commutes are longer and fewer adults hold degrees.
Linn County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Linn County's strengths and weaknesses
Linn County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure, low crime, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, disaster risk, and an overheated housing market hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Linn County to another than it does between Linn County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Linn County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of counties
- BikingBetter than 91% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of counties
Where Linn County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,005 a month, better than only 16% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 21% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 25% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 30% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Linn County
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Linn County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,885, 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 Linn County's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Linn County
Linn County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Linn County.
Who works in Linn County, and how
Work in Linn County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Linn County
Linn County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Linn County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Linn County growing, and who is moving in?
Linn County has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Salem, OR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Linn County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Linn County, month by month
Linn County sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 34° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 68° | 53° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Linn County
The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Linn County
Schools across Linn County average a C−, better than 30% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sand Ridge Charter SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Yujin Gakuen Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Black Butte Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cal Young Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- North Albany Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Timber Ridge SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Corvallis High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Central Linn High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- West Albany High SchoolA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Linn County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Linn 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 Linn County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Linn County suits
Families
Schools land around the 30th percentile and crime safety beats 96%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Linn County
Is Linn County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Linn County ranks 1,071st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low crime, and few empty homes, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Linn County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $387,190. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $78,885 median income, cost of living beats 48% of counties.
Is Linn County safe?
Yes, Linn County is safer than 96% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Linn County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 34. That works out to about 99 pleasant days a year, more than 59% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Linn County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Scio, Albany, and Harrisburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Linn County good for families?
Schools beat 30% of counties, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $1,005 a month.
Is Linn County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 48% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 78% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Linn County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Linn County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Linn 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.
Linn County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Linn County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Linn County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Linn County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Linn County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Linn 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.