Best PlacesMadras, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Madras, 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.
Madras ranks 21,006th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Madras
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.
Madras' strengths and weaknesses
Where Madras ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 165 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
Where Madras ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Madras
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Madras home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,435, 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 Madras' effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Madras
Madras'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 Madras.
Who works in Madras, and how
Work in Madras centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Madras
Madras has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns and more parkland per resident than 85% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Madras and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Madras, month by month
Madras sees roughly 165 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 34° | 23° |
| April | 64° | 47° | 29° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 48° |
| October | 68° | 49° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Madras
The nearest airport, Roberts Field, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Madras
Schools across Madras average a C−, better than 21% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Buff Elementary SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Culver Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Madras Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Culver Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Jefferson County Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Culver High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Madras High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
- Bridges High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Madras school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Madras 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 Madras against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Madras
Is Madras a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Madras ranks 21,006th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, cell coverage, and the weather, and lowest on air quality and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Madras expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $371,684. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $71,435 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Madras safe?
Madras is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
Compare Madras with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Madras. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Madras 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.
Madras detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Madras: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Madras: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Madras: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Madras: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Madras 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.