Best PlacesMalheur County, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Malheur 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.
Malheur County ranks 2,400th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Malheur 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 Malheur County
The parts of Malheur 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.
Vale
More households have young kids, more residents vote, and fewer homes sit empty.
Ontario
Local pay stretches further, though it is noisier.
Nyssa
Streets are more walkable, though health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Malheur County run from about the 7th to the 60th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Malheur County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Malheur County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of counties
- Short commute19.0 minutes each way, better than 84% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 81% of counties
Where Malheur County ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Malheur County
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Malheur County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $55,250, 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 Malheur County's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Malheur County
Malheur County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Malheur County.
Who works in Malheur County, and how
Work in Malheur County centers on agriculture & forestry 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 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Malheur County
Malheur County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Malheur County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Malheur County growing, and who is moving in?
Malheur County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Boise, ID.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Malheur County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Malheur County, month by month
Malheur County sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 37° |
| July | 98° | 81° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 52° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Malheur County
Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field sits about 50 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 59 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Malheur County
Schools across Malheur County average a C−, better than 27% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn Primary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Jordan Valley Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Fields Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vale Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Weiser Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- South Baker Intermediate SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Jordan Valley High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Nyssa High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Mcdermitt High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Malheur County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Malheur 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 Malheur County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Malheur County suits
Common questions about living in Malheur County
Is Malheur County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Malheur County ranks 2,400th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, the weather, and cell coverage, and lowest on thin health care access and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Malheur County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $264,751. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $55,250 median income, cost of living beats 8% of counties.
Is Malheur County safe?
Malheur County is safer than 34% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $485 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Malheur County?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 23. That works out to about 139 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Malheur County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Vale, Ontario, and Nyssa. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Malheur County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Malheur County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Malheur 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.
Malheur County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Malheur County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Malheur County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Malheur County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Malheur County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Malheur 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.