Best PlacesManzanita, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Manzanita, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Manzanita ranks 12,311th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Manzanita
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.
Manzanita's strengths and weaknesses
Where Manzanita ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
Where Manzanita ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Manzanita
A household needs to earn about $162,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Manzanita home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,730, 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 Manzanita's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Manzanita
Manzanita 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 Manzanita.
Who works in Manzanita, and how
Work in Manzanita centers on manufacturing and utilities. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 40%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Manzanita
Manzanita has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns. The coast is about 1 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Manzanita and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Manzanita, month by month
Manzanita sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 44° | 38° |
| April | 58° | 49° | 41° |
| July | 70° | 60° | 52° |
| October | 63° | 53° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Manzanita
Portland International sits about 65 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 9.1 million passengers in 2025, with 117 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Manzanita
Schools across Manzanita average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Nehalem Elementary SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Neah-kah-nie Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Neah-kah-nie High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Manzanita school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Manzanita 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 Manzanita against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Manzanita
Is Manzanita a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Manzanita ranks 12,311th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Manzanita expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $642,491. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $95,730 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Manzanita safe?
Manzanita is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $436 per resident a year.
Compare Manzanita with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Manzanita. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Manzanita 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.
Manzanita detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Manzanita: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Manzanita: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Manzanita: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Manzanita: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Manzanita 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.