Best PlacesMedford, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Medford metro, 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.
Photo by Little Mountain 5, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Medford ranks 219th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on a weak job market and distance from a big city. It does better on state infrastructure, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Medford metro
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 Medford
The towns and districts of the Medford metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Ashland
More adults hold degrees, biking is better, and streets are more walkable.
Downtown Medford
More households have young kids, though it is noisier.
Central Point
Tree cover is thinner and schools score lower.
Talent & Phoenix
Incomes run lower.
Eagle Point, White City & Shady Cove
Prices have run up less, though health care is harder to reach.
Rogue River, Gold Hill & Wimer
Commutes are longer and health outcomes score lower.
Medford shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 7% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Medford's strengths and weaknesses
Medford lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure, short commutes, and biking carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. A weak job market, distance from a big city, and the cost of living against local pay hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Medford ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Short commute19.0 minutes each way, better than 92% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 87% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 83% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 79% of metro areas
Where Medford ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 17% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 24% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,112 a month, better than only 24% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Medford
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Medford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,973, 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 Medford's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Medford
Medford 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 Medford.
Who works in Medford, and how
Work in Medford 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 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Medford
Medford has less parkland per resident than most metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 66% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Medford and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Medford growing, and who is moving in?
Medford has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Grants Pass, OR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Medford go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Medford, month by month
Medford sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| April | 70° | 54° | 40° |
| July | 96° | 77° | 59° |
| October | 73° | 56° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Medford
The nearest airport, Rogue Valley International/Medford, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 226 miles away.
The best schools in and around Medford
Schools across Medford average a C+, better than 37% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Hoover Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Lone Pine Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Abraham Lincoln ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- The Valley School Of Southern OregonA+ · 72% proficient
- Hedrick Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Scenic Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Eagle Point High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- South Medford High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Crater Renaissance AcademyB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Medford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Medford 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 Medford against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Medford suits
Retirees
The weather beats 71% of metro areas and it is quieter than 57%.
Common questions about living in Medford
Is Medford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Medford ranks 219th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state infrastructure, short commutes, and biking, and lowest on a weak job market and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Medford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $435,718. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $78,973 median income, cost of living beats 17% of metro areas.
Is Medford safe?
Medford is safer than 53% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $452 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Medford?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 32. That works out to about 116 pleasant days a year, more than 71% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Medford?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Ashland, Downtown Medford, and Central Point. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Medford good for families?
Schools beat 37% of metro areas, crime safety beats 53%, and childcare runs $1,112 a month.
Is Medford good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 17% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 26% of metro areas. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Medford with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Medford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Medford 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.
Medford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Medford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Medford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Medford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Medford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Medford 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.