Best PlacesPendleton, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pendleton, 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.
Pendleton ranks 18,978th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pendleton
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.
Pendleton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pendleton ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute14.8 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
Where Pendleton ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pendleton
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pendleton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $71,900; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Pendleton's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 Pendleton
Pendleton'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 Pendleton.
Who works in Pendleton, and how
Work in Pendleton centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Pendleton
Pendleton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pendleton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pendleton, month by month
Pendleton sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 37° |
| July | 94° | 76° | 57° |
| October | 67° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Pendleton
The nearest airport, Eastern Oregon Regional at Pendleton, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 184 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pendleton
Schools across Pendleton average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mckay Creek Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Sherwood Heights Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Washington Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sunridge Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Weston Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Pendleton High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Weston-mcewen High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Hawthorne Alternative High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pendleton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pendleton 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 Pendleton against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Pendleton suits
Families
Schools land around the 34th percentile and crime safety beats 64%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Pendleton
Is Pendleton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pendleton ranks 18,978th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on an overheated housing market and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pendleton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $301,427. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $71,900 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Pendleton safe?
Yes, Pendleton is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $356 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pendleton?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 27. That works out to about 125 pleasant days a year, more than 83% of towns.
Is Pendleton good for families?
Schools beat 34% of towns, crime safety beats 64%, and childcare runs $849 a month.
Compare Pendleton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pendleton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pendleton 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.
Pendleton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pendleton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pendleton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pendleton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pendleton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pendleton 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.