Best PlacesPort Orford, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Orford, 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.
Port Orford ranks 37,608th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Port Orford
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.
Port Orford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Orford ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
Where Port Orford ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Household income$44,363 median, better than only 7% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Orford
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Orford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $44,363, 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 Port Orford's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Port Orford
Port Orford 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 Port Orford.
Who works in Port Orford, and how
Work in Port Orford centers on retail trade and admin & support services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Port Orford
The coast is about 3 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Port Orford, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Orford, month by month
Port Orford sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 65 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 44° | 39° |
| April | 58° | 48° | 40° |
| July | 65° | 58° | 52° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Port Orford
The nearest airport, Southwest Oregon Regional, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 217 miles away.
The best schools in and around Port Orford
Schools across Port Orford average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ocean Crest Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Driftwood Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Riley Creek Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harbor Lights Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Pacific High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Gold Beach High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Orford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Orford 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 Port Orford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Orford
Is Port Orford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Orford ranks 37,608th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, state infrastructure, and clean air, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Orford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $342,509. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $44,363 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Port Orford safe?
Port Orford is safer than 27% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $536 per resident a year.
Compare Port Orford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Orford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Orford 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.
Port Orford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Orford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Orford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Orford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Orford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Orford 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.