Best PlacesPowell Butte, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Powell Butte, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Powell Butte ranks 5,075th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Powell Butte
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.
Powell Butte's strengths and weaknesses
Where Powell Butte ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 161 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Household income$125,474 median, better than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Powell Butte ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 15% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Powell Butte
A household needs to earn about $173,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Powell Butte home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $125,474, 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 Powell Butte's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Powell Butte
Powell Butte 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 Powell Butte.
Who works in Powell Butte, and how
Work in Powell Butte centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Powell Butte
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Powell Butte.
What the weather is like in Powell Butte, month by month
Powell Butte sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 34° | 23° |
| April | 64° | 47° | 29° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 48° |
| October | 68° | 49° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Powell Butte
The nearest airport, Roberts Field, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 123 miles away.
The best schools in and around Powell Butte
Schools across Powell Butte average a B+, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Powell Butte Community Charter SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Sage Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Tumalo Community SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crook County Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Elton Gregory Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Obsidian Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Crook County High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Ridgeview High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Powell Butte school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Powell Butte 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 Powell Butte against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Powell Butte
Is Powell Butte a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Powell Butte ranks 5,075th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, the weather, and high incomes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Powell Butte expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $683,063. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $125,474 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Powell Butte safe?
Yes, Powell Butte is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
Compare Powell Butte with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Powell Butte. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Powell Butte 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.
Powell Butte detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Powell Butte: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Powell Butte: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Powell Butte: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Powell Butte: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Powell Butte 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.