Best PlacesRainier, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rainier, 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.
Rainier ranks 26,636th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rainier
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.
Rainier's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rainier ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 81% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 81% of towns
Where Rainier ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,162 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 27% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rainier
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rainier home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,385, 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 Rainier'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 Rainier
Rainier runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rainier.
Who works in Rainier, and how
Work in Rainier centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rainier
Rainier has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 54 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Rainier and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rainier, month by month
Rainier sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 35° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 66° | 55° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Rainier
Portland International sits about 38 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 Rainier
Schools across Rainier average a B+, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lewis & Clark Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- St Helens Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Vernonia Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Vernonia High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- St Helens High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rainier school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rainier 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 Rainier against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rainier
Is Rainier a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rainier ranks 26,636th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, clean air, and transit, and lowest on disaster risk 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 Rainier expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $384,766. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $78,385 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Rainier safe?
Yes, Rainier is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $358 per resident a year.
Compare Rainier with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rainier. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rainier 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.
Rainier detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rainier: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rainier: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rainier: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rainier: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rainier 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.