Best PlacesRiley, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Riley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Riley ranks 40,994th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Riley
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.
Riley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Riley ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 133 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 77% of towns
Where Riley ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Riley
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $58,033, 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 Riley's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Riley
Riley 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 Riley.
Who works in Riley, and how
Work in Riley centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Riley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Riley.
What the weather is like in Riley, month by month
Riley sees roughly 133 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 59° | 43° | 29° |
| July | 90° | 72° | 53° |
| October | 63° | 45° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Riley
The nearest airport, Roberts Field, is about 93 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 169 miles away.
The best schools in and around Riley
Schools across Riley average a C+, better than 45% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Henry L Slater Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hines Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Crook County High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Burns High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Crane Union High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riley 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 Riley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Riley
Is Riley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riley ranks 40,994th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, short commutes, and transit, and lowest on internet speeds 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 Riley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $300,869. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $58,033 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Riley safe?
Riley is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $555 per resident a year.
Compare Riley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riley 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.
Riley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riley 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.