Best PlacesRuch, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ruch, 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.
Ruch ranks 20,756th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ruch
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.
Ruch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ruch ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of towns
- Household income$96,776 median, better than 83% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
Where Ruch ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,112 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ruch
A household needs to earn about $169,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ruch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $96,776, 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 Ruch's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Ruch
Ruch 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 Ruch.
Who works in Ruch, and how
Work in Ruch centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Ruch
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ruch.
What the weather is like in Ruch, month by month
Ruch sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 32° |
| April | 70° | 54° | 40° |
| July | 96° | 77° | 59° |
| October | 73° | 56° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Ruch
The nearest airport, Rogue Valley International/Medford, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 231 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ruch
Schools across Ruch average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jacksonville Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Ruch Outdoor Community SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Rogue River Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mcloughlin Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- South Medford High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Hidden Valley High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Rogue River Junior/senior HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ruch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ruch 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 Ruch against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ruch
Is Ruch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ruch ranks 20,756th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, an educated workforce, and few empty homes, and lowest on childcare costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ruch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $667,782. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $96,776 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Ruch safe?
Ruch is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $410 per resident a year.
Compare Ruch with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ruch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ruch 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.
Ruch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ruch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ruch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ruch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ruch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ruch 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.