Best PlacesSandy, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sandy, 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.
Sandy ranks 5,078th 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 Sandy
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.
Sandy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sandy ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$112,876 median, better than 91% of towns
Where Sandy ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,525 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Short commute31.3 minutes each way, better than only 27% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sandy
A household needs to earn about $134,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sandy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $112,876, 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 Sandy's effective rate of 0.75%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sandy
Sandy's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sandy.
Who works in Sandy, and how
Work in Sandy centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sandy
Sandy has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sandy and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sandy, month by month
Sandy sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 42° | 37° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 71° | 57° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Sandy
Portland International sits about 22 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 Sandy
Schools across Sandy average a B, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clackamas River Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- River Mill Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Estacada Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Estacada High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sandy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sandy 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 Sandy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sandy
Is Sandy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sandy ranks 5,078th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, biking, and transit, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sandy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $517,477. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $112,876 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Sandy safe?
Yes, Sandy is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
Compare Sandy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sandy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sandy 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.
Sandy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sandy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sandy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sandy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sandy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sandy 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.