Best PlacesSaunders Lake, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Saunders Lake, 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.
Saunders Lake ranks 23,041st 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 Saunders Lake
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.
Saunders Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Saunders Lake ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Saunders Lake ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 23% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,017 a month, better than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Saunders Lake
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Saunders Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $80,967, 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 Saunders Lake's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Saunders Lake
Saunders Lake 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 Saunders Lake.
Who works in Saunders Lake, and how
Work in Saunders Lake centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Saunders Lake
The coast is about 12 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Saunders Lake, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Saunders Lake, month by month
Saunders Lake sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 67 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs June through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 47° | 40° |
| April | 58° | 50° | 43° |
| July | 67° | 60° | 53° |
| October | 64° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Saunders Lake
The nearest airport, Southwest Oregon Regional, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Saunders Lake
Schools across Saunders Lake average a B−, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Bay Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Bend Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Harbor Lights Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- North Bend Senior High SchoolA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Saunders Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Saunders Lake 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 Saunders Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Saunders Lake
Is Saunders Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Saunders Lake ranks 23,041st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, clean air, and transit, and lowest on disaster risk and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Saunders Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $487,323. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $80,967 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Saunders Lake safe?
Yes, Saunders Lake is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $347 per resident a year.
Compare Saunders Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Saunders Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Saunders Lake 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.
Saunders Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Saunders Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Saunders Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Saunders Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Saunders Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Saunders Lake 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.