Best PlacesShady Cove, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shady Cove, 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.
Shady Cove ranks 35,531st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shady Cove
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.
Shady Cove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shady Cove ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 81% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 116 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 76% of towns
Where Shady Cove ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,112 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shady Cove
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shady Cove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $59,353, 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 Shady Cove's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Shady Cove
Shady Cove 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 Shady Cove.
Who works in Shady Cove, and how
Work in Shady Cove centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Shady Cove
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shady Cove.
What the weather is like in Shady Cove, month by month
Shady Cove sees roughly 116 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 Shady Cove
The nearest airport, Rogue Valley International/Medford, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 206 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shady Cove
Schools across Shady Cove average a C+, better than 73% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Scenic Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Eagle Point High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shady Cove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shady Cove 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 Shady Cove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shady Cove
Is Shady Cove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shady Cove ranks 35,531st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, civic engagement, and cell coverage, and lowest on summer heat and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shady Cove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $442,594. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $59,353 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Shady Cove safe?
Shady Cove is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $650 per resident a year.
Compare Shady Cove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shady Cove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shady Cove 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.
Shady Cove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shady Cove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shady Cove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shady Cove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shady Cove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shady Cove 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.