Best PlacesShaw, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shaw, 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.
Shaw ranks 5,303rd 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 Shaw
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.
Shaw's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shaw ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$111,532 median, better than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
- Short commute21.0 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
Where Shaw ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,099 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shaw
A household needs to earn about $173,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shaw home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $111,532, 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 Shaw's effective rate of 0.68%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Shaw
Shaw runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shaw.
Who works in Shaw, and how
Work in Shaw centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Shaw
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shaw.
What the weather is like in Shaw, month by month
Shaw sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 42° | 35° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 88° | 71° | 55° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Shaw
The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shaw
Schools across Shaw average a B−, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pratum Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Victor Point Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Aumsville Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Cascade Senior High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Silverton High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shaw school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shaw 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 Shaw against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shaw
Is Shaw a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shaw ranks 5,303rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, an educated workforce, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shaw expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $673,336. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $111,532 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Shaw safe?
Yes, Shaw is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.
Compare Shaw with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shaw. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shaw 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.
Shaw detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shaw: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shaw: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shaw: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shaw: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shaw 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.