Best PlacesSt. Johns, Portland, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Johns, Portland, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
St. Johns, Portland ranks 3,527th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. Johns, Portland
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.
St. Johns, Portland's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Johns, Portland ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 83% of neighborhoods
Where St. Johns, Portland ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,741 a month, better than only 12% of neighborhoods
- Short commute31.3 minutes each way, better than only 14% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 23% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in St. Johns, Portland
A household needs to earn about $123,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Johns, Portland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $80,517, 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 St. Johns, Portland's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 St. Johns, Portland
St. Johns, Portland runs younger 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 St. Johns, Portland.
Who works in St. Johns, Portland, and how
Work in St. Johns, Portland centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in St. Johns, Portland
St. Johns, Portland has more parkland per resident than 92% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of St. Johns, Portland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Johns, Portland, month by month
St. Johns, Portland sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 34° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 70° | 57° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of St. Johns, Portland
Portland International sits about 7 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 St. Johns, Portland
Schools across St. Johns, Portland average a B+, better than 76% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Sauvie Island SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Johns, Portland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Johns, Portland 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 St. Johns, Portland against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in St. Johns, Portland
Is St. Johns, Portland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Johns, Portland ranks 3,527th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on clean air, state infrastructure, and few empty homes, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. Johns, Portland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $465,400. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $80,517 median income, cost of living beats 41% of neighborhoods.
Is St. Johns, Portland safe?
St. Johns, Portland is safer than 34% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $720 per resident a year.
Compare St. Johns, Portland with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Johns, Portland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Johns, Portland 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.
St. Johns, Portland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Johns, Portland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Johns, Portland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Johns, Portland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Johns, Portland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Johns, Portland 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.