Best PlacesStayton, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stayton, 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.
Stayton ranks 14,687th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stayton
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.
Stayton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stayton ranks high
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
Where Stayton ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,093 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 33% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stayton
A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stayton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,264, 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 Stayton's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Stayton
Stayton'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 Stayton.
Who works in Stayton, and how
Work in Stayton centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Stayton
Stayton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Stayton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Stayton, month by month
Stayton 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 Stayton
The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 55 miles away.
Stayton 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 Stayton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stayton
Is Stayton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stayton ranks 14,687th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, state infrastructure, and walkability, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stayton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $453,770. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $72,264 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Stayton safe?
Yes, Stayton is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $346 per resident a year.
Compare Stayton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stayton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stayton 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.
Stayton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stayton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stayton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stayton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stayton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stayton 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.