Best PlacesUmatilla, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Umatilla, 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.
Umatilla ranks 24,002nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Umatilla
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.
Umatilla's strengths and weaknesses
Where Umatilla ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 155 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
Where Umatilla ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Umatilla
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Umatilla home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,655, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Umatilla's effective rate of 0.63%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Umatilla
Umatilla runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Umatilla.
Who works in Umatilla, and how
Work in Umatilla centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Umatilla
Umatilla has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Umatilla and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Umatilla, month by month
Umatilla sees roughly 155 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 69° | 53° | 38° |
| July | 96° | 78° | 58° |
| October | 69° | 53° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Umatilla
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 160 miles away.
The best schools in and around Umatilla
Schools across Umatilla average a C, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- A C Houghton Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Irrigon Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Umatilla High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Irrigon Junior/senior High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Umatilla school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Umatilla 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 Umatilla against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Umatilla
Is Umatilla a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Umatilla ranks 24,002nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, the weather, and cell coverage, and lowest on thin health care access and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Umatilla expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $283,123. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $74,655 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Umatilla safe?
Umatilla is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $455 per resident a year.
Compare Umatilla with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Umatilla. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Umatilla 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.
Umatilla detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Umatilla: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Umatilla: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Umatilla: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Umatilla: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Umatilla 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.