Best PlacesWapato, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wapato, 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.
Wapato ranks 7,064th 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 Wapato
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.
Wapato's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wapato ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$112,007 median, better than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
Where Wapato ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,290 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 30% of towns
- Short commute30.4 minutes each way, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wapato
A household needs to earn about $187,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wapato home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $112,007, 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 Wapato's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Wapato
Wapato runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wapato.
Who works in Wapato, and how
Work in Wapato centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Wapato
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wapato.
What the weather is like in Wapato, month by month
Wapato sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 38° |
| July | 86° | 69° | 52° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Wapato
Portland International sits about 29 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 Wapato
Schools across Wapato average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ewing Young Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Yamhill Carlton Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Gaston Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mountain View Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Yamhill Carlton Intermediate SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Yamhill Carlton High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Newberg Senior High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Gaston Jr/sr High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wapato school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wapato 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 Wapato against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wapato
Is Wapato a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wapato ranks 7,064th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, clean air, and low crime, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wapato expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $739,891. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $112,007 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Wapato safe?
Yes, Wapato is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $217 per resident a year.
Compare Wapato with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wapato. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wapato 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.
Wapato detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wapato: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wapato: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wapato: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wapato: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wapato 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.