Baker City, Oregon

Area Profile

10,210 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Baker City, in Baker County.

54out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 35% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
Opportunity2,684th of 4,199 cities measured50
SchoolsTop 19% of 4,162 cities measured74
GrowthTop 45% of 4,224 cities measured52
Housing affordabilityTop 29% of 4,218 cities measured74
Climate3,725th of 4,225 cities measured59
Physical resilience2,556th of 4,226 cities measured47
Access4,201st of 4,226 cities measured3
Economic stability3,109th of 4,226 cities measured44
The quick read

Unemployment is 5.6% and median household income $61,580, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured. The unemployment rate is published for Baker County, OR, which contains Baker City, rather than for Baker City alone.

Public schools test above most of the state: 45% of students met the mathematics standard, placing the area in the top 19% of published profiles for schools.

41 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 5% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
10,210
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$61,580
Bottom 42% nationally
Density
1,415/sq mi
7.2 sq mi of land
Median age
42.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Oregon
Micro area
Nearest major airport
BOI
116 mi · Boise Air Trml/Gowen Fld
Median home value
$271,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Baker County, OR, which contains Baker City, is 5.6% — higher than in all but 11% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Baker County, OR, which contains Baker City, grew 0.9% over the past year, to 6,499 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsBaker County, OR’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$59,17224th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftBaker County, OR’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$46,2893rd percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$7,8042024 ACS 5-Year$61,580Bottom 42%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,9632024 ACS 5-Year$34,134Top 49%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year14.7%Bottom 36%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year15.6 minTop 6%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year26.9%Top 36%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year75.9%45th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentBaker County, OR’s figureJuly 20266,499Bottom 1%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Baker County, OR’s figureJuly 2026+2.0%Top 19%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Baker County, OR’s figureJuly 2026+0.9%Top 20%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceBaker County, OR’s figureJuly 20266,8851st percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year70.0%Bottom 27%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.3%76th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Baker County, OR’s figureJuly 2026−0.2%Top 44%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateBaker County, OR’s figureJuly 20265.6%Bottom 11%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year10.4%62nd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202462k47k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $61,580 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Baker County, OR, which contains this city.

45% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 68% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher across 7 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.5
across 7 of them
Math proficiency
45.4%
Top 28% in Oregon
Reading proficiency
68.4%
Top 10% in Oregon
All 9 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Baker Early College · charterBaker SD 5J534—57%92%
Baker High SchoolBaker SD 5J47816.537%72%
South Baker Intermediate SchoolBaker SD 5J26815.842%48%
Brooklyn Primary SchoolBaker SD 5J24913.837%42%
Baker Middle SchoolBaker SD 5J22616.136%53%
Haines Elementary SchoolBaker SD 5J14015.667%77%
Baker Early Learning CenterBaker SD 5J9713.9——
Keating Elementary SchoolBaker SD 5J2613.0——
Oregon International School · charterBaker SD 5J0———

83.9% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Oregon’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Oregon is up 36% over five years, and up 3.0% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,493 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.92% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,047, some 17% above the $896 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,047 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $41,900 a year, about 68% of the median household income here of $61,580.

The typical renter household here spends 26% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $896 a month.

A median home at $271,400 costs 3.7 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $73,750, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Rent as a share of income
26.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.7×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,047
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$896
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$271,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Baker City’s median household income of $61,580, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Oregon’s figure2026 Q2+3.0%48th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Oregon’s figure2026 Q2+35.6%30th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Oregon’s figure2026 Q2+105.2%69th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.42024 ACS 5-Year3.7Bottom 22%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year69.9%37th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1542024 ACS 5-Year4,66788th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$898Top 14%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,456Top 16%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,047Top 10%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$1052024 ACS 5-Year$896Top 41%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$21,3142024 ACS 5-Year$271,40068th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1572024 ACS 5-Year$2,49365th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$5,0632024 ACS 5-Year$73,750Bottom 43%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.09%2024 ACS 5-Year0.92%47th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year26.2%Top 38%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±852024 ACS 5-Year12691st percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year2.7%73rd percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year1.6%19th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1142024 ACS 5-Year19978th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

52/ 100
Top 45% of 4,224 published city profiles
The most recent move in permitting was upward, in a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 10,135 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 44 units authorized in 2025, up 57% on the prior year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 41 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Baker County, which contains Baker City, lost about 0.3% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $59,172, above the $46,289 of households that moved out.

At 4.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
41
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
4.0
Top 35% nationally
Year over year
−5%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202410k10k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been falling for the last 2 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.3%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
54%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$59,172
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$46,289
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Canyon County, ID 68 people · 10% of arrivals
  2. Union County, OR 61 people · 9.1% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Union County, OR 86 people · 12% of departures
  2. Ada County, ID 72 people · 10% of departures
  3. Canyon County, ID 44 people · 6.2% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for Baker County, OR. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420256628
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−33%).

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 20°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 9.1 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 28, in the Good band, and about 3 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BAKER CITY MUNI AP, 4.8 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND1.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year632024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals9.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals20°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year32024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year282024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals40°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
28
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
63
90th percentile index
Days above 100
3
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

47 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, wildfire and avalanche, with inland flooding alone responsible for 40% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

WildfireHigh
AvalancheModerate
LandslideModerate
EarthquakeElevated
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, inland flooding, hail, lightning, ice storm, cold wave, volcanic activity, drought, strong wind, tornado, tsunami, hurricane, coastal flooding.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
138
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,529
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Baker City's police department reported 138 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,529.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 13.4 per 100,000 residents in Baker County.

Firearm deaths, all intents
22.8
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
13.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
25.5
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Baker City’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Baker City (Baker County) rather than Baker City itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Death-certificate rates
The CDC publishes these rates by county, and no county figure could be attached to this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

No airport meeting the AreaProfile major-airport definition lies within 100 miles; the nearest is 116 miles away.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year89.5%Bottom 49%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle116 miBottom 1%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle0Bottom 1%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year8.5%Bottom 45%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Boise Air Trml/Gowen FldBOI116 mi10,000 ft
Grant County IntlMWH183 mi13,503 ft
Spokane IntlGEG197 mi8,199 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
54
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.

ZIP codes in Baker City

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Baker City with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Baker City closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
9781412,590$64,852$294,400—