97424Cottage Grove, Oregon

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 97424.

46out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 8% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity4609th of 6,210 ZIP areas measured43
Schools4333rd of 4,422 ZIP areas measured11
Growth4405th of 5,428 ZIP areas measured31
Housing affordabilityTop 49% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured81
ClimateTop 39% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured73
Physical resilience5230th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured27
Access5015th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured84
Economic stability3434th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured59
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 5.4% and the Opportunity signal places 97424 in the bottom 26%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 9 units authorized over the past twelve months, 94% below the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, earthquake and heat wave.

At a glance

Population
18,357
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$79,688
Top 38% nationally
Density
75/sq mi
246.2 sq mi of land
Median age
42.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Cottage Grove
Oregon
Metro area
Eugene-Springfield, OR
Nearest major airport
EUG
27 mi · Mahlon Sweet Fld
Median home value
$372,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.4% is lower than 16% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 0.5% over the past year, to 179,806 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,893$79,688Top 38%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,277$35,358Bottom 46%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.6%Bottom 40%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.8 minBottom 34%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher21.7%Bottom 46%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment179,806Top 24%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.2%Bottom 46%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.5%Top 39%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force190,040Top 24%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation61.6%Top 46%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$64,310Bottom 34%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,680Bottom 44%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.2%Top 43%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate5.4%Top 16%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202480k56k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $79,688 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.
Largest occupations — Eugene-Springfield, OR
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers6,220$33,990
Retail Salespersons4,090$35,410
Home Health and Personal Care Aides3,630$40,690
Registered Nurses3,590$113,720
Cashiers3,560$34,110
Stockers and Order Fillers3,350$37,430

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Cottage Grove, OR, the city containing this ZIP code.

12% of students met the state standard in mathematics, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 17.7 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
11.7%
Bottom 2% in Oregon
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Cottage Grove High SchoolSouth Lane SD 45J364019.4
Lincoln Middle SchoolSouth Lane SD 45J345517.510%
Harrison Elementary SchoolSouth Lane SD 45J345016.715%37%
Bohemia Elementary SchoolSouth Lane SD 45J344316.410%
Academy for Character Education · charterSouth Lane SD 45J335422.1
London SchoolSouth Lane SD 45J37212.0
Al Kennedy High SchoolSouth Lane SD 45J36212.4

65.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Oregon’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,111 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.7 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
16.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,111
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$372,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.67Top 20%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate69.6%Bottom 29%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4857,877Top 21%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$215$1,111Top 42%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,621$372,500Top 23%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.7%Bottom 43%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.4%Bottom 35%of 33,0282024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
31/ 100
Ranks 4405 of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
9
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.8
Bottom 21% nationally
Year over year
−94%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Cottage Grove, OR, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 81°F and January a low of 34°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 47.6 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and about 16 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station COTTAGE GROVE DAM, 2.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND8.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index80.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation47.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low34°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high81°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100162024 calendar year
Median air quality index44.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing27°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
80
90th percentile index
Days above 100
16
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. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

27 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and heat wave.

EarthquakeElevated
Inland floodingElevated
Volcanic activityModerate
Heat waveModerate
AvalancheModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, winter weather, lightning, ice storm, wildfire, coastal flooding, strong wind, cold wave, tsunami, hail, tornado, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Lane County records 2.9 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 24.7 per 100,000 residents in Lane County.

Homicide
2.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
24.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
20.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Lane County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 97424 rather than 97424 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 27 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Mahlon Sweet FldEUG27 mi8,009 ft
Rogue Valley Intl/MedfordMFR95 mi8,800 ft
Portland IntlPDX129 mi11,000 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
46
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 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 browse every source.

97424 vs Cottage Grove

How this ZIP area compares with Cottage Grove as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

97424
Cottage Grove
Median household income
$79,688
vs
$80,875
Per capita income
$35,358
vs
$33,651
Population density
75/sq mi
vs
2,757/sq mi
Median home value
$372,500
vs
$346,600
Median gross rent
$1,111
vs
$1,254
Homeownership rate
69.6%
vs
59.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher
21.7%
vs
21.1%
Poverty rate
8.6%
vs
10.7%
Median age
42.6
vs
38.9

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.