Medford, Oregon

Area Profile

86,315 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Medford, in Jackson County.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 31% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2165th of 3,904 published cities54
Schools1420th of 2,668 published cities49
GrowthTop 22% of 2,973 published cities66
Housing affordability3182nd of 4,223 published cities63
ClimateTop 44% of 4,223 published cities71
Physical resilience3301st of 4,182 published cities25
Access2312th of 4,226 published cities90
Economic stability2702nd of 4,226 published cities53
The quick read

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 595 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 43% on the prior year.

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

A major airport is 3 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
86,315
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$73,230
Top 42% nationally
Density
3,020/sq mi
28.6 sq mi of land
Median age
38.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Jackson County
Oregon
Metro area
Medford, OR
Nearest major airport
MFR
3 mi · Rogue Valley Intl/Medford
Median home value
$417,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 6.4% is lower than 5% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.9% over the past year, to 40,918 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,573$73,230Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,330$37,002Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.2%Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.0 minBottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher30.1%Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment40,918Bottom 45%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.9%Top 15%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.9%Top 14%June 2026
Labor force43,715Bottom 46%June 2026
Labor force participation61.3%Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$63,850Bottom 27%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,900Bottom 39%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 37%June 2026
Unemployment rate6.4%Top 5%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.44.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 6.4% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202473k57k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $73,230 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 — Medford, OR
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,210$34,140
Home Health and Personal Care Aides3,000$44,950
Retail Salespersons2,840$35,840
Registered Nurses2,370$127,030
Cashiers2,060$34,390
Stockers and Order Fillers1,890$39,120

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.

26% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 45% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 19.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
22
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
19.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
26.0%
Top 47% in Oregon
Reading proficiency
44.5%
Top 36% in Oregon
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
South Medford High SchoolMedford SD 549C1,85623.8
North Medford High SchoolMedford SD 549C1,72124.2
Logos Charter School · charterMedford SD 549C1,28520.170%
Hedrick Middle SchoolMedford SD 549C95220.327%
McLoughlin Middle SchoolMedford SD 549C82620.112%
Oakdale Middle SchoolMedford SD 549C74519.1
Hoover Elementary SchoolMedford SD 549C59121.952%67%
Kids Unlimited Academy · charterMedford SD 549C50516.315%25%
Griffin Creek Elementary SchoolMedford SD 549C49218.937%35%
Lone Pine Elementary SchoolMedford SD 549C46120.047%55%
Abraham Lincoln ElementaryMedford SD 549C40118.247%52%
Oak Grove Elementary SchoolMedford SD 549C39818.112%22%

85.1% 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 $1,376 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.7 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
22.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,376
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$417,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.70Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate56.3%Bottom 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±84236,630Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$40$1,376Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,962$417,100Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.5%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.0%Bottom 28%2024 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
66/ 100
Top 22% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

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 86,301 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

At 6.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
595
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.9
Top 21% nationally
Year over year
+43%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
54.1%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202487k86k
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.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025828285
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+117%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 33°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 18.4 inches, including 3.4 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 41, in the Good band, and about 5 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MEDFORD ROGUE VLY AP, 3.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index71.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation18.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall3.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low33°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10052024 calendar year
Median air quality index41.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing36°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
41
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
71
90th percentile index
Days above 100
5
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

25 / 100
Physical resilience

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

WildfireHigh
EarthquakeElevated
Heat waveModerate
Inland floodingModerate
Volcanic activityModerate
AvalancheModerate

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

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.

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.

Jackson County records 3.9 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 14.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.8 per 100,000 residents in Jackson County.

Homicide
3.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
20.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
21.3
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 Jackson 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 Medford rather than Medford 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. 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.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 3 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rogue Valley Intl/MedfordMFR3 mi8,800 ft
Mahlon Sweet FldEUG125 mi8,009 ft
Portland IntlPDX225 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.

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Area Score
55
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Other cities in Medford, OR

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
AshlandJackson County21,25950vs Medford
Central PointJackson County19,21649vs Medford
White CityJackson County10,750vs Medford

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Medford side by side with a similar place.

Medford vs HoustonMedford vs ParklandMedford vs TampaMedford vs Fresno

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.

ZIP codes in Medford

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9750451,089$83,92357
9750144,670$63,97751