Prineville, Oregon

Area Profile

11,470 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Prineville, in Crook County.

52out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 27% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 16 sources
Opportunity3,041st of 4,199 cities measured46
Schools2,170th of 4,162 cities measured48
GrowthTop 1% of 4,224 cities measured87
Housing affordability3,622nd of 4,218 cities measured44
Climate3,008th of 4,225 cities measured63
Physical resilience2,297th of 4,226 cities measured53
Access4,204th of 4,226 cities measured2
Economic stability3,339th of 4,226 cities measured40
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 5.9% and the Opportunity signal places Prineville in the bottom 28%. The unemployment rate is published for Crook County, OR, which contains Prineville, rather than for Prineville alone.

In the public schools here, 35% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.7 students for every teacher. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Crook County, OR, which contains Prineville, rather than for Prineville alone.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 355 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 75% on the prior year. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for Crook County, OR, which contains Prineville, rather than for Prineville alone.

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
11,470
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$72,980
Top 42% nationally
Density
894/sq mi
12.8 sq mi of land
Median age
38.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Oregon
Metro area
Nearest major airport
EUG
117 mi · Mahlon Sweet Fld
Median home value
$425,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Crook County, OR, which contains Prineville, is 5.9% — higher than in all but 9% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Crook County, OR, which contains Prineville, held steady over the past year, at 12,440 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsCrook County, OR’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$82,43164th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftCrook County, OR’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$75,80557th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$5,1152024 ACS 5-Year$72,980Top 42%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,0512024 ACS 5-Year$34,120Top 49%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year15.7%Bottom 33%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±3.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year25.0 minTop 41%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year16.3%Bottom 38%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year80.3%61st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentCrook County, OR’s figureJuly 202612,440Bottom 7%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Crook County, OR’s figureJuly 2026+2.6%Top 16%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Crook County, OR’s figureJuly 20260.0%Top 35%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceCrook County, OR’s figureJuly 202613,2237th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year73.3%Bottom 34%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageBend, OR Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$69,260Top 47%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageBend, OR Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$54,570Top 40%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%73rd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Crook County, OR’s figureJuly 2026+0.1%Bottom 34%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateCrook County, OR’s figureJuly 20265.9%Bottom 9%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year10.2%61st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202473k44k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $72,980 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 — Bend, OR

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,680$35,460
Retail Salespersons3,190$37,720
Registered Nurses2,500$135,010
Cashiers2,390$36,290
General and Operations Managers2,260$93,660
Office Clerks, General1,990$48,420

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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

35% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 60% in reading, across the schools here that reported results. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Crook County, OR, which contains Prineville, rather than for Prineville alone.

There are 16.7 students for every full-time teacher across 1 public school, more than in most measured places. The student-teacher ratio is published for Crook County, OR, which contains Prineville, rather than for Prineville alone.

Public schools
1
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
34.9%
Bottom 40% in Oregon
Reading proficiency
59.8%
Top 35% in Oregon

The proficiency and staffing figures above are for Crook County, OR: too few schools in Prineville reported a usable figure on their own to weight one honestly. The schools listed below are this place’s own.

The one public school on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Powell Butte Community Charter School · charterCrook County SD21216.347%62%

72.6% 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.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 5% above the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 105.3, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Bend, OR Metro Area is up 29% over five years, and up 0.7% 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 $2,686 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.63% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,385, close to the $1,355 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,385 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $55,400 a year, about 76% of the median household income here of $72,980.

The typical renter household here spends 31% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,355 a month.

A median home at $425,900 costs 5.6 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $76,521, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Cost of living
105.3

Prices here run about 5% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Bend, OR Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
31.4%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.6×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,385
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,355
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$425,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Prineville’s median household income of $72,980, 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
Cost of living indexthe Bend, OR Metro Area’s figure2023105.3Bottom 33%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the Bend, OR Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+0.7%15th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Bend, OR Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+29.2%15th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Bend, OR Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+111.4%79th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.62024 ACS 5-Year5.6Bottom 6%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year60.1%20th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2382024 ACS 5-Year5,12789th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,056Top 27%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,926Top 39%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,385Top 34%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$1872024 ACS 5-Year$1,355Bottom 25%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$23,7792024 ACS 5-Year$425,90084th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1562024 ACS 5-Year$2,68669th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$7,4222024 ACS 5-Year$76,521Bottom 47%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.05%2024 ACS 5-Year0.63%22nd percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year31.4%Bottom 34%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±652024 ACS 5-Year5684th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.1%63rd percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year5.5%42nd percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1672024 ACS 5-Year33685th 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 and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

87/ 100
Top 1% of 4,224 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.

Population has grown 9% since 2020, reaching 11,917 in 2024.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 11,917 residents in 2024, up 1.4% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

62% of the 355 units permitted over the past twelve months are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses. The multifamily share is published for Crook County, OR, which contains Prineville, rather than for Prineville alone.

Federal tax returns show Crook County, which contains Prineville, gained about 2.5% 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 $82,431, above the $75,805 of households that moved out.

At 13.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities. The permit rate is published for Crook County, OR, which contains Prineville, rather than for Prineville alone.

Units permitted
355
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
13.5
Top 6% nationally
Year over year
+75%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
62.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202412k11k
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 rising for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+2.5%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
27%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$82,431
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$75,805
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Deschutes County, OR 731 people · 37% of arrivals
  2. Jefferson County, OR 96 people · 4.9% of arrivals
  3. Multnomah County, OR 73 people · 3.7% of arrivals
  4. Clackamas County, OR 70 people · 3.6% of arrivals
  5. Lane County, OR 60 people · 3.1% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Deschutes County, OR 391 people · 27% of departures
  2. Jefferson County, OR 83 people · 5.8% of departures
  3. Lane County, OR 36 people · 2.5% of departures
  4. Maricopa County, AZ 35 people · 2.4% 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 Crook County, OR. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

The Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey lists only jurisdictions that issue their own permits, and Prineville, OR is not one. This is the figure for Crook County, OR, which contains this city.

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 25°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 8.5 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 24, in the Good band, and about 8 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 REDMOND ROBERTS FLD, 14.1 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND1.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year642024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals8.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals25°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year82024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year242024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals35°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
24
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
64
90th percentile index
Days above 100
8
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

53 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, wildfire and earthquake, with inland flooding alone responsible for 46% 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
EarthquakeModerate
HailModerate
Heat waveModerate

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

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
241
per 100,000 residents · 2024 calendar year
Property crime
747
per 100,000 residents · 2024 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.

Prineville's police department reported 241 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 747.

Crook County has a modeled homicide rate of about 4.6 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 15.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 15.7 per 100,000 residents in Crook County.

Homicide
4.6
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.8
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
15.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
22.2
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 Prineville’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 Prineville (Crook County) rather than Prineville 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.

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. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. 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 117 miles away.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year88.2%Bottom 43%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle117 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-Year8.1%Bottom 47%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Mahlon Sweet FldEUG117 mi8,009 ft
Portland IntlPDX123 mi11,000 ft
Rogue Valley Intl/MedfordMFR167 mi8,800 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
52
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Other cities in Bend, OR

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BendDeschutes County103,39063Bend vs Prineville
RedmondDeschutes County36,09252Redmond vs Prineville

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 Prineville side by side with a similar place.

Prineville vs RedmondPrineville vs McKinleyville

Moving to Prineville from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

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
2024 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
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
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 Prineville

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Prineville with census figures of its own, largest first.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
977533,067$158,125$754,80058