Sweet Home, Oregon

Area Profile

10,078 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Sweet Home, in Linn County.

49out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 13% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3373rd of 3,904 published cities37
Schools2310th of 2,668 published cities22
GrowthTop 13% of 2,973 published cities73
Housing affordability3235th of 4,223 published cities62
ClimateTop 37% of 4,223 published cities73
Physical resilience3138th of 4,182 published cities32
Access3249th of 4,226 published cities81
Economic stability3423rd of 4,226 published cities41
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 5.5% and the Opportunity signal places Sweet Home in the bottom 14%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 52 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 37% on the prior year.

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

At a glance

Population
10,078
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$56,927
Bottom 34% nationally
Density
1,899/sq mi
5.3 sq mi of land
Median age
42.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Linn County
Oregon
Metro area
Albany, OR
Nearest major airport
EUG
32 mi · Mahlon Sweet Fld
Median home value
$273,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.5% is lower than 13% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.3% over the past year, to 59,030 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,141$56,927Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,135$30,957Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.4%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute36.0 minTop 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher11.3%Bottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment59,030Top 47%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.2%Top 46%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.3%Top 25%June 2026
Labor force62,480Top 46%June 2026
Labor force participation52.9%Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$61,740Bottom 21%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,700Bottom 39%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 44%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.5%Top 13%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202459k47k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $56,927 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 — Albany, OR
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand1,590$47,150
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,470$34,330
Stockers and Order Fillers1,470$38,970
Home Health and Personal Care Aides1,460$42,120
Cashiers1,080$34,160
Retail Salespersons1,040$35,990

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 Linn County, OR, which contains this city.

21% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 27% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 18.1 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
21.1%
Bottom 29% in Oregon
Reading proficiency
27.5%
Bottom 11% in Oregon
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Sweet Home High SchoolSweet Home SD 5575218.8
Sweet Home Junior High SchoolSweet Home SD 5535817.012%
Oak Heights Elementary SchoolSweet Home SD 5530318.910%30%
Hawthorne Elementary SchoolSweet Home SD 5526015.325%30%
Holley Elementary SchoolSweet Home SD 5515717.438%10%
Sweet Home Charter School · charterSweet Home SD 5514223.743%37%

73.7% 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 $1,213 takes 26% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
25.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,213
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$273,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.80Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate66.9%Bottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2844,310Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$208$1,213Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$21,126$273,300Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income25.6%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate1.1%Bottom 13%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
73/ 100
Top 13% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, 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 grown 4% since 2020, reaching 10,265 in 2024.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

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

At 5.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
52
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.2
Top 28% nationally
Year over year
+37%
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.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420258219
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+21%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 34°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 54.5 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 25, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station FOSTER DAM, 1.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND8.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index52.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation54.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low34°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index25.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing26°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
25
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
52
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
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

32 / 100
Physical resilience

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

EarthquakeElevated
Volcanic activityModerate
Strong windModerate
Inland floodingModerate
Heat waveModerate
AvalancheModerate

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

Linn County records 3.1 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 19.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.7 per 100,000 residents in Linn County.

Homicide
3.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
19.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
25.1
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 Linn 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 Sweet Home rather than Sweet Home 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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 32 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Mahlon Sweet FldEUG32 mi8,009 ft
Portland IntlPDX82 mi11,000 ft
Rogue Valley Intl/MedfordMFR140 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.

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
49
Your Score

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

Other cities in Albany, OR

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
AlbanyLinn County56,83952vs Sweet Home
LebanonLinn County19,34452vs Sweet Home

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.

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 Sweet Home

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9738615,225$64,66950