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Place dossier plate
SheetOR-HAPPY-VALLEY-OR · Happy Valley, OR 25,572 pop · income 87th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Happy Valley
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Happy Valley on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Inkster · lowest
39,632
Inkster · lowest
39,632 median HH income
28.6% of the leader · rank #1
Emeryville · near
120,302
Emeryville · near
120,302 median HH income
86.8% of the leader · rank #2
Alleghenyville · near
120,313
Alleghenyville · near
120,313 median HH income
86.9% of the leader · rank #3
Roman Forest · near
120,313
Roman Forest · near
120,313 median HH income
86.9% of the leader · rank #4
Happy Valley · this city
120,324
Happy Valley · this city
120,324 median HH income
86.9% of the leader · rank #5
Naval Academy · near
120,347
Naval Academy · near
120,347 median HH income
86.9% of the leader · rank #6
West Linn · highest
138,526
West Linn · highest
138,526 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Happy Valley on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 25,572.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Happy Valley lands in the 87th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
87th
percentile, household income
92nd
percentile, home value
66th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Happy Valley, OR
Oregon's Happy Valley is a small city, with 25,572 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $120,324 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.8%. Home values in Happy Valley run a median of $671,800, and the median resident age is 39.7 years. Educational attainment runs 46.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 64.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 165 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 61% from five years earlier.
Oregon carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 103.4 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,425 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Oregon's average monthly utility costs around $185 (state average). The average commute for Happy Valley workers runs 22.2 minutes, with 67.0% driving alone and 21.2% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 63.4 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Happy Valley's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Happy Valley, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Happy Valley?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What does the journey to work look like in Happy Valley?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 22.2 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Happy Valley?
Within Oregon, the closest population matches are Newberg (25,622 residents, $91,389 income); Wilsonville (26,183 residents, $87,371 income); Forest Grove (26,406 residents, $81,998 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cliffside Park, NJ (25,580 residents); Nocatee, FL (25,581 residents); South Bradenton, FL (25,585 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
What does the education layer cover for Happy Valley?
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 46.4% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Happy Valley growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +5,206 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +22.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 165 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+22.0%
2025 estimate
28,916
2020 estimate
23,710
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A
$120,324
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A-
46.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B
3.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
103.4 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Happy Valley profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 86/100 (A) · $120,324
Bachelor's+ share: 81/100 (A-) · 46.4%
Poverty rate: 73/100 (B) · 3.8%
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
How does Happy Valley compare to other US cities?
Here's how Happy Valley stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income87% higher than other cities
Home value92% pricier than other cities
Median rent66% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Happy Valley against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Oregon only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Oregon-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Happy Valley near the bottom of Oregon's cities
Among the 395 Oregon cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Happy Valley ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Happy Valley only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#25 of 364
93rd percentile in Oregon
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 395
0th percentile in Oregon
Median Home Value
#26 of 366
93rd percentile in Oregon
Poverty Rate
#263 of 395
33rd percentile in Oregon
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#51 of 395
87th percentile in Oregon
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Oregon only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
87th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Happy Valley's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$671,8008th percentilemore affordable than 8% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Happy Valley's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,681 of 15,516
More affordable than 12% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,845 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.6×, Happy Valley sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,681 of 15,516 and #2,845 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$120,324Happy Valley, OR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Happy Valley, OR median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Happy Valley, OR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)46.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
25,572
Median Income
$120,324
Median Home Value
$671,800
Median Age
39.7
Poverty Rate
3.8%
Labor force participation
64.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
46.4%
Schools
Total Schools
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Happy Valley's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
23,710 residents
2021
25,366 residents
2022
26,107 residents
2023
28,105 residents
2024
28,564 residents
2025
28,916 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
165
housing units authorized
Single-Family
165
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
6.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
425
259
166
$105.2M
2020
659
443
216
$171.7M
2021
381
381
0
$126.1M
2022
834
292
542
$170.1M
2023
206
206
0
$81.3M
2024
165
165
0
$60.4M
Permit volume decreased 61% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
22.2 minutes
Drive Alone
67.0%
Carpool
4.5%
Public Transit
2.2%
Walk
3.3%
Work from Home
21.2%
Other
1.8%
Based on 12,443 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Oregon statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $185
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Oregon at $185 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Oregon statewide averages, not a meter reading for Happy Valley. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Oregon's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.4 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Happy Valley is $1,425/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Oregon statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 63.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Oregon statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Happy Valley sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Happy Valley compares to similar-size Oregon cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.