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Place dossier plate
SheetOR-ROCKAWAY-BEACH-OR · Rockaway Beach, OR 1,577 pop · income 28th 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 Rockaway Beach
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rockaway Beach on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Senath · lowest
38,304
Senath · lowest
38,304 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #1
Lakeville · near
55,179
Lakeville · near
55,179 median HH income
30.3% of the leader · rank #2
Hoopeston · near
55,180
Hoopeston · near
55,180 median HH income
30.3% of the leader · rank #3
Rockaway Beach · this city
55,188
Rockaway Beach · this city
55,188 median HH income
30.3% of the leader · rank #4
Everly · near
55,192
Everly · near
55,192 median HH income
30.3% of the leader · rank #5
North Haverhi… · near
55,192
North Haverhi… · near
55,192 median HH income
30.3% of the leader · rank #6
Stafford · highest
182,372
Stafford · highest
182,372 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 Rockaway Beach 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: 1,577.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Rockaway Beach lands in the 28th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
28th
percentile, household income
71st
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: Rockaway Beach, OR
Rockaway Beach is a small town in Oregon, home to 1,577 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Rockaway Beach brings in $55,188 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.6%. Home values in Rockaway Beach run a median of $341,100, and the median resident age is 51.2 years. 23.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 44.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Oregon carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Oregon scores 103.4 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. 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). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 63.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Rockaway Beach'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 schools and households to population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rockaway Beach, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Rockaway Beach?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 23.1% 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.
Is Rockaway Beach growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.1% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
What does the journey to work look like in Rockaway Beach?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Rockaway Beach?
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.
Within Oregon, the closest population matches are Stafford (1,572 residents, $182,372 income); Prineville Lake Acres (1,589 residents, $67,216 income); Elgin (1,592 residents, $53,750 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are White Sands, NM (1,577 residents); Del Norte, CO (1,576 residents); Gilman, IL (1,576 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Rockaway Beach?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
6.2×
Home value
$341,100
Household income
$55,188
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 6.6% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.4 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Oregon average
F
City profile score · Rockaway Beach, OR
37/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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.
Poverty rate C
6.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$55,188
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
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).
Rockaway Beach profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 55/100 (C) · 6.6%
Bachelor's+ share: 43/100 (D) · 23.1%
Household income: 27/100 (F) · $55,188
Cost of living: 25/100 (F) · 103.4 index
How does Rockaway Beach compare to other US cities?
Where Rockaway Beach sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income28% higher than other cities
Home value71% 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 Rockaway Beach 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 Rockaway Beach near the bottom of Oregon's cities
Among the 395 Oregon cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rockaway Beach ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rockaway Beach only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#278 of 364
24th percentile in Oregon
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 395
0th percentile in Oregon
Median Home Value
#189 of 366
48th percentile in Oregon
Poverty Rate
#193 of 395
51st percentile in Oregon
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#189 of 395
52nd 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
28th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Rockaway Beach's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$341,10029th percentilemore affordable than 29% 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
Rockaway Beach's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,240 of 15,516
More affordable than 8% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,545 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 6.2×, Rockaway Beach sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,240 of 15,516 and #10,545 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$55,188Rockaway Beach, OR median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rockaway Beach, 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 Rockaway Beach, OR.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)44.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,577
Median Income
$55,188
Median Home Value
$341,100
Median Age
51.2
Poverty Rate
6.6%
Labor force participation
44.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.1%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Rockaway Beach's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,456 residents
2021
1,476 residents
2022
1,460 residents
2023
1,457 residents
2024
1,456 residents
2025
1,455 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.8%
Carpool
0.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.0%
Work from Home
29.4%
Based on 609 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 Rockaway Beach. 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 Rockaway Beach 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 Rockaway Beach sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rockaway Beach 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.