Cottage Grove, OR

The affordability dashboard for Cottage Grove, OR aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 17,594 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (48/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $79,688, median home value of $372,500, median rent of $1,111 per month, and 21.7% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,688 per month (studio $1,223, 1BR $1,286, 3BR $2,348, 4BR $2,832). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $17,131 per year, consuming 21% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are education, housing, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 6.3% and poverty 8.6% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.