Housing & affordability
18% of the score · 48/100
D+
Median home value$461,700
Portland $559,400
Median rent$1,784/mo
Portland $1,724/mo
Cost-burdened households29%
Portland 35%
Orchards
Clark County29,438 residents2 school districts
60
C
Suburbgrade score
26th of 43 Portland suburbs. Strongest on cost of living, held back by housing & affordability.
60
Portland median 61
0 · F
A+ · 100
Launch-day rule. Residents is not counted for Orchards yet: no poll responses so far. The overall score of 60 is computed on the other six categories, re-normalised to 100%. Answer the poll →
What living here is actually like
Written summary in preparation This page is waiting for its written summary, and for a person to check it. Until then it is excluded from search engines.
What Orchards is like to live in, by category
Bars show Orchards against Portland. Weights are published in full.Schools
18% of the score · 50/100
D+
Within-state proficiency42nd pct
Portland median 66th pct
Student–teacher ratio17.1
Portland median 18.5
Graduation rate87%
Portland median 86%
Cost of living
14% of the score · 79/100
B+
Housing cost index91
Portland 100
Eff. tax rate0.82%
Portland 0.87%
Local sales tax8.00%
Portland median 0.00%
Commute & transport
14% of the score · 64/100
C+
Mean commute25.5 min
Portland 25.0 min
Under 30 minutes68%
Portland 65%
Transit stops / sq mi6.0
Portland median 8.1 · within 2 miles
Amenities
12% of the score · 73/100
B
Restaurants & cafés59
Portland median 65 · within 2 miles
Groceries5
Portland median 5 · within 2 miles
Parks78
Portland median 68 · within 2 miles
Employment & income
12% of the score · 52/100
D+
Median household income$100,146
Portland $97,436
Unemployment5.6%
Portland 5.1%
Professional occupations36%
Portland 47%
Residents
12% of the score · inactive
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No responses yet. Residents is excluded from the score until eight people answer.
Ask the people who live here
Twelve yes/no questions, one tap each. No dataset knows whether the yards are kept or whether anyone talks to their neighbours. Answers feed the Residents grade, which needs eight responses before it counts.
Nobody has answered for Orchards yet. If you live here, you can be the first.
Is it quiet at night?
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Do you feel safe walking after dark?
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Can you walk to a grocery store?
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Is it good for young children?
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Are yards and streets well kept?
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Tap either button to answer — no account neededAll twelve questions →
Better than Orchards on housing & affordability
Orchards's weakest grade is D+. Six suburbs are within 25 miles and score higher on the same four inputs.
SuburbHousingOverall
Felida9 mi from OrchardsB 61 C Damascus19 mi from OrchardsB− 51 D+ Cedar Mill17 mi from OrchardsB− 71 B− West Linn23 mi from OrchardsC+ 71 B− Lake Oswego21 mi from OrchardsC+ 76 B Camas8 mi from OrchardsC+ 68 B− Median home value: ACS 2020–24 · Ownership rate: ACS 2020–24
Common questions about living in Orchards
Is Orchards, WA a good place to live?
Orchards scores 60 out of 100, 26th of 43 Portland suburbs. It is strongest on cost of living and weakest on housing & affordability. Every weight behind that score is published on the methodology page.
Is Orchards expensive to live in?
Cost of living grades B+. The median home is $461,700, 17% below the Portland median, and the effective property tax rate is 0.82%. $1,784/mo is the median gross rent.
How good are the schools in Orchards?
Schools grade D+. The districts serving Orchards sit at the 42nd pct within-state proficiency percentile, with a 87% graduation rate and a 17.1 student–teacher ratio. Orchards is served by Evergreen School District (Clark) and Battle Ground School District. Proficiency is only ever compared inside the same state.
How long is the commute from Orchards?
The mean commute is 25.5 min, with 68% of workers travelling under 30 minutes and 15% working from home. Transit density is 6.0 stops per square mile.
Can you walk anywhere in Orchards?
Within two miles there are 5 groceries, 59 restaurants and cafés and 78 parks, which grades B on amenities.
Are the homes in Orchards old or new?
The median home in Orchards was built in 1998 — newer than the Portland median of 1984. That is a median, so a town can be half post-war and half new-build and still land there. 75% of homes are houses rather than flats.
Every answer is built from the figures on this page, with their sources and as-of dates on the methodology page.