Oakridge is a very small city located in the state of Oregon. With a population of 3,158 people and just one neighborhood, Oakridge is the 116th largest community in Oregon.
Oakridge is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Oakridge is a city of service providers, professionals, and production and manufacturing workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Oakridge who work in maintenance occupations (19.65%), community and social services (13.93%), and law enforcement and fire fighting (9.50%).
Of important note, Oakridge is also a city of artists. Oakridge has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Oakridge’s character.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 18.47% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
It is a fairly quiet city because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Oakridge has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Oakridge has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Oakridge than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Oakridge may be for you.
One downside of living in Oakridge, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 37.07 minutes every day commuting to work.
Being a small city, Oakridge does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The percentage of adults in Oakridge with college degrees is slightly lower than the national average of 21.84% for all communities. 15.75% of adults in Oakridge have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Oakridge in 2022 was $24,979, which is low income relative to Oregon and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $99,916 for a family of four. However, Oakridge contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Oakridge home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Oakridge residents report their race to be White, followed by Native American. Important ancestries of people in Oakridge include German, English, Irish, Italian, and French Canadian.
The most common language spoken in Oakridge is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
It used to be that most Americans lived on the farm, or otherwise made their living from the land, the forests, or the sea. With global trade and an economy increasingly based on providing services to one another, fewer people farm, fish or harvest timber now than at any time in American history. But according to NeighborhoodScout's leading analysis, the neighborhood stands apart from most American neighborhood due to the proportion of its residents still working in these fields. With 9.3% of the workforce so employed, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of such workers than 98.9% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Unpopulated, and rural, the neighborhood is one of the least crowded neighborhoods in all of America. If you like open space, no traffic, and lots of room, this neighborhood may be just what you are looking for. According to NeighborhoodScout's leading research, this neighborhood is less densely populated than 98.2% of the neighborhoods in America. One of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 11.9% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.3% of all neighborhoods in America.
If you're planning where to retire, the neighborhood in Oakridge is a great option to consider. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive retirement dream area analysis, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety ratings compared to other neighborhoods in OR, offers a wide range of housing options, and has already attracted an enviable mix of college educated seniors. This neighborhood ranks as better for retirement living than 85.1% of the neighborhoods in Oregon. If you are considering retiring to Oregon, this is a good neighborhood to look at.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more French Canadian and Welsh ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 6.7% of this neighborhood's residents have French Canadian ancestry and 3.0% have Welsh ancestry.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Oakridge are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 92.2% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 12.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 56.4% of U.S. neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the neighborhood, 28.6% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 26.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (22.0%), and 13.1% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.3% of households. Some people also speak Italian (3.8%).
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Oakridge, OR, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (19.6%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (15.6%), and residents who report Irish roots (12.5%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (10.5%), along with some French Canadian ancestry residents (6.7%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (41.7% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (55.7%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (20.6%) and 6.7% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.