Oregon's best and worst small cities to live in, according to WalletHub

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Looking for a big city feel minus the big population that comes with living in one? A recent report ranked the best small cities in America, and several Oregon locations snagged a spot on the list.

Personal finance platform WalletHub released the report on Tuesday morning. According to the website and an Ipsos survey conducted earlier this summer, more U.S. residents have considered relocating to the suburbs, rural areas and small cities over major cities.

“Small-city life can be best for those who appreciate more wiggle room, fewer degrees of separation and shorter commutes, to name just a few of its advantages,” WalletHub explained. “Granted, these little urban areas demand some tradeoffs, too, such as fewer restaurant options or shorter business hours.”

The website considered those factors — and many others — in the metrics used to conduct its report.

WalletHub looked at the education and health, economic health, affordability, quality of life and safety of 1,321 places to list the best small cities with 25,000 to 100,000 residents.

According to the analysis, Bend is in the 98th percentile of small cities in the U.S. The Central Oregon town scored within the top 300 of the quality of life, economic health and safety categories, but fell near the bottom 300 for the affordability category.

West Linn, Lake Oswego, Beaverton, Tigard and Oregon City followed as the locations that were either at or above the 87th percentile.

Other small cities in Oregon didn’t perform as well. Namely, Woodburn was in the 12th percentile. The city had the poorest score in the education and health category, where it ranked at No. 1093.

Grants Pass, Keizer, Aloha and Springfield followed as the Oregon cities in the lowest percentiles.

Overall, WalletHub said Milton, Mass., was the best small city to live in. Florence, S.C. was deemed the worst.