Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Dayton is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 86th of 142 graded towns in Oregon, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: it is healthier than 53% of U.S. towns. Expect to pay for it: the typical home is worth about $515K, 5.3 years of the Portland metro’s $97K median household income. Its National Register listings include Palmer House and First Baptist Church. Dayton is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 90% of U.S. towns. Among 142 Oregon towns, just 9 have a higher share of households owning their home than Dayton.
Where Dayton beats most towns.
Francis Fletcher House
Its 49 National Register listings are more than in 96% of Oregon towns with a listing.
Census counts: 368 in 1880, 2,678 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1879 and 4 maps from 1926 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Dayton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Dayton. Close and well known come first.
3 mi MuseumEvergreen Aviation & Space Museum
29 mi Stadium & arenaModa Center
28 mi Stadium & arenaProvidence Park
27 mi MuseumPittock Mansion
28 mi GardenForest Park
29 mi Stadium & arenaVeterans Memorial ColiseumEvergreen Aviation & Space Museum: Notkeel at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Moda Center: Lugnuts, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Providence Park: Pdx.rollingthunder, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pittock Mansion: PittockBack.jpg: Cacophony derivative work: Tiptoety talk, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Forest Park: EncMstr, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Veterans Memorial Coliseum: Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Dayton, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Oct 2, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Dayton.
Its public schools are run by Dayton SD 8. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Dayton High School, with 310 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton Grade SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 320 | – |
| Dayton High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 310 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
Dayton has 304 jobs for its 1,264 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Dayton for work: only 2% work in town. Dayton’s average trip to work is 29 minutes, against 23 minutes in Oregon’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Since 2013, Dayton has added 54 jobs, to 304 in 2023.
| Dayton | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.2% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $91,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 73% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Dayton has mild winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 36° and about 1 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Dayton’s median rent is $1,861 a month, above both the Oregon town median ($1,413 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). The typical Dayton home is worth about $515,000, down 0.9% in a year, close to the Oregon typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
70% of adults had a checkup this year in Dayton. Dayton beats the Oregon average on 2 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 12% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in Dayton.
| Dayton | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 73% | 79% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 33% | 35% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 35% | 35% |
| What stands out | Dayton | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.2% | 8.9% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.5% | 6.5% |
| More uninsured adults | 12.1% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Dayton
About 6 of every 100 Dayton residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Oregon.
Where Dayton’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
49 places in Dayton on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Oregon, U.S.
Dayton is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,678 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Dayton grades C− overall, better than 19% of U.S. towns and #86 of 142 in Oregon. It grades B− for health and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
2 notable people were born here, including Kristi Tauti and Stan Bunn.
