Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Gervais grades C overall, 75th of 142 graded towns in Oregon, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. On the other side, the typical home is worth about $426K, 5.4 years of the Salem metro’s $79K median household income. It also does better than most on safety: it reports less crime per resident than 74% of U.S. towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in health: CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 62% of the country. No town in Oregon scores lower than Gervais on civic life. Sam Brown House is on the National Register of Historic Places. Only 1 of the 75 Oregon towns we compare have a lower violent crime rate than Gervais.
Where Gervais beats most towns.
Where Gervais’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Gervais is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 202 in 1880, 2,595 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 5 maps from 1923 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gervais. Close and well known come first.
31 mi Stadium & arenaModa Center
14 mi MuseumEvergreen Aviation & Space Museum
30 mi Stadium & arenaProvidence Park
20 mi Theme parkEnchanted Forest
30 mi MuseumPittock Mansion
31 mi GardenForest ParkModa Center: Lugnuts, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum: Notkeel at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Providence Park: Pdx.rollingthunder, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Enchanted Forest: Trashbag (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pittock Mansion: PittockBack.jpg: Cacophony derivative work: Tiptoety talk, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Forest Park: EncMstr, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gervais, 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 Gervais.
Its public schools are run by Gervais SD 1. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Gervais High School, with 324 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gervais Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 384 | D− |
| Gervais High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 324 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Gervais for work: only 3% work in town. Gervais’ average trip to work is 28 minutes, against 23 minutes in Oregon’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Jobs based in Gervais grew to 436 in 2023, 98 more than in 2013.
| Gervais | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.8% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 11% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 10.2 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 100% of Oregon’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 0 reported in 2025, 0 per 1,000 residents.
Gervais’ property crime rate is 3.9 per 1,000 residents, where Oregon’s towns sit at 15.6 and U.S. towns at 9.9.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Gervais has mild winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 36° and about 1 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
68% of adults had a checkup this year in Gervais. Among 142 Oregon towns, just 3 have a higher share of adults 18 to 64 who have no health insurance than Gervais. 45% of adults have obesity in Gervais.
| Gervais | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 68% | 73% | 79% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 8.4% | 8.1% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 45% | 35% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Gervais | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.4% | 8.9% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 4.4% | 6.5% |
| More uninsured adults | 19.8% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The median rent in Gervais is $1,893 a month. Among 142 Oregon towns, just 7 have a higher share of households owning their home than Gervais. The typical Gervais home is worth about $427,000, up 1.5% in a year, 13% below the Oregon typical home.
| Gervais | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 91% | 65% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,893 a month | $1,413 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 61% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
| Gervais | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.9% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gervais Community Park | 0.2 mi | 3 |
| 2. Gervis Field Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
4 within 15 miles of the center of Gervais
About 4 of every 100 Gervais residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Oregon.
3 notable people were born in Gervais.
City in Oregon, United States
Gervais is a city in Marion County, United States. The population was 2,595 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Gervais grades C overall, better than 27% of U.S. towns and #75 of 142 in Oregon. It grades C+ for health, B+ for safety and B− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
3 notable people were born here, including Jules Eckert Goodman and Freeman Fitzgerald.
