Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Public schools that outperform most of Oregon.
Lafayette is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades A− overall, 16th of 142 graded towns in Oregon, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools rank ahead of 81% of Oregon towns. It also does better than most on health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 76% of the country. A typical home there costs about $458K, 4.7 years of the Portland metro’s $97K median household income. On hazard risk, just 22 of Oregon’s 228 towns do better. Lafayette has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Evangelical Church of Lafayette and Amos Cook House. Only 4 of the 142 Oregon towns we compare have a higher average trip to work than Lafayette.
Where Lafayette beats most towns.
3,742 counted in 2010 and 4,423 in 2020; an estimated 4,705 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 6.3% since 2020, after 18.2% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Lafayette is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 396 in 1880, 4,423 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1872 and 3 maps from 1940 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lafayette, 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 Lafayette.
Lafayette pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the Oregon norm and sends most of its workers to McMinnville and beyond.
Its public schools are run by McMinnville SD 40. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wascher Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 371 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
70% of adults had a checkup this year in Lafayette, against 73% in Oregon’s towns and 79% across U.S. towns. 28% of adults have high blood pressure in Lafayette. Lafayette beats the Oregon average on 8 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| Lafayette | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 73% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 33% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.1% | 11% | 12% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 16% |
| What stands out | Lafayette | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 4.6% | 6.5% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 5.1% | 6.8% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 66.7% | 71.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Lafayette has 282 jobs for its 1,974 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 33.3 minutes, against 23 across Oregon.
Most working residents leave Lafayette for work: only 1% work in town. Jobs based in Lafayette grew to 282 in 2023, 58 more than in 2013. 5.5% of residents live below the poverty line in Lafayette, below both the Oregon town median (11%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%).
| Lafayette | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1.1% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 5.5% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $98,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Lafayette 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
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 60% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Lafayette grades A− overall with a typical home of about $458K, below the Oregon typical value; only 2 of the 9 Oregon towns graded A− or better can say that.
87% of Lafayette households own their home. The typical Lafayette home is worth about $458,000, about the same as a year ago, 7% below the Oregon typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| Lafayette | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.2% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Joel Perkins Park | 0.1 mi | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lafayette. Close and well known come first.
3 mi MuseumEvergreen Aviation & Space Museum
29 mi Stadium & arenaModa Center
28 mi Stadium & arenaProvidence Park
28 mi GardenForest Park
27 mi MuseumPittock Mansion
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 · Forest Park: EncMstr, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pittock Mansion: PittockBack.jpg: Cacophony derivative work: Tiptoety talk, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Veterans Memorial Coliseum: Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Lafayette
About 4 of every 100 Lafayette residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Oregon.
Where Lafayette’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
4 places in Lafayette on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Lafayette.
Town in Yamhill County, Oregon, U.S.
Lafayette is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States on the Yamhill River and Oregon Route 99W. It was founded in 1846 and incorporated in 1878. The population was 4,423 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.
By most measures, yes. Lafayette grades A− overall, better than 75% of U.S. towns and #16 of 142 in Oregon. It grades A− for health and A− for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
3 notable people were born here, including George W. McBride and Pauline Alderman.
