Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,092, settled in 1880. 3.8 times the library visits per person than the typical Oregon town.
Trash & recyclingSeaside grades D− overall, in the bottom 2% of U.S. towns, mostly because of incomes and safety. The median household income is $47K, and 18% of residents live below the poverty line. It reports more crime per resident than 93% of U.S. towns, including 20 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. In its favor, it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 98% of U.S. towns. Seaside’s property crime rate is 40 per 1,000 residents, where Oregon’s towns sit at 15.2 and U.S. towns at 9.9. Only 14 of Oregon’s 228 towns score lower on hazard risk. Seaside has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Haller-Black House and Charles Preston House.
Where Seaside beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
28.8% of the town is conserved land, across 8 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Seaside is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D− for hazard risk (better than 4%), so the D− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 75 in 1880, 7,115 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1904 and 2 maps from 1949 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Seaside. Close and well known come first.
6 mi LighthouseTillamook Rock Light
10 mi LandmarkFort Clatsop
5 mi State parkEcola State Park
in town National Historical ParkLewis and Clark National Historical Park244K visitors a year
15 mi LandmarkFort Stevens
14 mi LandmarkAstoria ColumnTillamook Rock Light: Jwyoung, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fort Clatsop: Glenn Scofield Williams from USA, CC BY 2.0 · Ecola State Park: Brmuchim (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lewis and Clark National Historical Park: National Park Service Digital Image Archives, Public domain · Fort Stevens: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives, Attribution · Astoria Column: The original uploader was Decumanus at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Seaside, 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 Seaside.
Seaside is a second-home town and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Oregon (mostly tsunamis).
11 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. Seaside’s trail density is 2.6 miles per square mile. The biggest park or preserve is Circle Creek Habitat Reserve, at 345 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Circle Creek Habitat Reserve | 0.2 mi | 345 |
| 2. Broadway Park | 0.1 mi | 9 |
| 3. Gateway Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by Seaside SD 10. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Ridge Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 557 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
Reported crimes fell from 422 to 304 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Seaside reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 93% report less. The violent crime rate in Seaside is 2.8 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 99% of Oregon towns, with expected losses of about $9,451 per resident a year; that rating is what its D− for hazard risk is built on.
Among 142 Oregon towns, just 2 have a higher FEMA risk score than Seaside. Since 1990, 18 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Seaside.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
July afternoons average 67.8°, cooler than in 99% of U.S. towns; January nights average 36.8°.
Seaside has mild winters and cool summers, with plenty of rain. Only 8 of the 142 Oregon towns we compare have a lower July high than Seaside. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Seaside | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 68°F | 82°F | 85°F |
| January low | 37°F | 36°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
24.4% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 3% statewide, which helps explain the older median age. The median household earns $47,361, against $83,011 across Oregon, one input to its D for jobs and income.
People 65 and older are 26% of residents (19% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (23% statewide). 17% of residents are under 18 in Seaside. 31% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 37% across Oregon.
| Seaside | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 51.2 years | 39.3 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 26% | 18% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 17% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 27% | 29% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.5 points. Across Oregon, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Seaside | OR | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 4.9% | 10.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.9% | 9.6% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.4% | 14% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11% | 14.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 15% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.6% | 12.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 16.2% | 11.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.9% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.3% | 8.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 25.8% | 22.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.6% | 23.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.1% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.8% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.4% | 14.1% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Only 4 of the 142 Oregon towns we compare have a lower median household income than Seaside. About one in 3 of Seaside’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Cannon Beach (11%), Portland (10%) and Astoria (6%).
| Seaside | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 31% | 9.5% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $47,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 4,788 U.S. towns with household incomes like Seaside’s, it is healthier than 83%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Seaside beats the Oregon average on 1 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 16% of Seaside adults report frequent physical distress.
| Seaside | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 15% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 11% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 33% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 72% | 79% |
| What stands out | Seaside | OR |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 75% | 71.4% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.9% | 6.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Seaside
About 3 of every 100 Seaside residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Oregon.
6,457 counted in 2010 and 7,115 in 2020; an estimated 7,092 in 2025.
Growth has leveled off: within 1% of 2020, after 10.2% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
3 places in Seaside on the National Register of Historic Places.
6 notable people were born in Seaside.
City in Oregon, United States
Seaside is a city in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The name Seaside is derived from Seaside House, a historic summer resort built in the 1870s by railroad magnate Ben Holladay. The city's population was 7,115 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Seaside.
Gearhart has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Gearhart reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Seaside with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Seaside grades D− overall, in the bottom 2% of U.S. towns. It grades C+ for health, D for safety and C for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. That is 6.5 years of the area's median household income ($71,822 across the Astoria, OR area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
6 notable people were born here, including Ken Carpenter and Betsy Eby.
_(clatDA0106a).jpg){kind=link}
