Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety22#12,177/15,637
Economy50#7,875/15,631
Housing17#12,393/14,977
Health46#8,501/15,609
Healthcare58#6,542/15,650
Environment21#12,260/15,453
Education38#9,744/15,649
Infrastructure95#739/15,650
Community62#6,005/15,651
Leisure & amenities75#3,880/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Talent, Oregon ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Jackson County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Distance to an airport · low7 mi
99/100Oregon 26 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauJackson County value
Mental health providers · high781 /100k
98/100Oregon 776 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJackson County value
Public transit commuters · high4.1%
91/100Oregon 2.2%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301High uncertainty
Preventable hospital stays · low1,833 /100k
89/100Oregon 1,868 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJackson County value
Child poverty rate · low0.9%
89/100Oregon 13.0%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Restaurants and bars · high11.7 /10k
87/100Oregon 12.4 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsJackson County value

Weaknesses

Home price to income ratio · high6.5×
8/100Oregon 5.8×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Depression · high28.0%
10/100Oregon 27.9%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Students per teacher · high18.8×
11/100Oregon 17.8×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsJackson County value
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100Oregon 12.5United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationJackson County value
Property crime rate · high2,123 /100k
12/100Oregon 2,118 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationJackson County value
Suicide rate · high22.6 /100k
13/100Oregon 20.3 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataJackson County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateImproving
19.4% (2015-2019) → 0.9% (2020-2024)
−18 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
New homes permittedWorsening
15.2 /1k (2021) → 1.8 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−88%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$40,385 (2015-2019) → $62,543 (2020-2024)
+55%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
84.3% (2015-2019) → 92.6% (2020-2024)
+8.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherImproving
88.8% (2015-2019) → 95.1% (2020-2024)
+6.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Poverty rateImproving
17.5% (2015-2019) → 11.7% (2020-2024)
−5.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Talent, Oregon improved on 2 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Household income+55%$40,385 → $62,543
Broadband+8.3 points84.3% → 92.6%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Talent, Oregon between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.1 min2015-2019	21.3 min2020-2024	+4.1 min	Within the margin of error	13%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.2%2015-2019	39.4%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	29%
Broadband subscriptions	84.3%2015-2019	92.6%2020-2024	+8.3 points	Improved	51%
Effective property tax rate	1.03%2015-2019	0.87%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	50%
High school diploma or higher	88.8%2015-2019	95.1%2020-2024	+6.3 points	Within the margin of error	87%
Home price to income ratio	5.4×2015-2019	6.5×2020-2024	+1.1×	Within the margin of error	20%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4422015-2019	0.4062020-2024	−0.037	Within the margin of error	78%
Median household income	$40,3852015-2019	$62,5432020-2024	+55%	Improved	88%
Poverty rate	17.5%2015-2019	11.7%2020-2024	−5.8 points	Within the margin of error	83%
Rent as share of income	33.2%2015-2019	32.6%2020-2024	−0.6 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent-burdened households	61.3%2015-2019	56.9%2020-2024	−4.4 points	Within the margin of error	70%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Talent, Oregon five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Talent, Oregon in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Talent, Oregon itself moved +7.2 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

6,254 residents (±25)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: 30–39 women (−4.1 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

6,254 residents (±25)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

White78%4,855
Black0.6%†40
Hispanic or Latino13%†821
Asian0.7%†46
American Indian and Alaska Native0.3%†17
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander0.0%0
Other or two or more races7.6%†475

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Asian (−4.9 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B03002View table on data.census.gov

Education

4,472 residents (±403)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

No high school diploma4.9%†218
High school or GED14%†611
Some college30%1,334
Associate degree12%†545
Bachelor's degree23%1,018
Graduate degree17%746

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Some college (+9.0 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B15003View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

3,152 households (±270)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

Under $25k16%†516
$25k–50k27%†858
$50k–75k15%†480
$75k–100k11%†357
$100k–150k22%†683
$150k–200k5.3%†166
$200k or more2.9%†92

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Under $25k (−14.2 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

3,152 households (±270)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

Own48%1,517
Rent52%1,635

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

1,561 households (±259)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

Under $75012%†195
$750–1,00014%†226
$1,000–1,50017%†265

Home values

1,517 homes (±282)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

Under $150k14%†212
$150k–250k7.7%†117
$250k–400k27%†403

Age of homes

3,270 homes (±286)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

2010 or later25%830
2000–200912%†400
1980–199930%973

Size of homes

3,270 homes (±286)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

Studio2.0%†65
1 bedroom13%†422
2 bedrooms31%1,030

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

3,083 workers (±344)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

Drive alone72%2,229
Carpool4.1%†126
Public transit4.1%†127
Walk3.4%†104
Bike0.6%†17
Work from home13%†412
Other2.2%†68

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Carpool (−10.1 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

2,671 workers (±361)

Talent, Oregon
Oregon share

Under 15 min21%†563
15–29 min62%1,657
30–44 min14%†375

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Medford, OR

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Jackson County, the county holding most of Talent's residents.

Jackson County has 6,589 employer establishments, 298 for every 10,000 residents (1.20× the US rate of 248; 1.03× Oregon's), with 79,766 paid employees at an average annual pay of $54,506. The Census Bureau also counts 18,988 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 6,589; 18,988 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 298; US 248 · Oregon 288
Paid employees: 79,766
Average annual pay: $54,506; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Jackson County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	544	24.6	1.18×About typical	7,520	$77,110	1,128
Specialty trade contractors	514	23.2	1.50×More than typical	4,015	$64,719	961
Restaurants and other eating places	490	22.1	1.21×About typical	7,123	$24,544	89
Lessors of real estate	355	16	1.30×More than typical	929	$45,584	2,121
Construction of buildings	336	15.2	2.01×More than typical	1,401	$55,960	690
Services to buildings and dwellings	228	10.3	1.53×More than typical	1,238	$34,176	1,089
Full-service restaurants	207	9.4	1.22×About typical	3,136	$28,450	38
Offices of other health practitioners	198	8.9	1.47×More than typical	843	$51,849	678
Limited-service restaurants	184	8.3	1.04×About typical	2,748	$22,278	32
Building equipment contractors	163	7.4	1.22×About typical	1,911	$69,070	107
Offices of physicians	158	7.1	1.10×About typical	3,045	$104,920	188
Real estate agents and brokers	150	6.8	1.39×More than typical	226	$49,500	540

Rank places for an industry Open Jackson County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 221,276 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Talent, Oregon: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

4.6KFY2017
163.6KFY2018
1.9KFY2019
46.5KFY2020
86.3KFY2021
0FY2022
113.7FY2023
2.1KFY2024

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Talent, Oregon, so they do not add up across cities.

Talent, Oregon's figures are part of those of Jackson County, OR ($90.8M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Talent is mostly in Jackson County.

See federal money in Jackson County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Talent, Oregon is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Cliff BentzR-OR-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 0.1%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Jackson County53100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Medford, OR64

Other cities and towns in Jackson County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4172500