Merlin, OR population, income and ZIP codes

Merlin CDP is a small town in Oregon, with 1,355 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #204 of 426 ranked by population — larger than 52% of them. The median age here is 53.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Merlin CDP earn a median of $66,342 a year, 15.5% below the national figure of $78,538 and 10% below the $74,006 median for the 228 Oregon cities we cover. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 8.5% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Merlin CDP is valued at $419,100, 38.1% above the national figure and 11% above the $377,700 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,090 a month, 22.5% below the national figure, or roughly $13,080 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 19.7% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 6.3×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 93.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

Home values sit at 6.3× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. A median age of 53.2 puts Merlin CDP well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.