Nehalem, OR population, income and ZIP codes

Nehalem city is a very small community in Oregon, with 225 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #348 of 426 ranked by population — larger than 18% of them. The median age here is 55.4 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 Nehalem city earn a median of $69,464 a year, 11.6% below the national figure of $78,538 and 6% below the $74,006 median for the 228 Oregon cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 4% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Nehalem city is valued at $418,400, 37.9% above the national figure and 11% above the $377,700 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,167 a month, 17% below the national figure, or roughly $14,004 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 20.2% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 6×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 84.9% 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. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

A median age of 55.4 puts Nehalem city 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. With 225 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Nehalem city against its county rather than against national figures.

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.