Prairie City, OR population, income and ZIP codes

Prairie City city is a very small community in Oregon, with 739 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #253 of 426 ranked by population — larger than 40% of them. The median age here is 49.1 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 Prairie City city earn a median of $49,702 a year, 36.7% below the national figure of $78,538 and 33% below the $74,006 median for the 228 Oregon cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 15.3% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Prairie City city is valued at $186,400, 38.6% below the national figure and 51% below the $377,700 peer median, while median gross rent runs $853 a month, 39.3% below the national figure, or roughly $10,236 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 20.6% 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 3.8×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 86.8% 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. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

With 739 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare Prairie City 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.