Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Eugene's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Eugene?
Your $100,000 in Eugene has the same purchasing power as $99,157 in the average US city. You'd need $843 more here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Eugene's cost index of 101, sorted by closest match.
These are the reasons people actually move to Eugene, ordered roughly by what shows up loudest in the data. Daily errands don't require a car and a bike-friendly city by us standards lead, plus 2 more things worth knowing — the rest unpacked below.
With a citywide Walk Score of 71/100, Eugene sits firmly in the walkable-by-US-standards camp. Pick a central neighborhood and most daily errands happen without keys in your hand.
Bike Score of 100/100 in Eugene. That puts it in the small group of US cities where you can do groceries, commute, and run errands on a bike without it being a feat of urban survival.
Average commute time in Eugene runs around 19 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Eugene has a college-educated share of about 44% among adults 25+, which is higher than the national norm. It shows up in the local job mix, in the school district's reputation, and in the kind of conversations you have at the coffee shop.
Reasons are pulled from Eugene's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Not really a snow town. With winters averaging 36°F, Eugene sits in the mild-cold band where snowflakes appear occasionally and everything melts within a day. Most years see one storm worth talking about.
Cool, not cold. Winters in Eugene sit around 36°F — sweater-and-jacket weather most days, with the occasional cold front that reminds you it's still winter.
Reliably warm. Eugene's summer averages around 81°F, the kind of heat where you remember to leave the house before noon for outdoor things and accept that the back of your shirt will be wet by lunchtime.
Zone 9, give or take a half-zone. Eugene's typical winter low puts it in that band on the USDA Hardiness map, which is what nurseries label plants against. Use Zone 9 as your starting filter; the USDA's interactive map is more precise for borderline cases.
Around 410 feet (125 m) above sea level — flat enough that nothing about Eugene's altitude shows up in daily life.
Middle of the pack. Eugene comes in around 3,879 per 100,000, basically the national average. The interesting question is usually which neighborhood, not which city — that's where the real variation lives.
It's a middle-of-the-road US city on cost. Eugene's index of 101 sits within a few points of the national average — your money buys roughly what it would in a typical American metro.
Eugene scores 71/100 on Walk Score, putting it in the "very walkable" tier. Transit Score is 45 out of 100. It's the kind of city where you don't think of going to the grocery store as "going" to the grocery store.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $70,595 to live in Eugene the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Eugene runs about $1,269/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.