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About Baker City
Baker City is the county seat of Baker County, in the valley between the Wallowa Mountains and the Elkhorn Mountains in Eastern Oregon. Wikipedia reports that the city was platted in 1865, incorporated in 1874 and sits at an elevation of 3,451 feet. It took over as county seat from Auburn in 1868.
Baker City in numbers
| Measure | Baker City | Margin of error (90%) |
|---|---|---|
| Population, 2020 Census | 10,099 | count |
| Population, ACS 2020-2024 | 10,210 | +/- 55 |
| Population, certified estimate published by the League of Oregon Cities (Portland State University), December 2025 | 10,156 (+0.6% since 2020) | not published |
| Households | 4,468 | +/- 180 |
| Owner-occupied share of households | 69.9% (3,125 homes) | owners +/- 229 |
| Median household income | $61,580 | +/- $7,804 |
| Median home value (owner-occupied) | $271,400 | +/- $21,314 |
| Median age | 42.6 | +/- 2.7 |
| Hispanic or Latino residents | 6.3% (647 people) | +/- 136 people |
| Owner-occupied homes valued at $300,000 or more | 1,315 of 3,125 (42.1%) | about +/- 237 homes |
| Business establishments, ZIP 97814 | 431 | none (Census adds small noise) |
| Paid employees at those establishments | 3,746 | none (noise) |
A plain reading
Baker City is almost flat in population: the certified estimate is 0.6 percent above the 2020 Census count, a gap smaller than you can read much into. It is older than the other Eastern Oregon cities in this network, with a median age of 42.6, and seven in ten households own their home. Median household income is about $61,600, but the margin of error is large, nearly $8,000 either way, so treat it as a range. About four in ten owner-occupied homes are valued at $300,000 or more.
How we got these numbers
- Population, households, tenure, income, home value, age, Hispanic or Latino origin (table B03003) and the home-value brackets come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates for 2020-2024, tables B01003, B11001, B25003, B19013, B25077, B01002, B03003 and B25075, read through Census Reporter for Baker City city (Census place 4103650). Dollars are 2024 inflation-adjusted ACS dollars.
- Homes valued at $300,000 or more are the sum of the B25075 brackets from $300,000 up (660, 364, 180, 74, 0, 9 and 28). The margin of error for that sum is our own square-root-of-summed-squares combination of the published margins, so it is approximate.
- The 2020 population is the Census count, read from the Census TIGERweb 2020 incorporated places layer.
- The December 2025 figure is from the League of Oregon Cities table, which says it reflects the December 15, 2025 certification by Portland State University. We read it from the League's table, not from a Portland State table.
- Business counts are from Census ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023 for ZIP code 97814. They are by ZIP code, not by city limit, and they leave out businesses with no paid employees.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year data (2020-2024)
- Census Reporter
- Census TIGERweb
- Census ZIP Code Business Patterns
- League of Oregon Cities, certified population estimates
- Portland State University Population Research Center
- Baker City, Oregon (Wikipedia), for history and geography
Also from Oregon Living: Oregon Living in Pendleton, Oregon · Oregon Living in La Grande, Oregon · Oregon Living in Hermiston, Oregon · Oregon Living in Ontario, Oregon.