Elgin, Oregon.
Typical home $268,632 (+2.0% in a year). La Grande, OR metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$820 (+139%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $5,395 +2%
- $263,237$268,632 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $66,345 +33%
- $202,287$268,632 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Elgin$1,410
- Oregon$2,586
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Elgin, OR rose 2.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Elgin, Union County, Oregon
Elgin is a city of 1,717 people in Union County. Unemployment in Union County was 4.6% in August 2026, and the county had 0.4% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Elgin is a small city in Union County, Oregon, with winters that run cold and summers that turn properly hot. December is the coldest month, with highs just above freezing and lows well below it, while August brings the warmest days. Rain and melted snow add up to a modest amount over the year. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and a small share of households live below the poverty line.
Work. Residents of Elgin work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, the building trades, and restaurants, hotels and entertainment also employing many. Across Union County, the largest workplaces include Grande Ronde Hospital, Eastern Oregon University and Boise Cascade Co. Very few people work from home. Unemployment in the county is lower than it was a year ago, though the number of jobs slipped slightly over the past year.
Things to do. The Elgin Opera House, a theatre in or beside town, is the nearest place to spend an evening. For time outdoors, the Wallowa River is a longer drive away, as is Umatilla National Forest, a large protected area. Morgan Lake, also a longer drive away, offers a quiet spot beside the water.
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- 624households
- 10%of adults have a degree
- 10%below the poverty line
- 2%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Union County had 10,444 jobs in 2025, 0.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 39° and lows near 23°; warmest in August, with highs near 87° and lows near 46°. About 26 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Elgin weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Union County
- Grande Ronde HospitalCritical access hospital602FTE
- Eastern Oregon UniversityUniversity or college464
- La Grande SD 1School district271FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters266
- Boise Cascade CoSoftwood veneer and plywood manufacturing241
- Lakeside FoodsVegetables, frozen, manufacturing236
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture166
- Kronospan La GrandeParticleboard manufacturing152
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 24 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,189 people in all across the county; Elgin has two of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherVery high
- Cold wavesVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- AvalanchesRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Elgin’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Union County and the La Grande, OR metro.
Elgin home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Elgin$268,632
- Oregon$492,753
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Elgin listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Elgin20.78%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Elgin21
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Elgin5
Zip codes with a Elgin address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Elgin — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.