Moving to Beaverton, OR: Complete Relocation Guide

Where Beaverton Sits and How It Connects to Portland

Beaverton borders Portland’s westside and is reachable from downtown Portland in roughly 20 to 25 minutes by car via US-26 or the Sunset Highway, and in a similar window by MAX light rail without needing a car at all. This transit connection is one of the more meaningful differences between Beaverton and Oregon’s more distant suburbs. It has commuting into central Portland without the near-hour drive some outer Washington County cities require.

Beaverton’s Neighborhoods

Beaverton consists of several distinct neighborhoods, each with its own housing stock and character:

• Cedar Hills — an established, centrally located neighborhood with mid-century homes on larger lots, anchored by Commonwealth Lake Park.
• Murrayhill — a master-planned South Beaverton community from the 1990s and 2000s, popular with families for its school access and walking paths.
• Progress Ridge — a newer South Beaverton development with walkable retail at Progress Ridge TownSquare and access to the Fanno Creek Trail.
• Sexton Mountain and Cooper Mountain — hillside neighborhoods in South Beaverton with larger homes, elevated lots, and territorial views.
• Central Beaverton — the area closest to downtown, the Beaverton Farmers Market, and direct MAX access.
• Raleigh Hills — one of the higher-priced areas, bordering Portland’s Multnomah neighborhood.

Homes in Beaverton range from mid-century single-family houses in established neighborhoods like Cedar Hills to newer construction in Progress Ridge and the Bethany area to the north. A move into a hillside neighborhood like Sexton Mountain differs from a move into central Beaverton in that steeper, narrower streets can require more careful truck positioning, which is worth mentioning to a moving company when booking.

Employers and Commute Patterns

Beaverton anchors the eastern end of the Silicon Forest, Oregon’s tech corridor running west through Hillsboro. Nike’s world headquarters occupies a large campus off SW Murray Boulevard, putting many Beaverton neighborhoods within a five- to fifteen-minute commute of Nike’s campus. Tektronix also maintains a significant Beaverton presence, and Intel’s major Hillsboro campuses sit a short drive further west, making Beaverton a common landing point for tech professionals who want a shorter commute than a Portland address would offer to westside employers, without giving up MAX access back into the city.

Schools

Beaverton is served by the Beaverton School District (BSD), the third-largest district in Oregon with more than 50 schools and roughly 38,000 to 40,000 students. High school boundaries vary meaningfully by neighborhood: Sunset High School serves Cedar Hills and Cedar Mill, Westview High School serves Bethany and the northern part of the district, Mountainside High School serves Cooper Mountain and Progress Ridge, and Southridge High School serves much of South Beaverton. A family relocating to Beaverton for a specific high school should confirm the exact boundary for an address before signing a lease or closing on a home, since boundaries do not always follow neighborhood names precisely, and a small number of eastern Beaverton addresses actually fall within Portland Public Schools rather than BSD.

Cost of Living and Housing

Beaverton’s cost of living runs above the Oregon state average but generally below Portland’s closer-in neighborhoods for comparable proximity to major job centers. Home prices vary significantly by neighborhood, with more affordable options in Central Beaverton and higher prices in areas like Raleigh Hills and parts of South Beaverton. Rental rates follow a similar pattern, with one-bedroom units generally more affordable than comparable Portland units and two-bedroom units in central, transit-accessible areas commanding a premium. Oregon has no state sales tax, which applies the same in Beaverton as anywhere else in the state, and property tax rates in Washington County run roughly in line with Multnomah County, though the two counties structure assessments differently.

Parks, Recreation, and Daily Life

The Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District maintains over a thousand acres of parks and trails across Beaverton, including Tualatin Hills Nature Park and Cooper Mountain Nature Park. Commonwealth Lake Park in Cedar Hills offers a loop trail popular for walking and running. The Beaverton Farmers Market runs every Saturday from May through November in downtown Beaverton and is one of the larger farmers markets in Oregon. Beaverton’s international food scene, concentrated along SW Canyon Road and Allen Boulevard, reflects the city’s diversity, with a strong concentration of Korean, Japanese, and Mexican restaurants and grocers.

What Moving to Beaverton Involves

A move to Beaverton from Portland is typically a local move under most moving companies’ distance definitions, since the two cities border each other directly. A move from out of state into Beaverton is treated the same as any long-distance move into the Portland metro, with the same regulatory requirements around licensed carriers, bills of lading, and valuation coverage that apply to a move terminating anywhere in the metro area. Beaverton handles its own right-of-way and parking permitting separately from the City of Portland, so a move requiring reserved curb space on a Beaverton street should be confirmed directly with the City of Beaverton rather than assumed to follow Portland’s process.

Practical Guidance Before a Beaverton Move

1. Confirm the exact high school and elementary boundary for a specific address before committing to a neighborhood, since boundaries can cut through areas with the same general name.
2. Ask a moving company whether a hillside neighborhood like Sexton Mountain or Cooper Mountain requires special truck positioning due to narrow or steep streets.
3. Check with the City of Beaverton directly if a move requires reserved street parking, since this process is separate from Portland’s permitting system.
4. Budget moving timing around Beaverton’s spring and summer peak season, when both housing inventory and moving company availability move fastest.
5. Verify whether a specific address falls within Beaverton School District or, for a small number of eastern addresses, Portland Public Schools.

Frequently Asked Questions