Jackson County, Oregon

Jackson County is a county in Oregon, United States, about 170 miles south of Eugene along
Interstate 5 in the Rogue Valley. It had a population of 223,259 at the 2020 census, an estimated
221,795 by 2025, and covers 2,802 square miles (7,260 km2) centred near 42°25′N 122°44′W.

Medford is the county seat and the county’s largest city; its postal code is 97501. The county
holds 11 incorporated cities, 6 census-designated places and 28 smaller unincorporated
communities, and it runs on Pacific Time. Its FIPS code is 41029.

Towns & Villages in Jackson County

Jackson County has 45 named places on record: 11 incorporated cities, 6 census-designated
places (CDPs) with their own Census Bureau population counts, and 28 unincorporated communities
with no formal boundary or count of their own.

Two 2020-census places share a ZIP with a larger neighbor rather than carrying a unique one:
Gold Hill and Foots Creek both use 97525, and Wimer shares Rogue River’s 97537. Buncom is the
best known of the unincorporated names on this list without any resident population — it
is a single restored building, kept up by a local historical society that runs an annual Buncom
Day each July, not an active settlement.

ZIP Codes

• 97501 — Medford (the county’s most populous ZIP)
• 97504 — Medford (east side)
• 97520 — Ashland
• 97502 — Central Point
• 97524 — Eagle Point
• 97503 — White City
• 97540 — Talent
• 97535 — Phoenix
• 97539 — Shady Cove
• 97530 — Jacksonville (also serves Ruch)
• 97537 — Rogue River (also serves Wimer)
• 97541 — Trail
• 97525 — Gold Hill (also serves Foots Creek)
• 97536 — Prospect
• 97522 — Butte Falls

The county’s smaller unincorporated communities — Applegate, Beagle, Bitter Lick,
Brownsboro, Buckhorn Springs, Buncom, Cascade Gorge, Climax, Colestin, Copper, Dardanelles, Four
Corners, Lake Creek, Lincoln, McKee Bridge, McLeod, Mountain View, Pinehurst, Provolt, Rock
Point, Rogue Elk, Sams Valley, Seven Oaks, Starvation Heights, Steamboat, Table Rock, Tolo and
Union Creek — have no ZIP code of their own; none has had a working post office in
decades, and mail there is delivered under whichever incorporated town or CDP is closest along
the route.

Geography

Jackson County occupies the Rogue Valley in southwestern Oregon, a lowland corridor between the
Cascade Range to the east and the Siskiyou Mountains, part of the Klamath Mountains, to the south
and west. Of its 2,802 square miles, 2,784 are land and 18 are water, about 0.6 percent. The Rogue
River runs the length of the county from the Cascades near Prospect to the Josephine County line
below Gold Hill, and Bear Creek, a Rogue tributary, drains the populated valley floor through
Ashland, Talent, Phoenix and Medford. Lost Creek Lake, held back by the William L. Jess Dam near
Trail, and Applegate Lake, on the Applegate River near Ruch, are the county’s two large
reservoirs. The county’s north end reaches into the Rogue River-Siskiyou and Umpqua national
forests.

Douglas County lies to the north, Klamath County to the east, Josephine County to the west, and
Siskiyou County, California, to the south. Douglas County,
Klamath County,
Josephine County and
Siskiyou County all border Jackson
directly.

Demographics

Jackson County had a population of 223,259 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 222,600 residents. Medford and Ashland are the two largest communities, together
holding roughly half the county’s population. Median household income runs $73,999, below
Oregon’s statewide figure of $80,160. Population density works out to roughly 80.2 people per
square mile of land, concentrated overwhelmingly in the Bear Creek valley towns; the county’s
eastern and northern reaches, mostly national forest, are sparsely populated.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 18,523 people,
followed by retail trade at 14,317 and accommodation and food services at 7,758. Rogue Regional
Medical Center in Medford is the region’s largest hospital and a major employer in its own right.
Lithia Motors, a Fortune 500 auto retailer, has been headquartered in Medford since 1970, and
Harry and David Operations Corp., the country’s largest direct marketer of fruit gift baskets,
runs its packing and distribution operation there with roughly 1,700 year-round staff. Ashland’s
economy centers on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the largest regional repertory theater in the
United States, which draws visitors well beyond the Rogue Valley each season. The Rogue Valley
also supports pear orchards and a growing wine industry, centered on the Applegate Valley AVA
around Ruch and Jacksonville; Rogue Creamery, based in Central Point, is a nationally recognized
cheesemaker. The county’s biggest annual event is the Jackson County Fair in Central Point each
July.

History

Oregon’s territorial legislature created Jackson County on 12 January 1852, naming it for
Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. Gold discovered at Rich Gulch, near
what became Jacksonville, in early 1852 drew thousands of miners into the valley within months,
and Jacksonville served as county seat until Medford, platted along the new railroad line in
1883, took over the role in 1927. Sterlingville and Buncom grew up as mining and stage-stop camps
during that boom and later emptied out; Buncom’s single surviving building is now a historic
site.

The gold rush brought settlers into direct conflict with the valley’s Takelma and other Native
peoples. The Table Rock Treaty, signed near Sams Valley in September 1853, forced local bands
onto a temporary reservation and ceded most of their land. Fighting resumed as the Rogue River
Wars of 1855-56, and in 1856 the US Army removed the valley’s surviving Native population north
to the Table Rock Reservation and then to the Coast, onto what became the Grand Ronde and Siletz
reservations, ending centuries of Takelma presence in the valley. During the Second World War,
the Army built Camp White north of Medford as an infantry training post; after 1946 the site was
redeveloped as the community of White City.

Getting There

Interstate 5 runs north-south through the county’s populated core, linking Ashland, Talent,
Phoenix, Medford, Central Point and Gold Hill. Oregon Route 62 leads northeast to Prospect and
Crater Lake, Route 238 leads southwest through Jacksonville into the Applegate Valley, Route 140
leads east toward Klamath Falls, and Route 227 serves Trail and Butte Falls.

• Grants Pass — about 30 miles northwest
• Roseburg — about 70 miles north
• Klamath Falls — about 75 miles east
• Yreka, California — about 60 miles south

Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport, three miles north of downtown Medford, is Oregon’s
third-busiest airport and the county’s only commercial airport. Amtrak has no station in the
county; the nearest connection is a Thruway Motorcoach link from Medford to the Coast Starlight
station in Klamath Falls.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Jackson County located?
It sits in southwestern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, bordered by Douglas, Klamath and Josephine
counties and, to the south, Siskiyou County, California.

What is the population of Jackson County?
223,259 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 221,795.

How big is Jackson County?
2,802 square miles (7,260 km2), of which 2,784 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Jackson County?
Medford, county seat since 1927, is the county’s largest city.

How many towns and villages are in Jackson County?
Eleven incorporated cities, six census-designated places — White City, Ruch, Trail, Foots
Creek, Wimer and Prospect — and 28 smaller unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Jackson County use?
97501 and 97504 for Medford, 97520 for Ashland, 97502 for Central Point, 97524 for Eagle Point,
97503 for White City, and separate codes for each of the county’s other incorporated towns.

What is Jackson County known for?
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, the 1852 Rich Gulch gold discovery that built
Jacksonville, and the Rogue River, which draws rafters and anglers the length of the valley.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Oregon.