{"id":7191,"date":"2023-08-27T20:18:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T20:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=7191"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:30:20","slug":"umatilla-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/umatilla-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Umatilla County, Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Umatilla County is a county in Oregon, United States, in the northeastern corner of the state<br \/>\nalong the Columbia River. It had a population of 80,075 at the 2020 census, an estimated 81,119<br \/>\nby 2025, and covers 3,232 square miles (8,370 km2) centred near 45\u00b023\u2032N 118\u00b045\u2032W.<\/p>\n<p>Pendleton is the county seat; its postal code is 97801. Hermiston, not Pendleton, is the<br \/>\ncounty&#8217;s largest city. The county holds 12 incorporated cities and 10 census-designated<br \/>\ncommunities, and it runs on Pacific Time. Its FIPS code is 41059.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Umatilla County<\/h2>\n<p>Umatilla County has 22 named places on record: 12 incorporated cities and towns and 10 census<br \/>\ndesignated places (CDPs) with no local government of their own. CDP stands for census designated<br \/>\nplace; a handful of additional rural crossroads carry local names but no official Census Bureau<br \/>\nstatus, so they are not tabled below.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Hermiston<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>19,354<\/td>\n<td>97838<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pendleton<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>17,107<\/td>\n<td>97801<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Milton-Freewater<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>7,151<\/td>\n<td>97862<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Umatilla<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>7,363<\/td>\n<td>97882<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Stanfield<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>2,144<\/td>\n<td>97875<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pilot Rock<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>1,328<\/td>\n<td>97868<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Athena<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>1,209<\/td>\n<td>97813<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mission<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>960<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Weston<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>706<\/td>\n<td>97886<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Echo<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>632<\/td>\n<td>97826<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Adams<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>389<\/td>\n<td>97810<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Umapine<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>285<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Helix<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>194<\/td>\n<td>97835<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Ukiah<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>159<\/td>\n<td>97880<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Meacham<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>85<\/td>\n<td>97859<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cayuse<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>66<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Gopher Flats<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Green Meadows<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Kirkpatrick<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>McKay<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Riverside<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tutuilla<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>The old version of this page listed Pendleton as the largest city and Hermiston only as county<br \/>\nseat &mdash; both backward. Pendleton is the seat of county government; Hermiston has outgrown it<br \/>\nand is now the county&#8217;s largest city and the largest city in Eastern Oregon overall. Mission,<br \/>\nthe CDP that includes the headquarters of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian<br \/>\nReservation, sits about 5 miles east of Pendleton, not to be confused with the many other<br \/>\nplaces named Mission elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>97801 &mdash; Pendleton<\/li>\n<li>97838 &mdash; Hermiston<\/li>\n<li>97862 &mdash; Milton-Freewater<\/li>\n<li>97882 &mdash; Umatilla<\/li>\n<li>97875 &mdash; Stanfield<\/li>\n<li>97868 &mdash; Pilot Rock<\/li>\n<li>97813 &mdash; Athena<\/li>\n<li>97886 &mdash; Weston<\/li>\n<li>97826 &mdash; Echo<\/li>\n<li>97810 &mdash; Adams<\/li>\n<li>97835 &mdash; Helix<\/li>\n<li>97880 &mdash; Ukiah<\/li>\n<li>97859 &mdash; Meacham<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mission, Umapine, Cayuse, Gopher Flats, Green Meadows, Kirkpatrick, McKay, Riverside and<br \/>\nTutuilla have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest incorporated<br \/>\ntown&#8217;s code &mdash; mostly Pendleton or Milton-Freewater.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Umatilla County spans the transition from the Columbia Plateau&#8217;s wheat country in the<br \/>\nnorth to the forested Blue Mountains in the south and east. Of its 3,232 square miles, 3,216 are<br \/>\nland and 16 are water, about 0.5 percent &mdash; the Umatilla River, which gives the county its<br \/>\nname, and the Columbia River along the northern edge account for most of it. The Columbia forms<br \/>\nthe county&#8217;s border with Washington, and the McNary Dam backs up the river into Lake<br \/>\nWallula near Umatilla.<\/p>\n<p>Walla Walla County and Benton County in Washington lie across the Columbia to the north,<br \/>\nColumbia County, Washington touches the northeast corner, Wallowa County and Union County lie to<br \/>\nthe east and southeast, Grant County lies to the south, and Morrow County lies to the west. <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/walla-walla-county\/\">Walla Walla County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/benton-county-washington\/\">Benton County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/columbia-county-washington\/\">Columbia County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wallowa-county\/\">Wallowa County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/union-county-oregon\/\">Union County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/grant-county-oregon\/\">Grant County<\/a> and <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/morrow-county\/\">Morrow County<\/a> all border Umatilla<br \/>\ndirectly.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Umatilla County had a population of 80,075 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts<br \/>\nthe county near 81,119 residents by 2025. Hermiston and Pendleton are the two largest<br \/>\ncommunities, together holding almost half the county&#8217;s population. Median household income<br \/>\nruns $67,728, a 2024 county estimate, below Oregon&#8217;s statewide figure of $80,160 (2023 ACS).<br \/>\nPopulation density works out to roughly 25 people per square mile of land, sparse by national<br \/>\nstandards and typical for rural Eastern Oregon outside the Hermiston-Pendleton core. Hispanic or<br \/>\nLatino residents made up 28.3 percent of the county&#8217;s population in 2020, up sharply from<br \/>\n4.6 percent in 1980.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 4,840 people,<br \/>\nfollowed by retail trade at 4,513 and educational services at 3,589. Hermiston&#8217;s position at<br \/>\nthe interchange of Interstate 82 and Interstate 84, cheap power from the Umatilla Electric<br \/>\nCooperative and a regional fiber-optic backbone have drawn large logistics and data operations:<br \/>\nAmazon Web Services employs about 2,058 people there and a Walmart distribution center employs<br \/>\nabout 1,050 more. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, headquartered at<br \/>\nMission, own and operate Wildhorse Resort &amp; Casino east of Pendleton, which draws roughly<br \/>\n750,000 visitors a year and has grown the tribes&#8217; operating budget from under $10 million in<br \/>\n1992 to about $190 million by 2010. Pendleton Woolen Mills, founded in 1909, still weaves wool<br \/>\nblankets and garments in the county seat. Milton-Freewater anchors a growing wine industry,<br \/>\nformalized in February 2015 as the Rocks District of Milton&#8211;Freewater American Viticultural<br \/>\nArea. The county&#8217;s biggest annual event is the Pendleton Round-Up, a Professional Rodeo<br \/>\nCowboys Association-sanctioned rodeo held every September since 1910.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>Oregon&#8217;s territorial legislature formed Umatilla County on 27 September 1862, carving it<br \/>\nout of Wasco County, and named it for the Umatilla River. The Umatilla, Walla Walla and Cayuse<br \/>\npeoples had lived in the area for generations before the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla resettled<br \/>\nthem onto the Umatilla Indian Reservation near present-day Mission and Pendleton. An 1862 gold<br \/>\nrush first drew settlers into the mountainous south of the county, and the arrival of the<br \/>\nrailroad in 1881 shifted the local economy toward wheat farming, which still dominates the<br \/>\nColumbia Plateau portion of the county today. Umatilla, on the Columbia River, briefly served as<br \/>\ncounty seat before Pendleton took over the role in 1868.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>Interstate 84 crosses the county west to east through Hermiston and Pendleton, meeting<br \/>\nInterstate 82 near Hermiston. US 30 parallels I-84 through Pendleton, and US 395 runs<br \/>\nnorth-south through Pilot Rock and Pendleton. Oregon routes 11, 37, 74 and 244 serve the<br \/>\nsmaller towns.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Portland &mdash; about 207 miles west via I-84<\/li>\n<li>La Grande &mdash; southeast of Pendleton via I-84, on the far side of the Blue Mountains<\/li>\n<li>Walla Walla, Washington &mdash; north of Milton-Freewater<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, three miles outside Pendleton, offers daily Boutique Air<br \/>\nflights to Portland &mdash; the county&#8217;s only scheduled commercial air service. Amtrak<br \/>\nserved Pendleton on the Pioneer route between Chicago and Seattle from 1977 to 1997; that service<br \/>\nwas discontinued, and the county has no active passenger rail station today.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Umatilla County located?<\/strong><br \/>\nIn northeastern Oregon along the Columbia River, bordered by Walla Walla, Benton and Columbia<br \/>\ncounties in Washington, and by Wallowa, Union, Grant and Morrow counties in Oregon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Umatilla County?<\/strong><br \/>\n80,075 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 81,119 by 2025.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Umatilla County?<\/strong><br \/>\n3,232 square miles (8,370 km2) total, of which 3,216 square miles are land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Umatilla County?<\/strong><br \/>\nPendleton, though Hermiston, not Pendleton, is now the county&#8217;s largest city.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns and cities are in Umatilla County?<\/strong><br \/>\nTwelve incorporated cities &mdash; Hermiston, Pendleton, Milton-Freewater, Umatilla, Stanfield,<br \/>\nPilot Rock, Athena, Weston, Echo, Adams, Helix and Ukiah &mdash; plus 10 census-designated<br \/>\ncommunities including Mission and Umapine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes does Umatilla County use?<\/strong><br \/>\n97801 for Pendleton, 97838 for Hermiston, 97862 for Milton-Freewater and 97882 for Umatilla, plus<br \/>\nseparate codes for each of the smaller cities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Umatilla County known for?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Pendleton Round-Up rodeo, Pendleton Woolen Mills, wheat farming on the Columbia Plateau, and<br \/>\nthe Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation&#8217;s Wildhorse Resort &amp;<br \/>\nCasino.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/oregon\/\">Towns and villages in Oregon<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Umatilla County is a county in Oregon, United States, in the northeastern corner of the state along the Columbia River. It had a population of 80,075 at the 2020 census, an estimated 81,119 by 2025, and covers 3,232 square miles (8,370 km2) centred near 45\u00b023\u2032N 118\u00b045\u2032W. Pendleton is the county seat; its postal code is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Umatilla County, Oregon","_seopress_titles_desc":"All 22 cities and CDPs in Umatilla County, Oregon - type, population and ZIP for each, plus Pendleton Round-Up and Wildhorse Resort history.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-7191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-oregon","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7191"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9469,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191\/revisions\/9469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}