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About Brookings
Brookings is a city in Curry County, on the southern Oregon coast at the mouth of the Chetco River. It was founded in 1908 by the Brookings Lumber and Box Company and incorporated in 1951. Crescent City, California, is about 30 miles to the south. Wikipedia describes the climate as a mild Mediterranean one.
Brookings sits next to Harbor, a separate Census-designated place that shares the 97415 ZIP code. Where a figure below comes from a ZIP code, it covers both.
Brookings in numbers
| Measure | Brookings |
|---|---|
| Population, 2020 Census | 6,744 |
| Population, Portland State University certified estimate, July 1, 2025 | 6,850 (+1.6% since 2020) |
| Population, ACS 2020-2024 | 6,703 |
| Households | 2,987 |
| Owner-occupied share of households | 59.8% |
| Median household income | $74,933 |
| Median home value (owner-occupied) | $446,700 |
| Median age | 50.6 |
| Residents aged 65 and over | 26.5% |
| Owner-occupied homes valued at $300,000 or more | 1,532 of 1,787 (85.7%) |
| Seasonal, recreational or occasional-use homes | 9.4% of all housing units |
| Business establishments, ZIP 97415 (includes Harbor) | 428 |
A plain reading
The city is older than most Oregon cities, with more than one resident in four aged 65 or over. Median household income is above $74,000 and most owner-occupied homes are valued at $300,000 or more. The seasonal-home share is under one in ten, so most homes are lived in year-round. Harbor, next door, is older still: the same Census data shows 56.2% of its residents are 65 or older.
Small-town estimates are less precise than big-city ones. Treat the figures as a good guide to the size and shape of the town, not as exact counts.
How we got these numbers
- Households, tenure, income, home value, age, home-value brackets and seasonal housing come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates for 2020-2024, tables B11001, B25003, B19013, B25077, B01002, B01001, B25075 and B25004, read through Census Reporter. Dollars are 2024 inflation-adjusted ACS dollars.
- The 2020 population is the 2020 Census count. The 2025 figure is the certified estimate from Portland State University's Population Research Center.
- Business counts are from Census ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023. They are by ZIP code, not by city limit, and they leave out businesses with no paid employees.