Home /
About Sisters
Sisters is a small Central Oregon city in Deschutes County at the foot of the Cascades, where U.S. Route 20 and Oregon Route 126 meet on Cascade Avenue. According to Wikipedia, Alex and Robert Smith platted the town on July 10, 1901, it was incorporated in 1946, and the elevation is 3,189 feet. The city's motto, as Wikipedia gives it, is "The West at its best."
Sisters in numbers
| Measure | Sisters |
|---|---|
| Population, 2020 Census | 3,064 |
| Population, ACS 2020-2024 | 3,022 |
| Population, Portland State University certified estimate, July 1, 2025 | 3,834 (+25.1% since 2020) |
| Households | 1,402 |
| Owner-occupied share of households | 73.3% |
| Median household income | $94,524 (margin of error about $14,000) |
| Median home value (owner-occupied) | $631,100 (margin of error about $44,800) |
| Median age | 49.6 (margin of error about 10) |
| Owner-occupied homes valued at $300,000 or more | 961 of 1,027 (93.6%) |
| Owner-occupied homes valued at $750,000 or more | 308 (30.0%) |
| Housing units held for seasonal or occasional use | 170 of 1,591 (10.7%; margin of error about 113) |
| Business establishments, ZIP 97759 | 401 |
| Paid employees at those establishments | 3,150 |
A plain reading
Sisters is small, older and well off by Central Oregon standards. Median household income is above $94,000, the median home value is above $631,000, and nearly all owner-occupied homes are valued at $300,000 or more. About three in ten are valued at $750,000 or more.
Be careful with the population figures. The Census Bureau's survey average for 2020-2024 is 3,022, while Portland State University's certified estimate for 2025 is 3,834, which is 25 percent above the 2020 count. The two methods differ, and survey figures for a town this small are rough. The same goes for median age and income, whose margins of error are wide.
The business counts are by ZIP code 97759, which covers more than the city, so 401 establishments and 3,150 employees describe the wider Sisters area.
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 B01003, B11001, B25003, B19013, B25077, B01002, B25075 and B25004, read through Census Reporter's API. Dollars are 2024 inflation-adjusted ACS dollars. Each is a sample estimate with a margin of error.
- The 2020 population is the Census count (Census Bureau TIGERweb, Sisters city). The 2025 figure is the certified estimate from Portland State University's Population Research Center, July 1, 2025, from its published spreadsheet of Oregon cities and towns.
- Business counts are from Census ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023 for ZIP code 97759. They leave out businesses with no paid employees, and the Census adds small amounts of privacy noise to employee counts.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year data (2020-2024)
- Census Reporter
- Census ZIP Code Business Patterns
- Portland State University Population Research Center, population estimates
- Sisters, Oregon (Wikipedia), for history and geography
Also from Oregon Living: Oregon Living in Bend, Oregon · Oregon Living in Redmond, Oregon · Oregon Living in La Pine, Oregon · Oregon Living in Prineville, Oregon · Oregon Living in Sunriver, Oregon.