Bend, OR

The median household income in Bend is $88,792, and the city’s median age is 40.9, which helps explain why it feels more like a well-paid recreation town than a low-cost retirement market (Census QuickFacts^[1]). Oregon has no general sales tax, and the state income tax is progressive rather than flat, while Deschutes County property taxes are the local recurring housing cost that matters most for owners. Because the user requested a grocery index versus national average and a metro-level CPI label, I am omitting that figure here since I could not confirm a Bend-specific agency page in the retrieved results.

St. Charles Medical Center - Bend is a Medicare-certified acute-care hospital in Bend with an overall CMS rating of 4 out of 5 stars, and it operates an emergency department (Black Health / CMS summary^[2]). Medicare’s Care Compare tool is the official way to compare hospitals and clinicians, and it covers Bend’s local providers as part of the national Medicare network (Medicare Care Compare^[3]). I could confirm local hospital quality and the presence of outpatient behavioral health, but I could not verify a clean, source-backed drive-time to a second major hospital system or a specific Medicare Advantage plan list from the retrieved agency pages, so I am not inventing those details.

Bend’s annual precipitation is about 11.72 inches and its climate normals show average summer highs in the low-to-mid 80s °F with winter lows in the low-to-mid 20s °F (Climate data^[4]). The same source shows July around 83.5 °F for the average high and December around 23.0 °F for the average low, which fits Bend’s reputation for sharp day-night swings and comfortable outdoor conditions much of late spring through early fall (Climate data^[4]). NOAA’s NCEI explains that climate normals are available from station-based datasets, which is the right framework for Bend’s weather profile (NCEI precipitation normals^[5]).

I could not verify a Bend-specific FBI Crime Data Explorer page in the retrieved results, and the FBI’s reporting is voluntary and incomplete after 2021, so if the local agency does not report, the correct approach is to say so plainly rather than backfill from a crime-score site. Because I do not have a Bend city or Deschutes County FBI table in the retrieved source set, I am not providing violent or property-crime rates, trend direction, or a national-average comparison here. The available guidance is to use the agency dataset directly when the city or county reports, and otherwise avoid substituting an estimate (FBI Crime Data Explorer^{[6?] (unconfirmed source)}).

Bend’s FHFA metro house-price index was 558.02 in Q2 2026, up 0.65% year over year, which confirms continued price appreciation at the metro level rather than a city-only figure (FHFA HPI Summary Tables^[7]). Zillow’s Bend page shows a median list price of $808,000 and homes going to pending in around 26 days, with the latest 1-year value change at -1.3%, a sign that active-listing prices can soften even when long-run values remain high (Zillow Bend housing market^[8]). For retirees targeting active-adult living, Bend has at least one 55+ option in the broader market, including an age-restricted community such as Eagle Crest, which is marketed as a 55+ community in the local market (Zillow Bend housing market^[8]).

The nearest commercial airport for Bend is Redmond Municipal Airport, which is the standard passenger-air service airport for Central Oregon; Bend travelers also commonly use it for access to major connecting hubs. I could not confirm a source-backed drive time or a current direct-flight list from the retrieved agency pages, so I am leaving the schedule detail out rather than guessing. The official air-service references for this topic should come from FAA or BTS rather than a reseller page, but no such page was retrieved here.

Bend has a clustered golf scene that includes private, semi-private, resort, and public options, making it unusually good for an active retiree who wants year-round recreation. I could not verify the number of public courses within 30 minutes or typical greens fees from a government source, and golf does not have a strong agency dataset, so I am treating course counts and pricing as unconfirmed here. Outdoor recreation is the bigger certainty: Bend is known for hiking, river access, and nearby winter sports, which gives the market a strong four-season lifestyle beyond golf.

Bend’s population was 106,926 in the Census QuickFacts estimate, and the city’s median household income was $88,792 in 2019 to 2023 dollars (Census QuickFacts^[1]). The same Census page shows a median age of 40.9, which is older than a typical college town but younger than many retirement magnets, so the community feels mixed-age rather than age-segregated (Census QuickFacts^[1]). Bend’s downtown and amenity mix lean toward restaurants, outdoor gear, and recreation rather than a sleepy seasonal-retiree feel.

Bend is in Deschutes County, and FEMA’s National Risk Index is published at the county level, so the correct hazard frame is county-wide rather than city-only. I was able to confirm the county basis but not a retrieved FEMA county page with a numeric composite score, so I am not fabricating the score or the top-hazard ranking. For air quality, the EPA and AirNow are the appropriate agency sources for annual good-air days and smoke-season conditions, but I did not retrieve a Bend-specific AQI page in this run, so I am not providing a number here.