This map exists because of a rulemaking. On April 23, 2026, the Land Conservation and Development Commission initiated DLCD's Housing in Unincorporated Communities rulemaking — a rewrite of OAR 660 divisions 4, 11, 14, and 22 that could allow counties to expand the boundaries of unincorporated communities and increase the intensity of development inside them.
No statewide GIS layer of unincorporated communities exists. The points here are transcribed from DLCD's own Tracking of Unincorporated Communities in Oregon table (last revised 10/6/14), which DLCD attached to the 2026 rulemaking initiation: 272 tracked settlements in 24 counties — 223 designated communities (Rural Community, Rural Service Center, Urban Unincorporated, or Resort) and 49 settlements reviewed under the rule but planned and zoned for rural uses. The table's own footer lists 12 counties it does not cover. 8 communities carry a county-verified badge: their locations come from the county's own OAR 660-022 designation polygons, not from a gazetteer. 19 settlements have no reliable coordinate yet and are listed in search without a map point — we do not guess locations.
County-administered zoning from the DLCD 2023 statewide compilation,
generalized to five rural categories strictly on the statewide
orZCode vocabulary. Urban zoning inside cities is excluded at
the source; codes outside the five categories (including federal range) are
dropped, never guessed. The compilation has no county-administered rural zoning for Gilliam, Grant, Lake, Morrow, Wallowa — those counties render without a zoning fill.
| Category | Acres (statewide) |
|---|---|
| Farm — Exclusive Farm Use | 15,926,593 |
| Forest | 20,959,484 |
| Mixed Farm-Forest | 2,764,240 |
| Rural Residential | 756,424 |
| Rural Commercial / Industrial | 42,225 |
Urban growth boundaries are the 2022 DLCD/OSU statewide compilation (217 boundaries); post-2022 amendments are not shown. Zoning is the 2023 compilation. Verify against county records before any legal or filing use.
The legend's spotlight highlights the 129 located settlements whose point sits within 5 miles of an existing urban growth boundary (distance computed edge-to-point in EPSG:2992). Distance is a fact, not a prediction — it marks where expansion pressure is nearest, not what any county will decide.
| Layer | Title | Agency | Source | Retrieved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
counties | Oregon County Boundaries (TIGER 2024) | US Census Bureau, TIGER/Line | source | 2026-04-30 |
communities_or | Oregon Unincorporated Communities — statewide points (derived) | Derived: DLCD tracking table + USGS GNIS + county designation polygons | source | 2026-07-29 |
ugbs_or_2022 | Oregon Urban Growth Boundaries — 2022 statewide compilation | Oregon DLCD via OSU Oregon Explorer (Oregon Spatial Data Library) | source | 2026-07-29 |