What Grows in Pacific City, Oregon

USDA Zones 9b · 2K acres

Pacific City, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.

Well-matched crops include kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Pacific City, no two yards are alike.

A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Pacific City lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.

We read public map data around Pacific City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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Pacific City — the short answer

Pacific City, Oregon: USDA zone 9b, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.

USDA zone
9b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Feb 13
Tillamook County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Nov 29
Tillamook County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
Days between freezes
~289
Tillamook County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
Town area
2K acres
US Census TIGER/Line 2025

Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Tillamook County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.

Hardiness Zone Range

9b9b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 9b is Pacific City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pacific City's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Pacific City

Each reading below is measured for Pacific City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

From county records

Pacific City runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Tillamook County, the closest normal to Pacific City) — close to year-round growing.

Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.

Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.

NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals

Winter hardiness

Measured

Pacific City sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.

The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.

Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.

USDA PHZM 2023

The kind of country Pacific City is in

Pacific City sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Pacific City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tillamook County.

What that means for soil

Is it too late to plant in Pacific City?

Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.

What's on the federal record near Pacific City

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pacific City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. NESTUCCA COUNTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
  2. PC MARKET & MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
  3. PACIFIC CITY SHELL AND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
  4. DORYMEN FISH CO. MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
  5. KIWANDA FISH CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
  6. LAZY L RANCHCAFO · 1.5 mi
  7. PACIFIC CITY TRANSFER STATIONSuperfund · 2.0 mi
  8. SEYMOUR DAIRYCAFO · 2.4 mi
  9. DOUBLE C-M DAIRYCAFO · 2.5 mi
  10. CLOVERDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIST 22CUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
  11. PRICE DAIRY LLCCAFO · 2.9 mi
  12. SHELL-MI DAIRYCAFO · 3.0 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Pacific City's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.

Environmental Intelligence

The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Pacific City.

Total Sites

38

within ~10 miles of Pacific City

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Pacific City

High0Moderate4Low34

Highest-Severity Sites

Beaver Shell
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Pacific City Shell and Grocery
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Pacific City Transfer Station
Superfund · Superfund (Non-NPL)
Bailey Farms
Concentrated Animal Feeding · Expired
Beaver Grade School
Underground Storage Tanks · Closed UST(S)

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Pacific City, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 15 sites within ~10 miles of Pacific City. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.

CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.

Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Pacific City

Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pacific City average

Your land is one point inside Pacific City

Everything above resolves to Pacific City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tillamook County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.

Your Lot vs the Pacific City Average

Pacific City Average

  • USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Pacific City
  • One soil character for all of Pacific City
  • Frost dates read at Pacific City's scale: Feb 13 to Nov 29

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Pacific City's 9b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Pacific City

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pacific City, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Pacific City averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Pacific City averages 289Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Pacific City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pacific City average

How we know this about Pacific City

The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Tillamook County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.

Common questions about Pacific City

When does frost risk typically end in Pacific City?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pacific City typically lands around Feb 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 6.

When is the first frost in Pacific City?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pacific City typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Pacific City?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pacific City sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 13 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 6 to Nov 15, about 254 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pacific City?

The federal record around Pacific City is a meaningful one — 38 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (19), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.

How do I protect my plants from frost in Pacific City?

From about Oct 30 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Pacific City's scale — its 9b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pacific City's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.

What this page reads at Pacific City’s own scale

4 of the readings below were taken at Pacific City's own scale — the 2,380 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Pacific City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pacific City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Pacific City's boundary and the 2,380 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • The ecoregion at Pacific City's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pacific City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tillamook County
  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pacific City's 2,380 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tillamook County
  • The candidate plant list — Oregon's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Oregon
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tillamook County
  • The growing challenges every Oregon grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oregon
  • Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Tillamook County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pacific City's 2,380 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Pacific City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,380 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record
  • Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Pacific City-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address