Welcome to La Grande ...
The city of La Grande is located in Union County<1> and is the County Seat for Union County.
La Grande was established in 1865.
From the Census Estimates for 2019, La Grande has a population of 13,508 people<2> (see below for details).
The community of La Grande is 2,770 feet [844 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the elevation of La Grande is about ½ mile above sea level.
Time Zone: La Grande lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time
Area Codes for La Grande: 541 & 458<4>
The ZIP code for La Grande: 97850<5>
Population Details ...
Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, La Grande had an population of 13,508 people. This is an increase of 3.26% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 9.58% since the 2000 Census).
At the time of the 2010 Census, La Grande had a population of 13,082 people (which is 50.84% of the total population of Union County). This makes La Grande the county's most populous community.
The population of La Grande represents 0.34% of the total population of Oregon (which has 3,831,074 people), making it the state's 40th most populous community.
With a 2010 count of 13,082 people, the population of La Grande increased 6.12% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 12,327 people).
More information can be found on the Census Page for La Grande.
Communities Also Named La Grande ...
Using our Gazetteer, we found another community named La Grande - it's located in Washington.
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for La Grande.
Websites for La Grande ...
Official Website: www.ci.la-grande.or.us/
Chamber of Commerce: www.unioncountychamber.org/
Communities near La Grande ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near La Grande.
- Union
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
- Union is located in Union County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,207 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Union <6>
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Union
- From La Grande to Union
- Elgin
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elgin
- Elgin is located in Union County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,801 people
- Former names for Elgin:
- Fish Trap
- Indian Valley
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elgin <6>
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Elgin
- From La Grande to Elgin
- Cove
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove
- Cove is located in Union County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 652 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cove <6>
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Cove
- From La Grande to Cove
- Imbler
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Imbler
- Imbler is located in Union County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 321 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Imbler <6>
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Imbler
- From La Grande to Imbler
- Summerville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerville
- Summerville is located in Union County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 144 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Summerville <6>
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Summerville
- From La Grande to Summerville
- Conley
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Conley. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conley
- Conley is located in Union County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Conley
- From La Grande to Conley
- Hilgard
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hilgard. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilgard
- Hilgard is located in Union County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Hilgard
- From La Grande to Hilgard
- Hot Lake
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hot Lake. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Lake
- Hot Lake is located in Union County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Hot Lake
- From La Grande to Hot Lake
- Starkey
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Starkey
- Starkey is located in Union County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Starkey <6>
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Starkey
- From La Grande to Starkey
- Meacham
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meacham
- Meacham is located in Umatilla County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Meacham <6>
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Meacham
- From La Grande to Meacham
To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.
We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around La Grande. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for La Grande.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of La Grande. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around La Grande.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around La Grande. Our list includes 27 papers. See our Newspapers Page for La Grande.
TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for La Grande ...
Looking for more information about La Grande? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.
In addition to the Tourism page for La Grande, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for La Grande.
Adding La Grande to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of La Grande in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for La Grande was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>
X2X - From that list, the La Grande post office opened in 1863.
We also found La Grande in the book titled List of Post Offices in the United States (1870).
For more details, see References and Mentions for La Grande.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for La Grande: www.ci.la-grande.or.us/
The official website for Union County: www.union-county.org/
The official website for State of Oregon: https://www.oregon.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If you're interested in how the shape of Oregon's counties, including Union, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. |
| <2> | Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for La Grande. |
| <3> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around La Grande - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <4> | When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 541 code has been Overlayed with the 458 area code. New phone numbers in the La Grande area will be assigned with one of these codes: 541 or 458. As a result, placing a call in the La Grande area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number). |
| <5> | ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as La Grande). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether La Grande or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS). |
| <6> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <7> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <8> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |