Summary:
ZIP code 97457 is home to two elementary schools, both serving grades PK–5 within South Umpqua School District 19 in the Myrtle Creek area of southern Oregon: Myrtle Creek Elementary School (264 students) and Tri City Elementary School (251 students). The district ranks 96th of 141 in Oregon — the 32nd percentile, 2 stars — and both schools are also rated 2 stars in 2025–2026, at the 35th and 37th percentile statewide. Both serve high-poverty populations, with free/reduced-price lunch around 82% at each school, making them demographically very similar.
Myrtle Creek Elementary School stands out for rapid improvement, climbing from the 8th percentile and 0 stars in 2023–2024 to the 35th percentile and 2 stars in 2025–2026, and it posts the dataset's highest single grade-level results: 55.9% in 3rd-grade ELA and 61.8% in 3rd-grade math, both well above district and state averages. It also has the lower chronic absenteeism rate, 30.3% versus 32.2%. Tri City Elementary School is stronger overall in math and science, with all-grade math at 32.5% (nearly matching the state's 32.9%) versus Myrtle Creek's 30.2%, and science at 19.4% versus 14.3%. Its bright spots include 4th-grade math at 50.0% and 5th-grade ELA at 42.9%. Tri City spends more per student — $17,004 versus $15,136 — and has a slightly better student-teacher ratio, 16.7 versus 17.6.
Both schools outperform their district in English language arts and math, but trail the state in ELA (about 37.7% versus 43.8%) and especially in science, where both fall well below the state's 30.6%. Their chronic absenteeism is better than the district's 40.2%, though roughly 3 in 10 students at each school are still chronically absent. In 2025–2026 the two are nearly tied in overall rank — Tri City at 450th and Myrtle Creek at 462nd — so the choice between them comes down to fit: Myrtle Creek for early-grade momentum and improvement, Tri City for upper-grade math and science strength.
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