Cedar Mill, More Than an Address
Cedar Mill by the Numbers
Cedar Mill is an unincorporated community of approximately 18,000 residents in Washington County, Oregon, covering about seven square miles on a plateau between the cities of Beaverton and Hillsboro. It is bounded by NW Cornell Road to the north, US-26 to the south, and the Sunset Highway corridor along its base. Washington County provides all government services, from road maintenance to permitting, as the community has never incorporated.
The community’s location directly between two of the largest employers in Oregon makes it a practical residential choice for a workforce that needs to commute in either direction. The Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District maintains parks and recreational facilities throughout the area. The Cedar Mill Community Library, part of the Washington County Cooperative Library Services, is one of the more active branch libraries in the county.
Housing affordability is relatively high compared to closer-in Portland neighborhoods, and the school access through the Beaverton School District has made Cedar Mill a consistent choice for families.
The History of the Community
Cedar Mill takes its name from an early sawmill established in the area in the mid-19th century, when the NW Cornell Road corridor was still a rural wagon route connecting the Tualatin Valley farms to Portland. Settlement followed the Oregon Trail migration into the Willamette Valley, and the area that became Cedar Mill was farmed and timbered through the second half of the 1800s.
The community developed slowly through the early 20th century, growing around the intersection of NW Cornell Road and NW Murray Road. A post office, a general store, and the institutions that typically anchored small rural communities were established here before the era of automobile-driven suburban growth.
The postwar expansion of Beaverton and Hillsboro transformed Cedar Mill along with the rest of Washington County. Subdivisions replaced farms through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and the community filled in to become a dense residential area while retaining its unincorporated status. The growth of the Silicon Forest in the 1980s and 1990s, anchored by Intel in Hillsboro and Nike in Beaverton, added further demand for the community’s housing stock.
What a Cedar Mill Move Actually Involves
Cedar Mill moves are typically among the more straightforward in Washington County. The community is primarily single-family, the streets are well-established, and the terrain is relatively flat.
The main variables to plan for are specific to the property rather than to the community at large. Interior access in older mid-century homes can include split-level layouts, finished basements with narrow stair access, and attached garages with overhead clearance for larger furniture pieces. Newer construction tends to be more open. We assess these details in advance.
Truck staging on the residential streets is generally uncomplicated. The NW Cornell Road commercial strip and the roads near Beaverton Hillsdale Highway have more traffic and parking constraints, but the residential blocks off these routes are typically quiet and accessible.
The Sunset Highway (US-26) runs along the southern boundary of the community and provides fast access to Portland to the east and the Coast Range to the west. For moves that cross the West Hills toward downtown Portland, US-26 is the primary route, and the Sunset Tunnel bottleneck during commute hours is worth planning around. We schedule transit windows for cross-metro moves to avoid the worst of the morning inbound and afternoon outbound congestion.
Washington County issues permits for truck staging on county roads rather than a city, which is the standard condition for unincorporated communities in the region. We handle this as part of standard move preparation.