Vale is a city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States, about 12 miles west of the Idaho border. It is at the intersection of U.S. Routes 20 and 26, on the Malheur River at its confluence with Bully Creek.Vale was selected as Malheur's county seat in 1888 in a vote where other candidate communities were Ontario and Jordan Valley. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 1,874, down from 1,976 in 2000. Vale is part of the Ontario, OR–ID Micropolitan Statistical Area.