[7] Sweet Home is referred to as the 'Gateway to the Santiam Playground' due to its proximity to nearby lakes, rivers and the Cascade Mountains.

The road extended from the Sweet Home Valley across the Santiam Pass in the Cascades to Camp Polk near Sisters.

[10] Competition with railroads that extended south from the Columbia River into central Oregon and the newly opened McKenzie Pass Highway made the wagon road obsolete by the late 1930s.

[13][14] In response, community members sought out other economic development opportunities such as the Oregon Jamboree country music and camping festival.

[17] The South Santiam River flows from Foster Reservoir along the northern city limits of Sweet Home.

[19] The abundant petrified wood at Holleywood Ranch (between Sweet Home and Holley, Oregon) was the subject of an episode of the Travel Channel program Cash and Treasures.

Major employers in Sweet Home include HEVI-Shot, a manufacturer of shotshell ammunition;[26] Cascade Timber Consulting, a timber investment management organization;[27] United States Forest Service, Radiator Supply House, Murphy Plywood, McCool Millworks and the Sweet Home School District.

[28] The Crawfordsville Covered Bridge spans the Calapooia River 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Sweet Home and the Short Covered Bridge crosses the South Santiam River 12 miles (19 km) east of Sweet Home.

[29][30] The 2018 Capitol Christmas Tree, which comes from a different national forest every year, was acquired by the Sweet Home Ranger District (it is named after the town in which it is headquartered).

The ranger district, part of the Willamette National Forest, was awarded the opportunity to present the tree to the American people for the 2018 Christmas season.

[39] The South Santiam also supports gold panning,[39] and petrified wood deposits nearby continue to draw attention.

The district covers Sweet Home, Cascadia, Crawfordsville, Holley, Liberty, Pleasant Valley and other surrounding communities.