Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 11,437, settled in 1867.
Damascus grades C overall, 64th of 142 graded towns in Oregon, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $122K. On the other side, homes are expensive, about $663K for a typical one and 6.8 times the Portland metro’s $97K median household income. Damascus’ median rent is $2,654 a month, where Oregon’s towns sit at $1,413 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. Only 2 of the 142 Oregon towns we compare have a lower share of residents below the poverty line than Damascus. Damascus School is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Damascus’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Damascus is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 9,022 in 2000, 11,050 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2009 and 6 maps from 1914 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Damascus. Close and well known come first.
Big draw36 mi MountainMount Hood
13 mi Stadium & arenaModa Center
19 mi WaterfallMultnomah Falls
14 mi Stadium & arenaProvidence Park
15 mi MuseumPittock Mansion
13 mi Stadium & arenaVeterans Memorial ColiseumMount Hood: Oregon's Mt. Hood Territory., Public domain · Moda Center: Lugnuts, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Multnomah Falls: John Fowler from Placitas, NM, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Providence Park: Pdx.rollingthunder, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pittock Mansion: PittockBack.jpg: Cacophony derivative work: Tiptoety talk, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Veterans Memorial Coliseum: Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0
Damascus is unincorporated, so Clackamas County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Oct 2, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Damascus.
Damascus owes part of its health edge to its incomes and has added half again as many jobs in ten years, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Oregon.
At 6.8 years of the Portland metro’s $97K median household income, the typical home (about $663K) costs more against local pay than in 82% of Oregon towns; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living.
91% of households own their home in Damascus. The typical Damascus home is worth about $663,000, up 0.6% in a year, 35% above the Oregon typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by Gresham-Barlow SD 10J. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Creek - Damascus K-8 SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 477 | – |
| Damascus Christian School PrivateLargest high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 354 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
Jobs based here grew from 1,093 in 2013 to 1,798.
Most working residents leave Damascus for work: only 4% work in town. Since 2013, Damascus has added 705 jobs, to 1,798 in 2023. The average trip to work in Damascus is 28 minutes.
| Damascus | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $123,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.7% | 10% | 8% |
| Work from home | 14% | 14% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 5,390 U.S. towns with household incomes like Damascus’s, it is less healthy than 62%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Damascus beats the Oregon average on 4 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 28% of Damascus adults have been diagnosed with depression.
| Damascus | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 72% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 15% | 16% |
| What stands out | Damascus | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.2% | 8.5% |
| More adults seeing a dentist | 69.7% | 64.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.2% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Damascus has mild winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. Damascus’ July high is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (23% statewide); people 65 and older are 24% of residents (19% statewide). 34% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 37% across Oregon.
| Damascus | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 45.6 years | 39.3 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 27% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 21% | 22% |
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3 points. Across Oregon, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Damascus | OR | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.8% | 10.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.3% | 9.6% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.1% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.9% | 14% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.9% | 14.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 15.3% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.3% | 12.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 15.9% | 11.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.6% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.3% | 8.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.1% | 22.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 27.1% | 23.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.8% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22.6% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11% | 14.1% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 57% of U.S. communities. Since 1995, 20 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Damascus.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0.7 miles of trail in 9 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Clackamas Bluff, at 185 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Madrone Wall Park | 0.5 mi | 42 |
| 2. Clackamas Bluff | — | 185 |
| 3. Sunshine Butte | — | 118 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
15 within 15 miles of the center of Damascus
About 5 of every 100 Damascus residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Oregon.
Unincorporated community in Oregon, United States
Damascus ( də-MAS-kəs) is a census-designated place and former city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. Established in 1867, it was incorporated in 2004 in an effort to enable local land use decision-making control by the community. The citizens voted to disincorporate in 2016, and, after a legal challenge, disincorporation was completed in 2020. Damascus is located east of Happy Valley and Interstate 205 and west of Boring. The population was 11,050 residents as of the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Damascus.
| Town | OR rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damascus | #64 | C | D | — | C | B+ |
| Happy Valley | #26 | B+ | D− | — | B+ | A |
| Boring | — | — | C− | — | A− | B+ |
Boring has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Damascus, Happy Valley and Boring report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Damascus with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Damascus grades C overall, better than 34% of U.S. towns and #64 of 142 in Oregon. It grades B+ for health and C for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
