Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Forest Grove's standout: it is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. Overall it grades C−, 81st of 142 graded towns in Oregon. It has 7 miles of trail. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $517K, 5.3 years of the Portland metro’s $97K median household income. Forest Grove has 16 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Alvin T. Smith House and Silas Jacob N. Beeks House. 12% of the land in Forest Grove is conserved, where Oregon’s towns sit at 4.3% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Forest Grove is home to Pacific University.
Where Forest Grove beats most towns.
Its founding year, 1840, comes before those of 98% of the Oregon towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 547 in 1880, a low of 362 in 1930, 26,225 in 2020. The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 1854 and 3 maps from 1941 on.
16 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Forest Grove is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Forest Grove. Close and well known come first.
22 mi Stadium & arenaModa Center
20 mi Stadium & arenaProvidence Park
22 mi MuseumEvergreen Aviation & Space Museum
18 mi GardenForest Park
19 mi MuseumPittock Mansion
21 mi Stadium & arenaVeterans Memorial ColiseumModa Center: Lugnuts, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Providence Park: Pdx.rollingthunder, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum: Notkeel at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Forest Park: EncMstr, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pittock Mansion: PittockBack.jpg: Cacophony derivative work: Tiptoety talk, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Veterans Memorial Coliseum: Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Forest Grove, and how to reach them.
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 Forest Grove.
7.4 miles of trail in 13 parks and preserves. At 1.2 miles per square mile, Forest Grove’s trail density is against 0.8 in Oregon’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. The biggest place to walk is Fernhill Wetlands, 163 acres with 3.6 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fernhill Wetlands | 3.6 mi | 163 |
| 2. Stites Park | 0.5 mi | 10 |
| 3. Rogers Park | 0.3 mi | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by Forest Grove SD 15. Two of its 10 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neil Armstrong Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 838 | B+ |
| Forest Grove High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,849 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Forest Grove for work: only 16% work in town. Forest Grove’s average trip to work is 30 minutes. Jobs based in Forest Grove grew to 8,048 in 2023, 1,815 more than in 2013.
| Forest Grove | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 9.5% | 8% |
| Median household income | $88,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 74% of U.S. communities. Since 1996, 5 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Forest Grove.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 28.1 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 52% of Oregon’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 501 to 389 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate in Forest Grove is 3.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Forest Grove | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.8 per 1,000 residents | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 10.4 per 1,000 residents | 15.6 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Forest Grove has mild winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 35° and about 5 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 35 to 64 are 34% of residents (39% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 27% of residents (23% statewide). 15% of Forest Grove residents are 65 or older. Forest Grove has grown 4% since 2020, to 27,252 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Forest Grove | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 34 years | 39.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 24% | 21% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 32% | 27% | 29% |
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.3 points). Across Oregon, 50.1% of residents are women. Median age: women 34.8, men 33.0.
| Forest Grove | OR | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.7% | 10.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.7% | 9.6% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 14.4% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13% | 14% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.4% | 14.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.6% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.5% | 12.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.1% | 11.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.5% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11.1% | 8.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.8% | 22.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.6% | 23.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.6% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.7% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.1% | 14.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Forest Grove beats the Oregon average on 3 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 69% of adults had a checkup this year in Forest Grove.
| Forest Grove | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 69% | 73% | 79% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Forest Grove | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.7% | 8.9% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 23.9% | 27.4% |
| More uninsured adults | 10.5% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Forest Grove home is worth about $517,000, down 1.2% in a year, close to the Oregon typical home.
| Forest Grove | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,460 a month | $1,413 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 64% | 65% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Forest Grove
About 10 of every 100 Forest Grove residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Oregon.
21,083 counted in 2010 and 26,225 in 2020; an estimated 27,252 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
16 places in Forest Grove on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Forest Grove.
City in Oregon, United States
Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, 25 miles (40 km) west of Portland, within the Tualatin Valley. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a commuter town in the Portland metro area. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850, then incorporated in 1872, making it the first city in Washington County. The population was 26,225 at the 2020 census, an increase of 8% over 2010 figure (21,083). Pacific University is located here. Old College Hall on campus, and nine other sites in the city, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Forest Grove.
| Town | OR rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Grove | #81 | C− | C− | C | C | B |
| Cornelius | #70 | C | C− | C+ | B | C+ |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Forest Grove grades C− overall, better than 20% of U.S. towns and #81 of 142 in Oregon. It grades B for health, C for safety and C for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
5 notable people were born here, including Richard VanGrunsven and Anthony E. Van Dyke.
