Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Gresham earns a D, 118th of 142 graded towns in Oregon, mostly because of safety and schools. Its police reported 403 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 85% of U.S. towns. Its public schools trail 85% of Oregon towns on state tests and graduation. What it does well: it is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. 16% of the land in Gresham is conserved, above both the Oregon town median (4.3%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). Gresham has 10 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Jacob Zimmerman House and Louise Home Hospital and Residence Hall. Only 8 of Oregon’s 161 towns score lower on civic life.
Where Gresham beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Gresham is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 95% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 13%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 510 in 1910, 114,247 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1894 and a map from 1970 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gresham. Close and well known come first.
Big draw37 mi MountainMount Hood
11 mi Stadium & arenaModa Center
17 mi WaterfallMultnomah Falls
12 mi Stadium & arenaProvidence Park
13 mi MuseumPittock Mansion
11 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gresham, 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 Gresham.
Reported crimes fell from 3,727 to 2,962 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
In Gresham, the violent offense rate is 3.6 per 1,000 residents, against 2.1 in Oregon’s towns and 1.6 across U.S. towns. The town’s level of property crime stands at 23.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Gresham | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 23.1 per 1,000 residents | 15.2 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.6 per 1,000 residents | 2.1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Below: Two of its 31 schools, each with why it was picked. The public schools here belong to Gresham-Barlow SD 10J. Public school enrollment locally: 3,080 students across 6 schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centennial Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 876 | – |
| Centennial High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,731 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
Half the trips to work are shorter than 9 miles. Jobs in Gresham grew by 5,139 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 36,010. Only 16% of working residents stay in Gresham for work; the rest commute out. In Gresham, 13% of residents live below the poverty line.
| Gresham | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The biggest park or preserve is Gresham Butte Natural Area, at 219 acres. 19 miles of trail wind through 47 parks and preserves. The trail network density for Gresham comes to 0.8 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gabbert Butte Natural Area | 1 mi | 204 |
| 2. Gresham Butte Natural Area | 0.8 mi | 219 |
| 3. Grant Butte Wetlands | 0.7 mi | 48 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
4 flood insurance claims have been paid in Gresham since 1980. Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 57% of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Gresham after 5 declared disasters, most recently in 2024.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes sold in Gresham spent a median 15 days on the market. The going rate for rent in the town is $1,586 a month. 56% of Gresham households are owner-occupiers.
| Gresham | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 56% | 65% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 59% | 53% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,586 a month | $1,413 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The share of adults in Gresham who smoke cigarettes: 15%. This Oregon town beats the Oregon average on 2 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 8. 70% of adults locally had a checkup this year; 20% report frequent mental distress. Only 6 of the 142 Oregon towns we compare have a higher share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Gresham.
| Gresham | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 27% | 23% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 73% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 36% |
| What stands out | Gresham | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.4% | 8.9% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 24.6% | 27.4% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 16.8% | 12.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
17 within 15 miles of the center of Gresham
About 5 of every 100 Gresham residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Oregon.
Where Gresham’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
10 places in Gresham on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Gresham.
City in Oregon, United States
Gresham ( GRESH-əm) is a city in the Willamette Valley, Located in Multnomah County in the U.S. state of Oregon, bordered by Portland to the northwest and partially in the southwest. It was first settled in the early 1850s by the Powell brothers. It remained unincorporated until 1905; it was named after Walter Quintin Gresham, an American Civil War general and United States Secretary of State. The early economy of the city was primarily supported by agriculture, and by the mid-20th century, the city saw a population boom, increasing from 4,000 residents to more than 10,000 between 1960 and 1970. The population was 114,247 at the 2020 census, making it the second most populous city in the co…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Gresham.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its D; Fairview (D) is closest.
| Town | OR rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gresham | #118 | D | D | C− | C− | B− |
| Portland | #61 | C+ | D | D− | A | A− |
| Fairview | #102 | D | C− | — | D | B− |
| Troutdale | #83 | C− | C− | — | D | B |
| Orient | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Fairview and Troutdale report no FBI crime data of their own. Orient isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Gresham with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Gresham grades D overall, better than 7% of U.S. towns and #118 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 D.
Yes. That is 4.7 years of the area's median household income ($97,436 across the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
7 notable people were born here, including Sirena Irwin and Derek Gustafson.
