Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town was settled in 1847 and has 22,114 residents today.
Real strengths, and real weak spots. Walkability is its strong suit — it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 97% of U.S. towns. At B− overall, Milwaukie ranks 39th of 142 in Oregon. It comes out better than 54% of U.S. towns. Health is another plus (A−) — it is healthier than three quarters of U.S. towns. Where it falls short is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $509K, 5.2 years of the Portland metro’s $97K median household income. Hazard risk is weaker too: FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 70% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. The town has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Hall-Chaney House and William Shindler House.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FEMA National Risk Index · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Milwaukie beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Milwaukie | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.5% | 8.5% |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Milwaukie is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 97% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 11%), so the B− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 125 in 1880, 21,119 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1843 and 7 maps from 1914 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Milwaukie. Close and well known come first.
6 mi Stadium & arenaModa Center
6 mi Stadium & arenaProvidence Park
26 mi WaterfallMultnomah Falls
7 mi MuseumPittock Mansion
7 mi Stadium & arenaVeterans Memorial Coliseum
9 mi City parkForest ParkModa Center: Lugnuts, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Providence Park: Pdx.rollingthunder, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Multnomah Falls: John Fowler from Placitas, NM, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Pittock Mansion: PittockBack.jpg: Cacophony derivative work: Tiptoety talk, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Veterans Memorial Coliseum: Steve Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Forest Park: EncMstr, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Milwaukie, 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 Milwaukie.
Milwaukie has seen reported crime rise by about half, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Milwaukie’s trail density is 1.1 miles per square mile. There are 5.6 miles of trail across 18 parks and preserves. North Clackamas Park, at 42 acres with 1.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Milwaukie | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.1 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.5% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. North Clackamas Park | 1.4 mi | 42 |
| 2. Elk Rock Island | 0.9 mi | 13 |
| 3. Spring Park Natural Area | 0.3 mi | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Three of its 11 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Public schools: North Clackamas SD 12. 6 public schools serve Milwaukie, with 1,732 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rowe Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 747 | D |
| Milwaukie High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 874 | – |
| Sojourner SchoolTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 159 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
Milwaukie: 19% of adults get no exercise outside work, against 21% in Oregon’s towns and 25% across U.S. towns. The share of adults in Milwaukie who have been diagnosed with depression: 29%. 30% of adults in the town have high blood pressure; 73% had a checkup this year.
| Milwaukie | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 27% | 23% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 33% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 72% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 21% | 25% |
| What stands out | Milwaukie | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.5% | 8.5% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 10.1% | 12.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
53 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 11 properties have flooded more than once.
The national flood insurance program has paid 53 claims in Milwaukie since 1980. FEMA puts 73% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to earthquakes, and 18% to inland flooding.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In Milwaukie, the midsummer high is 82°F, close to Oregon’s towns (82°F) and below U.S. towns (85°F).
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
7.9% of Milwaukie residents live below the poverty line. Most people who work leave Milwaukie to do it: just 7% work in town. The top destinations are Portland (42%), Tigard (4%) and Beaverton (3%). Half commute less than 6 miles.
| Milwaukie | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 25% | 14% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.9% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.6% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 35 to 64 are 44% of residents (39% statewide). The Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate puts Milwaukie at 22,114 residents, up 4.5% since 2020.
| Milwaukie | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 42% | 27% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 18% | 21% | 22% |
| Median age | 41.3 years | 39.3 years | 40.5 years |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.4 points. Across Oregon, 50.1% of residents are women. Median age: women 40.2, men 42.3.
| Milwaukie | OR | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.9% | 10.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.9% | 9.6% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.6% | 8.5% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.6% | 14% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 18.2% | 14.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.6% | 12.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.4% | 11.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.8% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.2% | 8.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 19.2% | 22.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.4% | 23.5% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.7% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 28.3% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.2% | 14.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Reported crimes rose from 236 to 407 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
For Milwaukie, the property offense rate is 15.9 per 1,000 residents. Within Oregon, it does better than two thirds of towns.
| Milwaukie | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.8 per 1,000 residents | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 15.9 per 1,000 residents | 15.2 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
On the market in Milwaukie: a median 13 days to sell. A typical home here is worth about $509,000, up 1% in a year, close to the Oregon typical home. The rent at the middle of the market in the town is $1,598 a month.
| Milwaukie | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,598 a month | $1,413 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 61% | 65% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
17 within 15 miles of the center of Milwaukie
About 5 of every 100 Milwaukie residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Oregon.
4 places in Milwaukie on the National Register of Historic Places.
9 notable people were born in Milwaukie.
City in Oregon, United States
Milwaukie is a city mostly in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States; a very small portion of the city extends into Multnomah County. The population was 21,119 at the 2020 census. Founded in 1847 on the banks of the Willamette River, the city, known as the Dogwood City of the West, was incorporated in 1903; it is the birthplace of the Bing cherry. The city is now a suburb of Portland and also adjoins the unincorporated areas of Clackamas and Oak Grove.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Milwaukie.
| Town | OR rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukie | #39 | B− | D | C+ | B+ | A− |
| Oak Grove | #37 | B | D | — | B+ | B+ |
| Oatfield | #33 | B | D | — | B+ | B+ |
| Portland | #61 | C+ | D | D− | A | A− |
| Dunthorpe | — | — | D− | — | A+ | A+ |
Dunthorpe has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Oak Grove, Oatfield and Dunthorpe report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Milwaukie with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Milwaukie grades B− overall, better than 54% of U.S. towns and #39 of 142 in Oregon. It grades A− for health, C+ for safety and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Within Oregon, it does better than 67% of towns.
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.
9 notable people were born here, including Peter Cookson and Mike Bliss.
