Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Portland's C+ covers 635,109 people, and the city's neighborhoods vary far more than any single grade can show. It ranks 61st of 142 graded places in Oregon. Its schools outperform 87% of the state's and it is healthier than 80% of U.S. towns. What weighs on its grade: it reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns, including 4,386 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, and the typical home is worth about $524K, 5.4 years of the Portland metro’s $97K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 96% of U.S. towns, with 598 places on the National Register. 59% of working residents work locally in Portland, above both the Oregon town median (9.5%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Few places in the country are easier to get around without a car. Its National Register listings include Pioneer Courthouse and Aubrey R. Watzek House.
Where Portland beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Pioneer Courthouse| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Portland State University | 16,769 |
| Portland Community College | 10,453 |
| University of Portland | 3,443 |
Pioneer Courthouse is one of 3 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier. Its 598 National Register listings are more than in any other Oregon town with a listing.
Census counts: 2,874 in 1860, 652,503 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1851 and 7 maps from 1897 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oregon), ordered by how far Portland is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D− for safety (better than 2%), so the C+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Portland. Close and well known come first.
in town Stadium & arenaModa Center
in town Stadium & arenaProvidence Park
in town City parkForest Park
in town MuseumPittock Mansion
in town Stadium & arenaVeterans Memorial Coliseum
26 mi WaterfallMultnomah FallsModa Center: Lugnuts, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Providence Park: Pdx.rollingthunder, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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 · Multnomah Falls: John Fowler from Placitas, NM, USA, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Portland, 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 Portland.
Portland has home values still below their peak, but it reports violent crime at about twice the Oregon rate and has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Violent crime runs at 6.9 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Oregon rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D−. Each of the 4 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Gresham (C−) to Lake Oswego (B).
No town among the 75 in Oregon we compare has a higher level of property crime than Portland.
| Portland | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 6.9 per 1,000 residents | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 50.4 per 1,000 residents | 15.2 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
That grade comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $524K.
Public schools: Portland SD 1J. Of its 178 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason. 6 public schools serve Portland, with 3,461 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ron Russell Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 780 | – |
| David Douglas High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,756 | – |
| Riverdale High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 159 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OR on state tests and graduation
The biggest place to walk is Forest Park, 4,641 acres with 71.9 miles of trail. There are 246 miles of trail across 268 parks and preserves. Portland’s density of trails stands at 1.7 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Forest Park | 71.9 mi | 4,641 |
| 2. Delta Park West | 10.9 mi | 621 |
| 3. Powell Butte Nature Park | 10.5 mi | 602 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Among 142 Oregon towns, just 7 have a lower share of adults who have high blood pressure than Portland. Portland: 31% of adults have been diagnosed with depression. CDC measures, 26 in all: Portland beats Oregon on 13 and trails on 3. 70% of adults here had a checkup this year; 28% sleep under 7 hours.
| Portland | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 27% | 23% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 73% | 79% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 36% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Portland | OR |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 4.8% | 6.5% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 5.1% | 6.8% |
| More binge drinkers | 17.7% | 15.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Summer afternoons peak near 81° in July, and January nights bottom out around 36°; snowfall runs to about 4 inches a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
28.5% of workers work from home, against 19% across Oregon.
The median commute is under 6 miles. Employers in Portland added 45,767 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 433,583. Among workers in the town, 29% work remotely from home. The top destinations are Beaverton (4%), Hillsboro (3%) and Gresham (3%).
| Portland | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 29% | 14% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 11% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $91,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
167 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 16 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected losses in Portland break down as 77% from earthquakes and 19% from inland flooding. On expected storm and flood damage, Portland sits above 63% of U.S. communities. Also worth knowing: the town has had 167 paid flood insurance claims since 1978.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical value, about $524K, is 9% below its June 2022 peak.
The typical home value in Portland is about $524,000, up 0.5% in a year, 6% above the Oregon typical home. The share of households in Portland who own their home: 52%. Its rent at the middle of the market comes in at $1,655 a month.
| Portland | Oregon towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 52% | 65% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,655 a month | $1,413 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
16 within 15 miles of the center of Portland
About 7 of every 100 Portland residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Oregon.
14 colleges in town.
598 places in Portland on the National Register of Historic Places.
34 notable people were born in Portland.
Most populous city in Oregon, U.S.
Portland ( PORT-lənd) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located in the Pacific Northwest at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, it is the 28th-most populous city in the United States, sixth-most populous on the West Coast, and fourth-most populous in the Pacific Northwest (after Seattle, Washington; Vancouver, Canada; and Surrey, Canada), with a population of 652,503 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolitan area, with over 2.54 million residents, is the 26th-largest metropolitan area in the nation. Almost half of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metro area. It is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous in the state. T…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Portland.
| Town | OR rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland | #61 | C+ | D | D− | A | A− |
| Gresham | #118 | D | D | C− | C− | B− |
| Dunthorpe | — | — | D− | — | A+ | A+ |
| Beaverton | #38 | B− | D | C− | A | A− |
| West Haven-Sylvan | #5 | A | D− | — | A | A |
| Garden Home-Whitford | #11 | A− | D | — | A | A− |
| Lake Oswego | #4 | A | D− | B | A+ | A+ |
| Milwaukie | #39 | B− | D | C+ | B+ | A− |
Dunthorpe has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Dunthorpe, West Haven-Sylvan and Garden Home-Whitford report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Portland with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Portland grades C+ overall, better than 37% of U.S. towns and #61 of 142 in Oregon. It grades A− for health, D− for safety and A for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
Portland reports more crime per resident than 98% of U.S. towns, a D− Safety Grade: 4,386 violent and 31,806 property crimes in 2025.
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.
34 notable people were born here, including Linus Pauling and Douglas Engelbart.
