Salem, the state capital · Photo: M.O. Stevens · CC BY-SA 3.0How Oregon stacks up
Oregon comes in 48th of 51 with a D (6 of 100). Spending and results part ways in its schools: 19th in spending per pupil, 43rd on the Nation’s Report Card. Its weak spots are a renters’ market (63% of homes owner-occupied) and high costs.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
34th of 51C34/100 More crime than the typical state. Measured by the FBI, violent crime here comes to 319 per 100,000 residents. Even its best town, West Linn, ranks #630 of 3,410 nationally.
Counting property crime too (property + 4 × violent, the weighting our town grades use): 12th highest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 47 Oregon towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 86% of residents of Oregon’s 10,000+ towns.
Crime gathers in the larger cities
Its safest larger towns are Molalla (#833), Lake Oswego (#917) and Canby (#1,016), ranked against every U.S. town of 10,000+. At the other end are Portland, Salem and Eugene, in the quarter of U.S. towns reporting the most crime per resident. By population, 1% of its town residents are in top-quarter towns and 61% in bottom-quarter ones.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Oregon | 1% | 61% |
Places without a police force of their own
Each town’s figure is built from its own department’s FBI reports, so towns with gaps sit out rather than being estimated. Here the towns counted hold 86% of residents of towns of 10,000+. Prineville, Ontario and Baker City have too few years reported to count. Aloha, Bethany and Happy Valley are among 18 places that report no crime of their own; county or state police patrol them, and their crimes aren’t counted by town. Among its neighbors, California counts the most (88%) and Nevada the least (60%).
Schools
44th of 51D14/100 Schools trail most states. Compared with 31% nationally, 27% of its 4th and 8th graders test Proficient. The money outruns the results: 19th in spending, 43rd on the test. Top-quarter towns are rare here; Lake Oswego comes closest at #441.
On-time graduation, 81.3% (7th lowest), weighs equally with test results in the grade.
It spends $17,749 per pupil, 19th highest (context only; spending isn’t graded).
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 68 Oregon towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
40th of 51C−22/100 Costs run high. Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Ontario, #1,300 nationally. Property-tax bills run $3,876 a year, the 15th highest of the 50 states and D.C.
Against income, home values rank 4th highest: 5.8 times the median household’s.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 68 Oregon towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
36th of 51C30/100 Health a notch below average. About one adult in five here says their health is fair or poor (22nd highest). 9% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 10% in a bottom-quarter one; Bethany ranks highest.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 68 Oregon towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
47th of 51D8/100 A renters’ state. 63% of homes are lived in by their owners, against 65% nationally (9th lowest). Big places drag it down: Portland and Salem rank in the national bottom quarter.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 68 Oregon towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
36th of 51C30/100 Somewhat more exposed than average. Oregon ranks 11th highest for expected hazard damage: $173 a year per $100,000 of buildings. The risk is shared: inland flooding 48%, earthquakes 42%. 6% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 17% in a bottom-quarter one; Redmond ranks highest.
Federal major-disaster declarations, 2015–2025: 12, 26th fewest.
Share of expected building damage: inland flooding 48%, earthquake 42%, wildfire 7%.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 68 Oregon towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
19th of 51B64/100 Slightly shorter commutes than average. At 23.0 minutes, the average commute is the 15th shortest among the states. 31% of residents live in top-quarter towns such as La Grande and Baker City, and almost none at the bottom.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 68 Oregon towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
18th of 51B+66/100 Growing a bit faster than average. Census counts show the population up 10.6% from 2010 to 2020 (12th fastest). 28% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 1% in a bottom-quarter one; Happy Valley ranks highest.
Builders took out permits for 3.8 homes per 1,000 residents in 2025, 22nd fewest.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 67 Oregon towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Oregon compares to its neighbors
Against Washington, Idaho, Nevada and California, Oregon lands in the middle on every subject.
| Oregon | Washington | Idaho | Nevada | California | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | D 648th of 51 | C+ 4230th of 51 | A 906th of 51 | D− 449th of 51 | D− 051st of 51 |
| Safety | C 3428th official · 1% in top towns | B− 4824th official · 5% in top towns | A 8611th official · 22% in top towns | D 1037th official · 0% in top towns | D 1243rd official · 2% in top towns |
| Schools | D 1443rd official · 2% in top towns | B+ 6818th official · 16% in top towns | C− 2013th official · 0% in top towns | D 839th official · 0% in top towns | B 6035th official · 17% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C− 2237th official · <1% in top towns | D 1242nd official · <1% in top towns | B− 5418th official · 10% in top towns | C+ 4217th official · 2% in top towns | D− 445th official · <1% in top towns |
| Health | C 3030th official · 9% in top towns | A− 8010th official · 39% in top towns | A− 7815th official · 36% in top towns | D 1043rd official · 0% in top towns | C 3242nd official · 18% in top towns |
| Housing | D 843rd official · 4% in top towns | C− 2440th official · 9% in top towns | B+ 688th official · 8% in top towns | D 648th official · 5% in top towns | D− 449th official · 4% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | C 3041st official · 6% in top towns | C 3444th official · 10% in top towns | B+ 6829th official · 48% in top towns | B− 4831st official · 10% in top towns | D− 450th official · <1% in top towns |
| Commute | B 6415th official · 31% in top towns | C 3238th official · 19% in top towns | A− 829th official · 53% in top towns | C+ 3824th official · 12% in top towns | D 646th official · 3% in top towns |
| Growth | B+ 6612th official · 28% in top towns | A 928th official · 63% in top towns | A+ 1002nd official · 83% in top towns | A 945th official · 60% in top towns | C+ 4225th official · 14% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work