City safety & data profile
PortlandOR
Portland, OR is a 653K-resident city in Multnomah County with a median household income of $90,919.
Multnomah County, Oregon. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Portland, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Portland has a population larger than 99% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $581,500, and 9 hospitals serving the surrounding area.
- 653K
- Population (place)
- Top 1%
- By size
- $90,919
- Median income (place)
- $581,500
- Median home (place)
- 12.7%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Portland
Portland posts a median household income higher than 61% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 recent safety alert is on record and 9 hospitals serve the Portland area.
- Top 39%
- by median income, US cities
- 1
- safety alert on record
- 9
- hospitals in & near Portland
Composite score · Portland, OR
59/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2024
A transparent index Areazine derives from Census ACS medians (income, poverty, bachelor's share) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when published, not an official Census Bureau or FBI rating. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability rating, not a recommendation to move to or avoid any place. Missing inputs drop out and redistribute weight. How it is calculated.
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Median household income vs cities tracked on Areazine; ACS 5-Year Estimates.
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents. State-level rate (per-city UCR reporting is incomplete/voluntary): every city in the state shares this value; lower is stronger on this axis.
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis. ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Curious how Portland stacks up nationwide? See the full tables: Healthiest Cities in America (health outcomes only) · Community Wellbeing Cities (this page's blended composite).
Where Portland income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$90,919 Top 39% higher than 61% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20,000-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
OR cities ranked by population
Population among 57 OR places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Portland
Portland, OR
652,503 residents
- Eugene 176,654
Eugene, OR
176,654 residents
- Salem 175,535
Salem, OR
175,535 residents
- Gresham 110,553
Gresham, OR
110,553 residents
- Hillsboro 102,347
Hillsboro, OR
102,347 residents
- Beaverton 96,577
Beaverton, OR
96,577 residents
- Bend 87,014
Bend, OR
87,014 residents
- Medford 79,805
Medford, OR
79,805 residents
- Springfield 60,870
Springfield, OR
60,870 residents
- Corvallis 55,780
Corvallis, OR
55,780 residents
What this shows Portland is the largest OR city on this list; Bethany leads median income.
OR cities ranked by median household income
Median household income among the same 57-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Bethany
Bethany, OR
$167,735 median
- Cedar Mill
Cedar Mill, OR
$164,079 median
- West Linn
West Linn, OR
$146,507 median
- Lake Oswego
Lake Oswego, OR
$141,549 median
- Oak Hills
Oak Hills, OR
$127,179 median
- Damascus
Damascus, OR
$122,500 median
- Happy Valley
Happy Valley, OR
$122,151 median
- Sherwood
Sherwood, OR
$109,966 median
- Sandy
Sandy, OR
$108,984 median
- Tigard
Tigard, OR
$108,823 median
What this shows Bethany posts the highest place-level median income in OR; Portland is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading Portland, OR beyond the headline numbers
Portland sits inside Multnomah County, Oregon, at roughly 45.52°N, -122.68°W. Population 652,503, $90,919 median household income. Median home value $581,500, median rent $1,655. Poverty rate 12.7%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
9 hospitals in/around Portland, 3.9/5 avg rating, 7 with an ER. Climate: 54.8°F annual average, 44.1" precipitation.
6.1% of Portland workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.
28.5% of Portland workers report working from home, the highest quarter of reporting cities. Where that share runs this high, local income increasingly reflects employers located somewhere else.
Among the CDC measures on this page, short sleep duration departs furthest from its peer median: 28.3% in Portland, the lowest-prevalence quarter of the 3,852 cities reporting that measure.
The median home in Portland costs around 6.4 times what a median household earns in a year -- the most expensive quarter of reporting cities, and far enough ahead of local pay that ownership is largely closed to median earners.
A bachelor's degree or higher is common in Portland: 53.8% of adults, the highest quarter of reporting cities -- a labor pool skewed toward credentialed work.
Unemployment in Portland sits at 5.8%, above the midpoint of reporting cities.
Median rent in Portland, OR runs $1,655/month, above the midpoint for reporting cities -- worth weighing against the income figures on this page.
Poverty in Portland, OR stands at 12.7%, above the midpoint of reporting cities. A median income can look comfortable while a share this size sits well beneath it, which is why the two figures belong together.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Portland from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
A Decade of Change 2013–2024
County-level trend (Multnomah County): Portland's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
What stands out most about Portland's economic profile: median rent at $1,655/mo, 8% above the average across tracked places.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 12.7% |
| Unemployment | 5.8% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 53.8% |
| Work From Home | 28.5% |
| Public Transit | 6.1% |
By the Numbers
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Hospitals 9 total
CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating (1-5): a composite score across dozens of reported measures, not a single outcome guarantee for any patient. It isn't adjusted for patient case mix and isn't directly comparable across hospital types, a critical-access facility and a large teaching hospital aren't rated on the same measure set.
Climate
NOAA 1991-2020 NormalsCost of Living
BEA 20245.4% above national average
Metro area: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA (MSA)
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities via FRED. RPP of 100 = national average.
NFIP Flood Claim History
FEMA NFIP, county-level29 flood insurance claims have been filed in Multnomah County since 2016, with $159K paid out by the NFIP.
No single named event dominates this county's claim history: most are individual, unnamed flood losses.
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims, via OpenFEMA. County-level data: individual claims are not attributed to a specific city or address by FEMA.
What alerts and safety updates affect Portland? 1
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet OR-PORTLAND-OR · Portland
Portland: 3 tagged alerts; lead category EPA air-quality advisory.
- VOL-TRACE 3 on record
- AQ-LED 33% air quality
- DESK-MIX NOAA · EPA
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Los Angeles
- RANK-MID #66 tagged volume
Tagged alert mix: Portland
Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag
- Air Quality
Air Quality
1
- Bushfire Alerts
Bushfire Alerts
1
- Weather Alerts
Weather Alerts
1
What this shows 3 tagged notices on record for Portland.
Nearest tagged-volume peer: Los Angeles, CA (3 tagged · Δ0)
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Portland; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Oregon state hubs · Methodology
Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4
Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (3 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.
Keep reading
What People Ask 9
What is the population of Portland, OR? ▼
What is the median household income in Portland? ▼
What is the median home value in Portland? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Portland? ▼
How many hospitals are in Portland? ▼
What is the median age in Portland? ▼
What is the climate like in Portland? ▼
What is the cost of living in Portland? ▼
How many flood insurance claims has Multnomah County filed? ▼
Comparable cities by poverty or income, nationwide 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Portland, both outside Oregon so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside OR (12.7% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside OR ($90,919 here).
Compare Portland with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Cities Close By 8
Using Portland's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Portland area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Income and poverty rate tell different stories, two places sharing a median can still diverge sharply on poverty.
- Compare Portland against Oregon peers on any ranking lens. Explore Oregon
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Multnomah County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-09-16.