These Are The 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Oregon For 2018


We looked at science and data to determine which cities in OR are really ghetto.

This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.
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There are lots of people who throw the term ‘ghetto’ around. But which of the largest cities in Oregon are the most ghetto of all?

How do you decide if a place is ghetto or not? You ask the internet. According to the Urban Dictionary, a ghetto is defined as:

“urban; of or relating to (inner) city life” and “poor; of or relating to the poor life.”

Using that criteria, it’s not hard to scrape the internet, run some scientific data on where ghettos might exist in a state, and then put out a list.

After analyzing the largest cities here, we came up with this list as the most ghetto places to live in Oregon:

  1. Salem (Photos)
  2. Lincoln City (Photos)
  3. Portland (Photos)
  4. Madras (Photos)
  5. Astoria (Photos)
  6. Florence (Photos)
  7. Eugene (Photos)
  8. Seaside (Photos)
  9. Oregon City (Photos)
  10. Newport (Photos)

In case you’re wondering, Central Point is the least ghetto city of all we measured.

Read on below to see where your hometown ranked and why.

For more Oregon reading, check out:

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What ghetto criteria did we use?

In order to rank the most ghetto places in Oregon, we had to determine what criteria defines a ghetto city or neighborhood.

Since a ghetto is defined as a poor area, we used income levels, crime and education levels as a guide to determine where the most broke citizens of a state live.

Additionally, the staples of inner city life include cheap and discounted retail outlets.

We started by making a list of cities with populations over 5,000 based on the 2014 American Community Survey. That left us with 91 cities in Oregon to measure.

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using Yelp and Area Vibes, this is the criteria we used:

  • Household income levels
  • High school graduation rates
  • Number of convenience stores
  • Number of drug stores
  • Number of discount stores
  • Crime

Note: For the sake of getting reliable numbers, we counted places within a city’s border, as well as within a short driving distance.

All of these results are listed in a per capita basis. Meaning number of stores per person in a state. Additionally, high school graduation rates are determined by looking at the total number of people who live in a city, not the current graduation rate of an area’s high schools.

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1. Salem

Source: wikipedia

Income: 21st lowest in OR
Drop out rate: 20%
Crime: 3rd worst

When you look at the unbiased data, Salem is the most ghetto city in Oregon. Here’s why.

First off, you’d have a hard time finding a more dangerous place than Salem. Only Portland and Lincoln City are more dangerous, statistically, in the state. There were ‘only’ two murders here in 2014, but if you spent a year here, you’d have a 1 in 320 chance of being raped, attacked or murdered.

While that’s really low when compared to other cities in America, that’s really high for Oregon. You’d also have a 1 in 22 chance of being robbed, which is actually really high when compared to the rest of the nation.

1 in 5 residents of Salem never finished high school by the age of 25. That’s actually not the lowest (Woodburn is lowest at an astounding 41%).

When you’re looking at income levels, Salem families bring in about $34,000 a year. That’s in the bottom 20% for Oregon, and 1 in 5 people under the age of 18 live in poverty in Salem. (A family of 4 needs about $25,000 to live outside of poverty.)

Finally, Salem has a high number of convenience stores per capita. Sociologists have indicated that discount outlets are a staple of inner city life.

Other Highlights From The Study

Portland: P-Town ranks as the 3rd most ghetto city in Oregon, when you look at the unbiased data. While this may or may not be a surprise to locals, it’s statistically true. For instance, Portland is the most dangerous place in Oregon. On average, there were two murders a month here in 2014, and you have a 1 in 205 chance of being a victim of a violent crime if you spent a year within city limits. There were also 24,000 robberies in Portland, according to the FBI.

Portland residents, overall, earn the 14th lowest incomes in the state ($32,000 per family).

What saved Portland from ‘winning’ this whole thing? The education levels are in the top 15%. Only 13% of residents never finished high school.

Eugene: Incomes are the 3rd lowest in Oregon in Eugene, where the average family earns a tick above the poverty line. There are also a high number of convenience stores here, per capita. Crime is the 12th highest.

Corvallis: The home of Oregon State University is the largest, ‘least ghetto’ city in Portland. This city of 54,000 has the 11th highest incomes ($70k a year), and is the 13th most educated. Only 8% of residents are considered dropouts.

Medford: Across the board, Medford is just about average, so it falls towards the middle. Crime is a bit above average (29th highest), but income levels and education levels trend toward the middle of the pack.

Not ghetto at all: The following are the least ghetto areas in the Beaver State: Central Point, Damascus, West Slope (a Portland unincorporated suburb), Eagle Point, and Sherwood.

Clackamas County is the least ghetto county in the state.

There You Have It

If you’re measuring the locations in Oregon where there are a high number of poor and uneducated residents, and where there are a high number of discounted shopping stores, this is an accurate list.

The 25 Most Ghetto Cities In Oregon With Detailed Statistics

nchappychart

Below is the desktop version, with more detailed stats.

We also wrote about the 10 Drunkest Cities in Oregon if you didn’t happen to see it.

Desktop users, below is a chart of all large cities in Oregon, along with their detailed statistics.

City Overall Rank Dropout Rate Crime Rate Incomes
Salem 1 20.00% 170.3 $34,399
Lincoln City 2 19.00% 181.2 $26,353
Portland 3 13.00% 198.4 $32,383
Madras 4 28.00% 121.4 $34,059
Astoria 5 13.00% 144.7 $33,998
Florence 6 9.00% 148.5 $28,728
Eugene 7 10.00% 140.3 $26,895
Seaside 8 15.00% 134.9 $30,243
Oregon City 9 12.00% 145 $38,183
Newport 10 16.00% 154.6 $35,338
Klamath Falls 11 22.00% 111.2 $31,292
Pendleton 12 22.00% 117.2 $33,000
Springfield 13 22.00% 124.9 $35,388
Sheridan 14 32.00% 123.3 $52,916
Umatilla 15 32.00% 106.5 $40,939
Fairview 16 19.00% 124 $44,367
Stayton 17 24.00% 80 $35,560
Troutdale 18 13.00% 132.8 $38,750
Independence 19 31.00% 105.6 $53,699
Gresham 20 21.00% 127 $65,625
Hayesville 21 30.00% 81.8 $59,263
Forest Grove 22 23.00% 115.5 $34,253
Albany 23 17.00% 129 $41,556
Junction City 24 23.00% 125.5 $34,700
Grants Pass 25 19.00% 131.3 $30,949
Coos Bay 26 15.00% 130.6 $37,180
Wilsonville 27 13.00% 112.9 $30,287
Hood River 27 14.00% 132 $35,843
Tualatin 29 12.00% 142.4 $46,907
Ontario 30 30.00% 120.7 $45,376
Baker City 31 21.00% 142.7 $40,805
Beaverton 32 11.00% 124.2 $42,333
Woodburn 33 41.00% 41 $66,436
Roseburg 34 14.00% 130.5 $29,934
Four Corners 35 33.00% 91 $79,304
The Dalles 36 19.00% 126.4 $44,088
Prineville 37 24.00% 122 $36,469
North Bend 38 12.00% 134.5 $41,428
Scappoose 39 15.00% 124.6 $33,321
Redmond 40 16.00% 119 $31,856
Cornelius 41 35.00% 77.6 $83,730
Gladstone 42 13.00% 145.6 $43,132
Brookings 43 13.00% 111.3 $28,922
Milwaukie 44 12.00% 131.2 $40,335
Molalla 45 20.00% 89.7 $16,447
Lake Oswego 46 3.00% 155.4 $37,759
Canby 47 17.00% 133.1 $48,750
Jennings Lodge 48 17.00% 118.7 $49,817
Lebanon 49 17.00% 132.4 $44,756
Monmouth 50 17.00% 101 $53,387
Talent 51 13.00% 129.4 $40,918
Aloha 52 16.00% 79.8 $61,922
Hermiston 53 26.00% 88.6 $59,793
Altamont 54 16.00% 103.1 $45,159
Medford 55 16.00% 127.7 $53,066
Ashland 55 5.00% 128.2 $31,795
Winston 57 22.00% 84.7 $40,326
Cottage Grove 58 22.00% 91.9 $61,705
Mcminnville 59 19.00% 55 $65,365
Bend 60 9.00% 138 $38,849
Milton-Freewater 61 48.00% 49.4 $89,187
Silverton 62 13.00% 93.9 $31,034
La Grande 63 14.00% 116.5 $33,168
White City 64 32.00% 58.4 $91,349
Sweet Home 64 23.00% 112.6 $48,425
Sutherlin 66 21.00% 118.6 $56,030
West Linn 67 3.00% 134.3 $40,869
Sandy 68 12.00% 128.8 $48,241
Dallas 69 16.00% 116.6 $53,369
St. Helens 70 19.00% 72.1 $65,344
Cedar Hills 71 11.00% 87 $69,669
Newberg 72 16.00% 71.7 $78,771
Garden Home-Whitford 73 6.00% 117 $50,590
Keizer 74 18.00% 74.9 $89,398
Tigard 75 11.00% 85.8 $68,608
Bethany 76 4.00% 41 $66,436
Oak Hills 77 6.00% 41 $66,436
Rockcreek 78 8.00% 41 $66,436
Corvallis 79 8.00% 93.4 $70,512
Roseburg North 80 16.00% 88.1 $51,332
Cedar Mill 81 7.00% 41 $66,436
Bull Mountain 82 4.00% 41 $66,436
Happy Valley 83 6.00% 70.2 $85,660
Sherwood 84 9.00% 78.5 $74,221
Raleigh Hills 85 4.00% 41 $66,436
Eagle Point 86 12.00% 78.5 $61,218
Oak Grove 86 15.00% 36.4 $81,294
West Slope 88 8.00% 47.9 $69,883
Damascus 89 9.00% 41 $66,436
Central Point 90 14.00% 77.6 $83,147
About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.