The 10 Most Dangerous And Worst Neighborhoods In Portland, OR

The 10 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods In Portland For 2024

St. Johns, located on a strip of land sandwiched between the Willamette and Columbia rivers, was once its own city. The town was annexed by Portland in 1915. More than 100 years later, it ranks as the number 1 worst neighborhood in Portland for 2024.

Economically, this section does well. It sports a median income of $60,428 and an unemployment rate of 6.0%. However, things can get expensive on this side of town. The median home value stands at $227,860, out of range for many locals.

Bordered on one side by the Powell Butte Nature Park and cut through by SE Powell Blvd., the “Powell” part of the neighborhood’s name seems well earned. Originally, the moniker comes from early settler Jackson Powell, though the neighborhood is actually directly named for the Powellhurst school, which got its name in the 1920s.

The school part makes sense. Powellhurst still has a reputation for solid public schools. Housing and crime present a bit of problem, though. That’s not a surprise, though, given the underlying economic realities.

Not that the area represents a financial sinkhole. Far from it. But with a 6.5% unemployment rate and a $40,114 median income, it’s difficult for many locals to make ends meet.

Located in the eastern part of the city, Centennial forms part of Portland’s outer boundary. Head further east and you reach the suburb of Gresham. If you want to escape the urban sprawl entirely, you can turn south. There, you’ll find Powell Butte Nature Park.

This kind of escape to nature represents a key feature for Centennial’s residents. The hiking trails and scenic views might help them forget their financial troubles. Because Centennial has more than its fair share of those. The area suffers from an unemployment rate of 4.3%. At the same time, the median income hovers at $51,060.

Settled into the intersection of I-84 and I-205, with the south bank of the Columbia River forming its northern boundary, Parkrose sits in northeast section of Portland. Look out over the river and you’ll seen Government Island. No, not a sight of secret deep-state conspiracies. Rather, a nature recreation area with a notable population of blue herons.

Unfortunately, now we have to talk about Parkrose’s other distinction: it’s the number 4 worst neighborhood in Portland for 2024. Turns out, waterside real estate facing prime heron-spotting areas costs a sizable chunk of cash. The median home value hovers at $329,625. Compare this to the median income in the area, which runs just $58,037.

Old Town-Chinatown has an inviting cultural footprint. As you’ve probably guessed, it houses Portland’s Chinatown, with a collection of restaurants and shops. This is centered around Lan Su Chinese Garden, complete with a botanical garden and tea room. Meanwhile, the neighborhood borders the Willamette River, providing excellent waterside strolls.

All this promises an excellent excursion for a night out or a day browsing through an interesting part of the city. But don’t get fooled into settling down here. Even with the thriving shopping district, jobs remain tough to find. The unemployment rate hovers at 6.5% and the median income only reaches $20,650.

Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous Portland neighborhoods in 2024

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We plugged the following criteria into Saturday Night Science to get the worst neighborhoods in Portland:

• High crime (Estimated)
• High unemployment (Less jobs)
• Low median income (Less pay)
• Low population density (No things to do)
• Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)

Then, we ranked each neighborhood in Portland, Oregon for each of these criteria from worst to best.

Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criterion into a “Worst Score.”

The neighborhood with the lowest “Worst Score” ranks as the most dangerous neighborhood of Portland.

The article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2024. This report is our time ranking the worst neighborhoods to live in Portland.

Skip to the end to see the list of all 63 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.