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.


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:

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:


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.


1. Salem

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

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

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