The 10 Worst Portland Suburbs

The 10 Worst Portland Suburbs To Live For 2025

We’ll get the ball rolling with Fairview, the absolute worst place to live around Portland according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Fairview beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the Portland area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 5th worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Fairview.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

Welcome to Woodburn. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 28.7 miles to Portland. Income levels here are the 2nd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $67,469 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Portland suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Gresham on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Portland suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Vancouver, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 5th lowest Portland suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 8th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Portland. Remember, we looked at 37 cities for this study.

Vancouver is about 7.3 miles to downtown.

Cornelius has the distinction of being a Portland suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Cornelius has the 8th lowest home values in the metro Portland area, where the median price is $485,619. The median income is $140,441.

Cornelius has an unemployment rate of 5.33% which ranks 11th worst.

Woodland has 6,513 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 12.474692415511605%.

Ah, Columbia. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Portland.

It’s the place with the 27th most out of work residents in the Portland metro area (3.94%).

Troutdale is a city about 12.4 miles from Portland, but Portland probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Troutdale has the 16th most uninsured people, 12th worst incomes, and has the 16th highest unemployment rate (4.76%) in the entire Portland metro area.

Homes only cost $482,493 for a reason. That’s cheap for Portland standards.

If you absolutely have to live near Portland, then Estacada might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Portland suburb.

About 2.88% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Portland suburbs to call home is St. Helens.

Located 23.5 miles outside the city, St. Helenss is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 2highest unemployment rate (4.46%), and poverty is far above the area average.