These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Places in Oregon

You don’t even need to go to Oregon to know that it is beautiful (really, you can just watch this video to see that). But as we all know, beauty is not always reason enough to move to a place—especially if that place might be less than safe. So here at the Movoto Real Estate Blog we’ve decided to swap our home-selling hats for our thinking caps and do a little research. We’ve already showed you the safest places in Oregon, but today, we’re taking a look at the other side—the places you might just want to avoid if you’re thinking about moving to this beautiful state. What is the most dangerous place in Oregon? Here are the 10 most dangerous places in the state: 1. City of Medford
2. City of Portland
3. City of Ontario
4. City of Gresham
5. City of Pendleton
6. City of Salem
7. City of Klamath Falls
8. City of Eugene
9. City of The Dalles
10. City of Redmond
Keep reading to find out the methodology behind this list and just what makes each of these 10 places more dangerous than the rest. Or, you can skip down to the bottom of this article to see where each place in the state ranked in our analysis.

Our Methodology

To create this Big Deal List, we started out by gathering a list of all of the places in Oregon with populations of 10,000 people or more according to the 2010 U.S.Census. We then used the 2012 FBI Uniform Crime Report to research each place according to the following criteria:

• Murder
• Rape
• Robbery
• Assault
• Burglary
• Theft
• Vehicle theft

We then divided these crimes into four different categories:

• Murders
• Violent crimes
• Property crimes
• Total crimes

Once we omitted any places that didn’t report data to the bureau, we were left with a total of 38 places to look at. We calculated each place’s number of crimes per 100,000 people to fairly compare cities of all sizes. Next, we weighted murders, violent crimes, and property crimes so that they each comprised 30 percent of the overall score, whereas the total number of crimes comprised 10 percent. Finally, we averaged each county’s rankings into one Big Deal Score, where the lowest number was the most dangerous place. Now that you know the method behind our analysis, let’s take a closer look at our 10 most dangerous places.

This ranking is not a critique of police practices or effectiveness. It is simply an analysis of where crimes occurred.

1. Medford

Like many cities that experience rapid growth, this Jackson County city has also had a recent increase in crime—so much so that in 2012, it had the most crimes per 100,000 people out of anywhere in our analysis. Because of its ranking as No. 2 in both the categories of violent crimes and property crimes per 100,000 people, Medford had the second highest number of crimes overall in the state. It did, however, slightly redeem itself in the category of murders per person, ranking seventh here, where some of the others in our top ten ranked much worse. All in all, residents in Medford had a 1 in 16 chance of being the victim of any type of crime.

2. Portland

In 2012, Portland had the third most violent crimes and property crimes per person in the state. On the plus side, it had fewer murders per capita than, say, The Dalles (which we’ll get to momentarily), but overall, it still ranked second, with just a one in 18 chance of being the victim of a crime.

3. Ontario

Medford and Portland may have (unfortunately) beat Ontario with their numbers of murders per person (where they ranked seventh, Ontario ranked 13th in this category), but Ontario beat them, and everywhere else for that matter, in its total number of crimes. In 2012, Ontario had the most total crimes per person out of anywhere we looked at. That included both the highest number of violent crimes and property crimes per person. With such high numbers, residents here were the most likely to be the victim of a crime, with just a 1 in 12 chance.

4. Gresham

This Multnomah County city may have ranked better than its larger neighbor, Portland, when it comes to property crime and total number of crimes, but as far as violence goes, Gresham was among the worst. In 2012, this city had the fourth highest number of violent crimes per 100,000 people in the state, including rapes, assaults, robberies, and worst of all, the third highest number of murders. So overall, residents may not be as likely to be the victim of a crime, but they are more likely to be the victim of violence than in most other places.

5. Pendleton

Pendleton saw the second most murders per person in the state during 2012. It ranked a bit better in other categories, with just the 14th most violent crimes overall and the sixth most property crimes. Still, all in all, residents here were more likely to be involved in a crime here than in most places, with just a 1 in 19 chance.

6. Salem

Salem may be the political capital of the state, but clearly that doesn’t mean that it’s immune to crime. In fact, out of all of the places we looked at, Salem had the third most murders per 100,000 people. It also ranked pretty high in its number of property crimes, and therefore crimes overall (ranking the 12th highest in both categories). All told, residents here had a one in 22 chance of being the victim of a crime. To put that into perspective, just take a look at West Linn, which ranked the safest on our list. Residents there had just a 1 in 101 chance of being the victim of a crime.

7. Klamath Falls

Klamath Falls may be “Oregon’s City of Sunshine,” but it was also one of the state’s most dangerous. In 2012, Klamath Falls had the sixth most total crimes per 100,000 people in the state. Though it didn’t have any reported murders, it did rank sixth in violent crimes and eighth in property crimes per 100,000 people. Residents had a one in 19 chance of being the victim of a crime.

8. Eugene

In 2012, Eugene had the fourth most total crimes per person out of anywhere we looked at, including the fifth most property crimes and the 10th most violent crimes. Fortunately, though, there were no murders included in those violent crimes, which is why it didn’t rank higher on our list.

9. The Dalles

This Wasco County city may not seem that dangerous at first glance—after all, it only ranked eighth for its total crimes per person and 22nd for its number of violent crimes. But of those violent crimes, it had the most murders per 100,000 people out of anywhere in our analysis. Not only that, but The Dalles also had the seventh most property crimes per person.

10. Redmond

With the honor of being the least dangerous of our most dangerous cities, Redmond ranked highly in our analysis mostly for its number of violent crimes and property crimes. It had the eighth highest number of violent crimes and the ninth highest number of property crimes on our entire list. We will say that none of these crimes included murder, but residents in Redmond still had a pretty high chance of being the victim of a crime—just 1 in 20.

Safety In Numbers

While we may have focused on the 10 most dangerous places in Oregon in this post, that certainly doesn’t mean there aren’t safe places in the state as well—we’ve got the numbers to prove it. If you happen to live in one of these 10 most dangerous cities, don’t worry, you can always move (we can help you there). For Media Inquiries, Contact:
Randy Nelson
rnelson@movoto.com