{"id":7832,"date":"2023-01-24T09:28:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T16:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=7832"},"modified":"2023-07-04T16:25:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T23:25:00","slug":"oregon-and-portland-see-population-declines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=7832","title":{"rendered":"Oregon, and Portland, see population declines and very poor recovery across many metrics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It seems Oregon, and specifically Portland, have lost their luster. Portland and Oregon went from being the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/thatoregonlife.com\/2016\/01\/report-shows-more-people-still-moving-to-oregon-than-anywhere\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thatoregonlife.com\/2016\/01\/report-shows-more-people-still-moving-to-oregon-than-anywhere\/\" target=\"_blank\">#1 place to move in the US<\/a> to having a net LOSS of population in just 2 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of this is due to people moving out of urban areas during the pandemic and remote work &#8211; but Oregon has faired even worse than other metro areas. Much worse. Multnomah county (which encompasses most of Portland) declined by 12,494 people, or 1.5% along with a more modest decline (0.2%) in the Portland metro area (Beaverton, Vancouver, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How did this happen? How did a city go from the #1 place to move to just about last place? Some of the top posited reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some unhappy city recovery stats:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Stanford study shows Portland has one of the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/downtownrecovery.com\/dashboards\/recovery_ranking.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/downtownrecovery.com\/dashboards\/recovery_ranking.html\" target=\"_blank\">lowest overall lowest recovery rates<\/a> in the country<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/city\/2022\/08\/15\/downtown-portland-among-the-worst-cities-in-terms-of-rebounding-from-the-pandemic-study-shows\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/city\/2022\/08\/15\/downtown-portland-among-the-worst-cities-in-terms-of-rebounding-from-the-pandemic-study-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\">University of California, Berkeley report (&#8220;Death of Downtown?&#8221;) finds the same<\/a> &#8211; <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.downtownrecovery.com\/dashboards\/recovery_ranking.html\" target=\"_blank\">Portland came in 60th<\/a>, with a recovery value of 41% compared with pre-pandemic activity. Only San Francisco (31%) and Cleveland, Ohio (36%) fared worse.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They also have one of the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/psuvanguard.com\/portlands-downtown-struggles-to-bring-back-visitors\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/psuvanguard.com\/portlands-downtown-struggles-to-bring-back-visitors\/\" target=\"_blank\">slowest visitor recovery rates in the country<\/a> .<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oregon stats are continuing to decline\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Homelessness issues have degraded to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ktvz.com\/news\/ap-oregon-northwest\/2023\/01\/09\/oregons-new-governor-to-be-sworn-in-discuss-her-priorities\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/ktvz.com\/news\/ap-oregon-northwest\/2023\/01\/09\/oregons-new-governor-to-be-sworn-in-discuss-her-priorities\/\" target=\"_blank\">a state of emergency<\/a> in Oregon and the Portland metro area. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/atlanta\/news\/police-suspect-chewed-off-mans-ear-face-in-oregon-attack\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/atlanta\/news\/police-suspect-chewed-off-mans-ear-face-in-oregon-attack\/\" target=\"_blank\">Horrific<\/a> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.portlandoregon.gov\/police\/news\/read.cfm\/read.cfm?id=301667\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.portlandoregon.gov\/police\/news\/read.cfm\/read.cfm?id=301667\" target=\"_blank\">attacks<\/a> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/atlanta\/news\/police-suspect-chewed-off-mans-ear-face-in-oregon-attack\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/atlanta\/news\/police-suspect-chewed-off-mans-ear-face-in-oregon-attack\/\" target=\"_blank\">on random strangers<\/a> has become common. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oregon now has gotten worse since 2019 and now has the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.opb.org\/article\/2022\/02\/03\/oregon-had-second-highest-addiction-rates-in-the-nation-in-2020\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.opb.org\/article\/2022\/02\/03\/oregon-had-second-highest-addiction-rates-in-the-nation-in-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\">2nd highest drug addiction rates<\/a> in the country. I wonder if <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/09\/25\/oregon-decriminalized-hard-drugs-2-years-ago-failed-experiment\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2022\/09\/25\/oregon-decriminalized-hard-drugs-2-years-ago-failed-experiment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">legalizing drug use hasn&#8217;t contributed<\/a> to the dramatic increase in addition and even more dramatic increase in overdose deaths.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Schools:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/digital.osl.state.or.us\/islandora\/object\/osl:976837\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/digital.osl.state.or.us\/islandora\/object\/osl:976837\" target=\"_blank\">last audit of PPS in 2019<\/a> (even before Covid) revealed that despite high funding, Portland public schools deliver <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/ORSOS\/bulletins\/227b676\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/ORSOS\/bulletins\/227b676\" target=\"_blank\">dramatically poorer educational results for students<\/a>, have very problematic spending, serious issues with financial waste and abuse issues due to lack of oversight, and 26 other specific problem areas identified that need to be remedied. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Schools have seen dramatically larger decreases in <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2022\/10\/oregon-ranks-no-5-for-pandemic-reading-loss-no-8-for-math-researchers-say.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2022\/10\/oregon-ranks-no-5-for-pandemic-reading-loss-no-8-for-math-researchers-say.html\" target=\"_blank\">reading and math scores<\/a> since Covid started compared to other states. Middle school results <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2022\/10\/oregon-school-performance-craters-relative-to-national-averages-elementary-and-middle-school-math-scores-rank-6th-worst-in-us.html#:~:text=%5C-,Oregon%20school%20performance%20craters%20relative%20to%20national%20averages%2C%20elementary%20and,rank%206th%20worst%20in%20U.S.&amp;text=Published%3A%20Oct.,%2C%202022%2C%206%3A06%20a.m.\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2022\/10\/oregon-school-performance-craters-relative-to-national-averages-elementary-and-middle-school-math-scores-rank-6th-worst-in-us.html#:~:text=%5C-,Oregon%20school%20performance%20craters%20relative%20to%20national%20averages%2C%20elementary%20and,rank%206th%20worst%20in%20U.S.&amp;text=Published%3A%20Oct.,%2C%202022%2C%206%3A06%20a.m.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cratered to the 6th worst in the nation<\/a>. It probably doesn&#8217;t help we <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/politics\/2021\/08\/gov-kate-brown-signed-a-law-to-allow-oregon-students-to-graduate-without-proving-they-can-write-or-do-math-she-doesnt-want-to-talk-about-it.html#:~:text=12%3A42%20p.m.-,Gov.,bookmark%20stories%20to%20read%20later.\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/politics\/2021\/08\/gov-kate-brown-signed-a-law-to-allow-oregon-students-to-graduate-without-proving-they-can-write-or-do-math-she-doesnt-want-to-talk-about-it.html#:~:text=12%3A42%20p.m.-,Gov.,bookmark%20stories%20to%20read%20later.\" target=\"_blank\">ended the requirement for students to demonstrate reading, writing and math proficiency in order to receive a diploma<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Public school system now <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/wallethub.com\/edu\/e\/states-with-the-best-schools\/5335\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/wallethub.com\/edu\/e\/states-with-the-best-schools\/5335\" target=\"_blank\">consistently ranks<\/a> in the bottom 5 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alecreportcard.org\/state\/or\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.alecreportcard.org\/state\/or\/\" target=\"_blank\">worst in the nation<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Things are so bad that between 2019-2022 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2022\/02\/portland-public-schools-projecting-huge-enrollment-losses-plans-to-cut-back-staff-in-elementary-middle-schools.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2022\/02\/portland-public-schools-projecting-huge-enrollment-losses-plans-to-cut-back-staff-in-elementary-middle-schools.html\" target=\"_blank\">20% of students were pulled from Portland Public schools<\/a> by parents that either moved out or sent them to private schools. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.koin.com\/news\/education\/portland-public-schools-announces-hiring-freeze-leaner-budget\/#:~:text=PPS%20reported%20last%20year%20that,leaner%20budget%2C%E2%80%9D%20moving%20forward.\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.koin.com\/news\/education\/portland-public-schools-announces-hiring-freeze-leaner-budget\/#:~:text=PPS%20reported%20last%20year%20that,leaner%20budget%2C%E2%80%9D%20moving%20forward.\" target=\"_blank\">The enrollment declines are expected to increase going forward<\/a> despite higher than average funding compared to other states.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2023\/03\/most-students-who-left-oregon-public-schools-during-the-pandemic-went-to-private-schools-or-homeschooling-some-abandoned-school-altogether.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2023\/03\/most-students-who-left-oregon-public-schools-during-the-pandemic-went-to-private-schools-or-homeschooling-some-abandoned-school-altogether.html\" target=\"_blank\">Oregon state\u2019s enrollment losses, which total 30,000, or 5%, were the second highest in the country<\/a>, according to Stanford University\u2019s data-driven Big Local News project. Only Mississippi lost a larger share.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023 Oregon&#8217;s National Merit Scholarship winners are <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2023\/06\/record-share-of-oregons-top-tier-2500-national-merit-scholarship-winners-hail-from-outside-portland-area.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/education\/2023\/06\/record-share-of-oregons-top-tier-2500-national-merit-scholarship-winners-hail-from-outside-portland-area.html\" target=\"_blank\">increasingly located outside the Portland metro area<\/a> &#8211; demonstrating the continual decline of Portland school education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Taxes:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tax rates for anyone earning over $100,000 a year are <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=7991\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=7991\" target=\"_blank\">now the second highest effective tax rate in the country<\/a> &#8211; only behind New York City millionaires by 0.09%. We will become the highest tax rate starting 2024 when city taxes are slated to rise another 1-2%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Having <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-race-and-ethnicity-id-state-wire-or-state-wire-b57315d97dd2146c4a89b4636faa7b70\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-race-and-ethnicity-id-state-wire-or-state-wire-b57315d97dd2146c4a89b4636faa7b70\" target=\"_blank\">over over 100 straight nights<\/a> of violent and destructive riots sure couldn&#8217;t help<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Crime\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/shootings-coronavirus-pandemic-oregon-crime-portland-9246e081253979fd3c9d1593b90e1605\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/shootings-coronavirus-pandemic-oregon-crime-portland-9246e081253979fd3c9d1593b90e1605\" target=\"_blank\">More than double the number of annual shootings<\/a> (from 300 shootings in 2019 to 900 shootings in 2020 with even worse statistics for 2021). Shooting that are now increasingly <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/schools\/2022\/12\/13\/school-shootings-are-on-the-rise-in-portland\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/schools\/2022\/12\/13\/school-shootings-are-on-the-rise-in-portland\/\" target=\"_blank\">happening in schools<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Near doubling of crime: from murder to property crimes since 2019.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.portlandoregon.gov\/police\/74369\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.portlandoregon.gov\/police\/74369\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Auto thefts per-capital have doubled in 2 years<\/a> to almost 1000 vehicles per month. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thatoregonlife.com\/2023\/01\/oregon-sees-sharp-decline-in-population-for-first-time-since-1983\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/thatoregonlife.com\/2023\/01\/oregon-sees-sharp-decline-in-population-for-first-time-since-1983\/<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/city\/2022\/03\/24\/portland-metro-population-declines-amid-american-flight-from-major-cities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/city\/2022\/03\/24\/portland-metro-population-declines-amid-american-flight-from-major-cities\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It seems Oregon, and specifically Portland, have lost their luster. Portland and Oregon went from being the #1 place to move in the US to having a net LOSS of population in just 2 years. Part of this is due to people moving out of urban areas during the pandemic and remote work &#8211; but Oregon has faired even worse than other metro areas. Much worse. Multnomah county (which encompasses most of Portland) declined by 12,494 people, or 1.5% along&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=7832\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-interest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4WECr-22k","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7832"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9087,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7832\/revisions\/9087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}