Oregon State: Where Exactly is the Worst of the Homeless Problem?

Everyone knows Oregon has a big homeless problem, but where is it the worst really?

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Oregon Counties with the Worst Homeless Problems

Oregon ranks really high on the national rankings for homelessness no matter what metric you are looking at. Oregon State ranks 4th for the increase in the number of homeless people in 2022 and ranks 4th in the number of homeless per capita according to a new 2023 survey by World Population Review.

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Contributing to those high rankings are 2 Oregon cities that both rank in the top 6 in the country with Portland at #5 and Eugene at #6 according to Oregon Live. As if all that was not bad enough, there is more bad news about Oregon's homeless problem, much more.

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Oregon is #1 for Chronic Homelessness

Oregon is also ranked worst in the country for homeless that are stuck and showing constant patterns of homelessness. According to data by Oregon Live, 44% of homeless in Oregon show signs of chronic homelessness. In order to be labeled with Chronic Homelessness, a person needs to be homeless for over 1 year constant or be homeless multiple times over a couple of years.

With all that being said, which Oregon Counties have the worst homeless problem? The best and most current data provided by the Oregon Public Health Division is from 2017 data. According to the 2017 data, Oregon had 13,953 homeless for a total population of 4,142,776 people equalling a homeless rate of 3.4. We know that by 2023, that number jumped to 14,655 homeless increasing to a rate of 3.47, so the current numbers are slightly larger than what is listed below but still pretty accurate for today.

The 12 Worst Oregon Counties for Homelessness

First the worst 6 Oregon Counties by total number of homeless and then the worst 6 Oregon Counties by homeless rate percentage.