Is Portland a City of Violent Crime?

Portland’s reputation has been damaged over the last couple of years by allegations of rampant – or at least heavily increased – crime and a culture of “softness” against such acts. 

Whether these allegations are fair or not is likely a matter of debate, but there has been a lot of talk on the subject of late, especially since the summer of 2020.

The Portland Business Journal recently published results of a study that looks at 3 crimes – murder, aggravated assault, and robbery – for the first half of 2022 vs 2021 and ranks 40 cities in the country, including Portland, based on the findings.

Here’s the rankings (smaller number is better):

40. Baltimore

39. Memphis

38. Milwaukiee, WI

37. St Louis

36. Cleveland

35. Houston

34. Albuquerque

33. Philadelphia

32. Kansas City

31. Chicago 

30. Nashville

29. Atlanta

28. Dallas

27. Washington, D.C.

26. Buffalo

25. Denver

24. Louisville

23. Sacramento

22. Minneapolis

21. Portland

20. San Antonio

18. Phoenix (tie)

18. Los Angeles (tie)

17. Cincinnati

16. Pittsburg

15. Orlando 

14. Seattle

13. Wichita

12. Honolulu

11. San Francisco

10. Miami

9. New York City

8. Charlotte

7. Tampa 

6. Jacksonville

5. Columbus

4. San Jose

3. Raleigh

2. Austin

1. Boston

Are you surprised by any of these? If so, drop me a line and let me know which ones did it!