Nearly Half of Multnomah County Residents Have a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher

March 26, 2025

Educational attainment is a baseline metric of the qualifications of the labor market, and in Oregon, the population tends to have more education. Roughly one in three people over 25 in Oregon have attained a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to 2023 five-year American Community Survey estimates. This share is even larger in Multnomah County, where nearly one out of two people have attained a bachelor’s degree or higher. 

More education tends to correlate with higher wages. That being said, there are still high-wage and high-demand careers that do not require college education. Matching opportunities between local jobs and jobseekers’ skills and training is more important for an efficient labor market than maximizing the percentage of graduates of a particular degree.

Though Multnomah County tends to be more educated than Oregon and the U.S., educational attainment varies widely across the county. The western half of Multnomah County (split roughly at 82nd Avenue) has a significantly higher share of residents who have attained a bachelor’s degree or higher than the eastern part of the county. For instance, two out of three residents of Northwest & Southwest Portland have attained a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with roughly only one out of four residents of East Portland, Gresham, and Troutdale.

This data, which is from 2019 to 2023, incorporates individuals 25 years and older, an age at which most people have completed their maximum amount of schooling. The data also includes some information about economic outcomes, such as unemployment and earnings.

Looking at median income, Multnomah’s median income of $55,234 is significantly higher than both the U.S. ($51,184) and Oregon ($50,487). This is mostly due to Multnomah having a larger share of higher educational attainment compared with the U.S. and Oregon and the county tends to have a higher share of employment in high-wage industries. 

Comparing median wages by educational attainment, there are not any statistically significant differences between Multnomah, Oregon, and the U.S. In other words, there doesn’t tend to be a notable wage benefit or penalty for Multnomah County residents at the different broad educational attainment levels compared with Oregon or the U.S.