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About Forest Grove
Forest Grove is a city in Washington County on the western edge of the Portland metro area, in the Tualatin Valley. Wikipedia reports that it was incorporated in 1872, the first incorporated city in Washington County, and that the name was chosen in 1851 for a grove of oak trees on what is now the Pacific University campus. The city is about 25 miles west of Portland.
Forest Grove in numbers
| Measure | Forest Grove |
|---|---|
| Population, 2020 Census | 26,225 |
| Population, ACS 2020-2024 | 26,529 (margin of error plus or minus 58) |
| Population, Portland State University certified estimate, July 1, 2025 | 27,241 (+3.9% since 2020) |
| Households | 8,814 (plus or minus 494) |
| Owner-occupied share of households | 64.1% (5,653 owner households) |
| Median household income | $87,933 (plus or minus $9,916) |
| Median home value (owner-occupied) | $479,600 (plus or minus $13,752) |
| Median age | 34.0 (plus or minus 1.4) |
| Owner-occupied homes valued at $300,000 or more | 4,692 of 5,653 (83.0%; count plus or minus about 425) |
| Business establishments, ZIP 97116 | 549 |
| Paid employees at those establishments | about 7,800 (Census adds a small amount of noise to this figure) |
A plain reading
Forest Grove is a young city by Oregon standards. The median age of 34.0 is well below the 38.1 and 43.0 we found for Troutdale and Canby, which fits a university town. Median household income is about $88,000, and the margin of error on that figure is close to $10,000, so it is best read as "roughly $80,000 to $98,000." Nearly two in three households own their home. Of the owner-occupied homes, 83 percent are valued at $300,000 or more, and 457 are valued at $750,000 or more.
The Portland State University estimate is 3.9 percent above the 2020 Census count, a steady rate of growth.
How we got these numbers
- Households, tenure, income, home value, age and home-value brackets come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates for 2020-2024, tables B01003, B11001, B25003, B19013, B25077, B01002 and B25075, read through Census Reporter. Dollars are 2024 inflation-adjusted ACS dollars.
- ACS figures are estimates from a sample and carry a margin of error. The margins we found are listed in the table notes below, and the plain reading treats close comparisons with care.
- The 2020 population is the Census count, read from Census TIGERweb. The 2025 figure is the certified estimate from Portland State University's Population Research Center, as listed by the League of Oregon Cities. The owner-homes count adds the seven ACS brackets from $300,000 up.
- Business counts are from Census ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023 for ZIP code 97116. They are by ZIP code, not by city limit, so they can include businesses just outside the city and they leave out businesses with no paid employees. Census withholds exact employee counts and adds noise, so the employee number is approximate.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year data (2020-2024)
- Census Reporter
- Census TIGERweb
- Census ZIP Code Business Patterns
- Portland State University Population Research Center
- League of Oregon Cities, certified population estimates
- Forest Grove, Oregon (Wikipedia), for history and geography
Also from Oregon Living: Oregon Living in Hillsboro, Oregon · Oregon Living in Beaverton, Oregon · Oregon Living in Tigard, Oregon · Oregon Living in Sherwood, Oregon.