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!