June 9, 2025
As of 2023, Oregon was the seventh most heavily regulated state in the nation, according to a study released today by the Oregon Business & Industry Research and Education Foundation. Moreover, Oregon’s regulatory burden has been increasing rapidly, swelling by 5.6% between 2022 and 2023 alone. If that pace continues, Oregon’s regulations will double by just 2036.
The growth of Oregon’s regulatory burden will further erode job and business creation while increasing costs for consumers. A 10% increase in regulations is correlated with a decrease of 0.5% in the number of businesses and a decline of 0.6% in employment for small businesses that remain, according to the study.
That 10% increase in regulations also leads to a 1% increase in consumer prices, a change that disproportionately harms the lowest-income Oregonians.
“This study further supports what Oregon’s employers have been saying for years,” said OBI President and CEO Angela Wilhelms. “Oregon’s regulatory environment makes starting and running businesses here unnecessarily difficult. That’s one reason other states have had such success luring away Oregon’s businesses, as a recruitment report released by the state’s own business development agency recently showed.”
The regulatory impact study was conducted by researchers with the Maryland-based StratACUMEN Group, whose approach integrates quantitative analysis and economic literature review. For more about StratACUMEN’s approach and its Oregon report, listen to an interview with StratACUMEN President and CEO Memo Diriker by OBI’s Business Matters podcast here.
The number of regulations imposed on a handful of Oregon industries is particularly notable. State regulations for animal production outnumber those in the average state by more than 2.5 to one. And Oregon has roughly 1.25 regulations on utilities for every one imposed by the average state, contributing to higher energy costs. But no industry is more heavily regulated than metal products manufacturing, where Oregon imposes nearly eight times as many regulations as the average state.
“Regulations are usually well-intended,” said Wilhelms. “But Oregon’s regulatory environment is so complex and expensive to navigate that it is discouraging business investment and job creation. That’s what employers mean when they talk about Oregon’s economic competitiveness. Moreover, sometimes regulations are so complicated or simply don’t consider practical economic realities that they end up not even advancing their intended goals. It’s way past time for Oregon’s executive and legislative branches to take a hard look at modernizing Oregon’s regulatory system to help people, businesses and communities thrive.”
Go here to learn more and read the report.