Nov. 7, 2025
Oregon Scorecard updates: Several data points on OBI’s Oregon Scorecard have been updated since it was launched earlier this year. A handful of new metrics have been added as well. Scorecard updates point to a continuing slide in Oregon’s economic competitiveness. New metrics include crime statistics and a national regulatory ranking.
What is the Scorecard? The Oregon Scorecard is a web-based collection of information that sheds light on Oregon’s overall economic health and relative competitiveness. Most metrics include historical data, allowing users to spot trends. Data sources are listed on historical data graphics.
Tax competitiveness slide: The nonpartisan Tax Foundation released its annual State Tax Competitiveness Index on Oct. 30. Oregon’s overall ranked dropped two places, to 35th. Oregon has dropped a stunning 28 places since 2019, when it was ranked 7th. The Tax Foundation ranks states in five additional categories. In only one of these, sales taxes (4th), is Oregon among the top half of states. Other rankings include property and wealth taxes (28th), unemployment insurance taxes (41st), individual income taxes (41st) and corporate taxes (49th).
Stagnating household income: Median household income (current dollars) was updated with 2024 data, showing that Oregon ($89,700) continues to exceed the U.S. average ($83,730). However, Oregon median household income grew at a far slower rate (1.1%) than the U.S. average (3.9%) from 2023 to 2024, as it did between 2022 and 2023.
Business creation slows: The rate at which new businesses formed in Oregon during 2024 fell significantly relative to other states. Oregon’s rate of new business creation was the nation’s 12th highest in 2023 and fell to 28th in 2024. Oregon’s average quarterly rate of business creation (3.2%) trailed both the national average (3.425%) as well as Oregon’s 2023 business-creation rate (3.975%). Complete 2024 data on business closures is not yet available. In the first quarter of the year, however, Oregon had the nation’s 15th highest rate of business closures (4%), which exceeds the national average (3.7%). Oregon’s first-quarter rank represents a slight improvement from its 2023 rank of 13th.
New crime statistics: The Oregon Scorecard has added data on violent and property crime rates as well as historical information going back to 2005. Oregon’s violent crime rate was below the national average in 2024, and its property crime rate exceeded the national average. Between 2023 and 2024, the state’s rates for violent and property crime fell more slowly than the national average.
Occupational licensing: Oregon has the nation’s greatest occupational licensing burden, according to the Archbridge Institute, which has been publishing the State Occupational Licensing Index since 2023. Since then, Oregon’s rank has moved from 10th to 1st.
Why this matters: Oregon needs a healthy private sector to provide jobs, support philanthropic activity and generate revenue for public services. Challenges created by state and local policy, reflected by data and rankings contained in The Oregon Scorecard, threaten all of these benefits. To reverse this trend, policymakers must recognize the problem, stop making it worse and focus on economic development.