Oregon’s Top-Ten List of Failures

Forty years of promises. Ten ugly report cards

Oregon is one of the most beautiful places in America. Mountains, rivers, coastlines, timber, farmland, vineyards, waterfalls, desert, and enough natural beauty to make a postcard jealous.

But scenery is not public policy.

At some point, Oregonians have to stop grading our state on the view out the window and start grading it on whether families can afford to live here, whether kids can learn here, whether streets are safe here, whether businesses can grow here, and whether government still remembers that liberty is not a loophole.

The results are not pretty.

For nearly four decades, Oregon has been under one-party control at the governor’s office. Since 1987, every Oregon governor has been a Democrat. That does not mean every problem belongs to one person or one party alone, but it does mean the people writing the rules should not be allowed to act like innocent bystanders at the scene of their own policy pileup.

Here is the report card.

Oregon’s Top 10 Bottom Rankings

1. 46th in overall freedom — Cato’s Freedom in the 50 States ranks Oregon near the bottom for personal and economic freedom.
2. 46th in affordability — Oregon is ranked the 5th least affordable state in the country when comparing income to the cost of essentials.
3. 41st in housing affordability — Oregon is the 10th least affordable state for housing costs, with shelter and utilities eating a punishing share of household income.
4. 48th in safety — WalletHub ranks Oregon near the bottom nationally for safety in its best-states-to-live-in analysis.
5. 48th in homelessness per capita — Oregon ranks 3rd worst for homelessness per 10,000 residents, behind only New York and Vermont in the state’s own housing report.
6. 50th for unsheltered child homelessness — Oregon ranks worst in the nation for unsheltered homelessness among children. That is not a statistic. That is an indictment.
7. 51st in mental-health prevalence — Mental Health America ranks Oregon dead last among the 50 states plus D.C. for prevalence of mental-health and substance-use issues.
8. 47th in education outcomes — Oregon sits near the bottom nationally in education system rankings tied to reading and math performance.
9. 50th for individual income-tax burden — WalletHub says Oregon has the highest state and local income-tax burden in the country. We do not have a sales tax, but don’t worry, Salem found your wallet anyway.
10. 46th for business climate — Chief Executive’s 2026 ranking places Oregon in the bottom five states for business.

That is the dashboard. And no, this is not about hating Oregon. Quite the opposite. People who love Oregon should be the first ones willing to admit when the warning lights are flashing.

The political sales pitch for decades has been simple: more programs, more taxes, more regulation, more agencies, more experts, more plans, more task forces, more “equity,” more fees, more permits, more government. Always more.

And what did we get?

A state where working families earn more on paper but lose ground in real life. A housing market that prices out the middle class. A homelessness crisis that officials manage, measure, rename, rebrand, and fund — but do not solve. A mental-health system that absorbs billions while families still can’t find treatment until crisis hits. Schools where spending goes up and basic outcomes go down. A business climate that tells employers, investors, builders, and entrepreneurs: “Please come to Oregon, but first enjoy this regulatory scavenger hunt.”

The progressive promise was that government could engineer fairness if we just handed it more control. The Oregon result is a state where the well-connected navigate the system, the wealthy absorb the costs, and the working class gets the bill.

This matters even more as America marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration was not written as a love letter to centralized power. It was a warning that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed — and that government exists to secure rights, not ration them.

Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859. Our state motto is “She Flies With Her Own Wings.” That is a beautiful phrase. But lately, Oregon feels less like it is flying, an more like it has clipped wings tangled in its own red tape.

Liberty is not just a national slogan. It is local. It is whether you can build a home. Start a business. Keep more of what you earn. Walk safely through your neighborhood. Send your child to a school that teaches reading and math instead of excuses. Paddle a kayak without buying permission from the state.

Leadership matters. Accountability matters. Results matter.

We cannot keep rewarding the same policies, the same excuses, and the same political machine and then act shocked when Oregon keeps landing in the bottom ten.

Oregon does not need another glossy plan from the same people who created the problem. Oregon needs discipline, affordability, public safety, educational seriousness, economic sanity, and a renewed respect for personal freedom.

Make Oregon affordable again.

Make Oregon safe again.

Make Oregon free again.

And maybe, just maybe, let Oregon fly with her own wings again — instead of waiting for Salem to issue the permit.

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What can be done? Stop promoting failure, and get engaged in this year’s election, get to know the candidates, the policies, and their voting record as it applies to these issues. Most importantly, when you vote, make sure it is Not Tina Kotek 2026.

Source Index

1. Cato Institute — Freedom in the 50 States: Oregon Overall Freedom
https://www.freedominthe50states.org/overall/oregon

2. KATU / Common Sense Institute — Oregon Ranked 5th Least Affordable State
https://katu.com/news/local/oregon-ranks-fifth-least-affordable-state-as-essentials-cost-households-18300-more-report-institute-common-sense-oregon-portland-salem-affordability-pay-gains-housing-child-care-shelter-health-medical-debt-loans-money-consumer-economy-moving-pnw

3. WalletHub — Best States to Live In
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-states-to-live-in/62617

4. Oregon Housing and Community Services — State of the State’s Housing Report
https://www.oregon.gov/ohcs/about-us/pages/state-of-the-state-housing.aspx

5. Mental Health America — State Mental Health Rankings / Prevalence Data
https://mhanational.org/the-state-of-mental-health-in-america/data-rankings/prevalence-data/

6. KATU — Oregon Education Rankings / NAEP Performance
https://katu.com/news/project-education/oregon-road-recovery-project-education-students-children-teachers-reading-math-washington-state-superintendent-policy-chronic-absenteeism-local-community-partents-kids-grades

7. WalletHub — Tax Burden by State
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494

8. Chief Executive — Best and Worst States for Business 2026
https://chiefexecutive.net/best-worst-states-business/

9. National Archives — Declaration of Independence
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/declaration-of-independence

10. Oregon Blue Book — Oregon Admitted to the Union
https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/facts/history/congress-act.aspx

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