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About Lake Oswego
Lake Oswego is a Clackamas County city about 7 miles south of Portland, wrapped around Oswego Lake, with small parts in Multnomah and Washington counties. Albert Alonzo Durham founded the town of Oswego in 1847. It was incorporated as Oswego in 1910 and renamed Lake Oswego in 1960, according to Wikipedia.
Lake Oswego in numbers
| Measure | Lake Oswego |
|---|---|
| Population, 2020 Census | 40,731 |
| Population, ACS 2020-2024 | 40,381 |
| Population, Portland State University certified estimate, July 1, 2025 | 41,474 (+1.8% since 2020) |
| Households | 16,873 |
| Owner-occupied share of households | 69.3% |
| Median household income | $141,549 |
| Median home value (owner-occupied) | $932,200 |
| Median age | 46.7 |
| Owner-occupied homes valued at $300,000 or more | 10,999 of 11,685 (94.1%) |
| Owner-occupied homes valued at $750,000 or more | 8,088 of 11,685 (69.2%) |
| Business establishments, ZIPs 97034 and 97035 | 2,270 |
| Paid employees at those establishments | 25,697 |
A plain reading
Lake Oswego is the highest-income and highest-value city in this edition. Median household income is above $141,000 and the median home value is above $932,000. About 94 in 100 owner-occupied homes are valued at $300,000 or more, and roughly 7 in 10 are valued at $750,000 or more. The median age, 46.7, is older than in most Portland-area cities, and about 7 in 10 households own their home.
In 2023 the two Lake Oswego ZIP codes held 2,270 business establishments with about 25,700 paid employees. ZIP 97035 alone holds 1,528 of the establishments.
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.
- Margins of error: the ACS lists 90 percent margins of error. For Lake Oswego the largest are: median household income plus or minus $6,903, median home value plus or minus $25,230, and the count of owner homes valued at $300,000 or more plus or minus about 640 (our own combination of the bracket margins). Small counts and ZIP-level counts are rougher still. Treat every ACS figure as an estimate.
- The 2020 population is the Census count (TIGERweb, Census 2020 place layer). The 2025 figure is the certified estimate from Portland State University's Population Research Center (Vintage 2025 city estimates file).
- Business counts are from Census ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023 for ZIPs 97034 and 97035. They are by ZIP code, not by city limit, and they leave out businesses with no paid employees. These two ZIPs may include some addresses outside the city limit, and the Census adds small amounts of noise to employee counts to protect confidentiality.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year data (2020-2024)
- Census Reporter
- Census ZIP Code Business Patterns
- Portland State University Population Research Center
- Lake Oswego, Oregon (Wikipedia), for history
- Census TIGERweb
Also from Oregon Living: Oregon Living in Portland, Oregon · Oregon Living in Tigard, Oregon · Oregon Living in West Linn, Oregon · Oregon Living in Tualatin, Oregon · Oregon Living in Milwaukie, Oregon.