Portland, OR (population: 573,530) has six law and criminal justice schools within its city limits. Lewis & Clark College, the highest ranked school in the city with a law and criminal justice program, has a total student population of 3,523. It is the 127th highest ranked school in the USA and the 2nd highest in the state of Oregon (#1 is Reed College). To learn more about law and criminal justice programs in Portland, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of law and criminal justice professors at Lewis & Clark College such as Paula Abrams, Toni Berres-Paul, Jack Bogdanski, Brown, Jorge Juarez, and Steve Kanter.
Law and Criminal Justice students from Portland schools who go on to become law and criminal justice professionals, corrections officers, jailers, court reporters, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 556,790 people working as lawyers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $129,020. Also, Arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators make on average $63,250 per year and there are about 8,110 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton-WA area alone, there are 80 employed arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators earning an average salary of $74,600. Lawyers in this area earn $102,890/yr and there are 3,540 employed.
Portland lies in Clackamas county, which is one of the 16 counties in Oregon. Overall, the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton-WA area has 993,470 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.6% unemployment rate, $22.15/hr average worker wage, and a $46,080 average annual salary. Thus, about 3.561 out of every 1000 jobs in Portland are held by lawyers, and 0.081/1000 are held by arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators.
Of the 6 law and criminal justice schools in Portland, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Lewis & Clark College comes out as the most expensive ($28,753/yr) for law and criminal justice students, with Portland Community College as the lowest, reported at only $6,829/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Portland |
| Vancouver | WA | 169,603 | 5 | 29.2795 | 91 | 6.3 miles |
| Beaverton | OR | 94,639 | 1 | 27.5128 | 6 | 8.8 miles |
| Aloha | OR | 48,328 | 1 | 25.9507 | 7 | 10.8 miles |
| Gresham | OR | 104,562 | 1 | 12.9715 | 88 | 11.0 miles |
| Oregon City | OR | - | 1 | 13.6089 | 75 | 12.9 miles |
| McMinnville | OR | - | 3 | 33.009 | 71 | 34.7 miles |
| Salem | OR | 157,890 | 12 | 32.4146 | 406 | 46.3 miles |
| The Dalles | OR | - | 1 | 11.3829 | 21 | 71.8 miles |
| Astoria | OR | - | 2 | 18.4622 | 36 | 72.0 miles |
| Corvallis | OR | 51,582 | 1 | 28.8426 | 8 | 73.6 miles |