State number crunchers have confirmed what plenty of locals already feel in their wallets: Oregon’s income gap by county is massive and hard to ignore. Deschutes County sits at the top with roughly $87,000 per person in 2024, while several eastern and coastal counties come in at roughly half that level. The split shows up not only in wages but also in how much income comes from investments and from government transfer payments, and that mix shapes what local governments can afford to do.
Those numbers come from a county-by-county breakdown of 2024 per-capita personal income compiled by the state. According to the Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s 2024 per-capita personal income averaged $70,908, and the department breaks each county’s total into net earnings, dividends, interest and rent, and transfer receipts.
Portland Suburbs and Central Oregon Lead the Ranking
Using those state figures, OregonLive reports Deschutes County (home to Bend) with about $87,383 per person in 2024, followed by Clackamas, Washington, Multnomah and Hood River. OregonLive highlights that the Portland suburbs have the state’s highest earned-income profiles, with Washington County’s per-person net earnings sitting near $54,600–$55,000. In Central Oregon a substantial share of Deschutes’ per-capita personal income comes from dividends, interest and rent, which account for more than a quarter of income in the Bend area.
Rural Counties Lag and Lean on Transfer Payments
At the lower end, the Oregon Employment Department’s table places Malheur County around $44,201 per person and lists Wheeler and Curry among the counties with the smallest per-capita personal income. The agency’s breakdown also shows those lower-income counties drawing a much larger share of personal income from transfer receipts. The report flags Malheur, Curry and Wheeler as having the highest transfer-receipt shares, a pattern it links to a higher share of older residents in many rural areas.
What the Numbers Mean for Local Economies
The same income gaps show up in other state measures. Business Oregon’s 2026 distressed-areas index uses per-capita personal income along with unemployment and wage metrics, and several of the low-PCPI counties land on that list. According to Business Oregon, the classification guides where the state prioritizes technical assistance and grant funding, so the per-capita income map quickly turns into real budget and policy choices for rural communities.
For Central Oregon and the Portland suburbs, strong wages and investment income keep per-person incomes high. For counties in the east and along the coast, the numbers highlight long-running challenges tied to demographics, the local job base and public services, and they help explain why county leaders and state officials keep such a close eye on per-capita personal income when they decide where the money goes.
