Jewish residents of Portland, Ore., have been the targets of 34 of 48 religion-based hate crimes in the city, or 71%, since the fourth quarter of 2023, during which the Oct. 7 attacks occurred, according to Portland Police Bureau data.
Oregon’s Jewish population is estimated to be about 1.7% of the state. Portland is the state’s largest city. According to a 2023 study conducted by Brandeis University and sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, there are around 56,600 Jews in the Greater Portland area, 2.3% of the area’s population.
Jews were the targets of 8.9% of all hate crimes in the city since the last quarter of 2023, according to the police data.
The police department also included data on hate incidents, which aren’t crimes. Of 103 religion-based hate crimes and incidents in the city since the last quarter of 2023, 73 targeted Jews, or 71%.
Bob Horenstein, chief community relations and public affairs officer for the Portland Jewish Federation, told JNS that data on both hate crimes and incidents shows that “we’re still seeing a lot of antisemitic incidents in our area,” including in K-12 schools, college campuses and the healthcare sector.
“I’ve been doing this for a long, long time, and my role has changed in the sense that now, I probably spend three-quarters of my time addressing antisemitism,” he said. “We, the Federation, spent over $1.5 million last year for security for our community institutions.”
In 2025, Jews were the targets of 14 of 18, or 78%, of religion-based hate crimes in the city. Muslims, by comparison, were victims of three, or about 16.7%. Eight of the anti-Jewish hate crimes that year were vandalism and one was an assault.
In 2024, 13 of 16 religion-based hate crimes targeted Jews, or about 81%. None targeted Muslims that year. The anti-Jewish hate crimes in the city in 2024 included five instances of vandalism, one instance of disorderly conduct and one instance of intimidation, per the data.
The most recent data in the dashboard comes from the first quarter of 2026, when one of two religion-based hate crimes targeted Jews, or 50%.
Anti-Muslim hate incidents outpaced anti-Jewish incidents three to one.
The police website states that graffiti instances are reported separately to the graffiti abatement program in the city’s community and civic life office.
Horenstein told JNS that some Portland synagogues have armed guards, particularly during High Holidays. His congregation has a preschool, where there is always an armed guard, he said.
“Every time something happens—doesn’t matter where it happens, it could be Michigan—and our community will be on edge,” he said. “We’re trying to be very vigilant, much more so than three years ago, but that’s sort of the reality we’re living through now.”
Horenstein doesn’t think that the Portland City Council has helped make Jews feel safe.
The city expanded the council from five members plus the mayor to 12 and the mayor. That has weakened the voice of the mayor, who has denounced Jew-hatred, according to Horenstein.
Four members of the council are part of the Democratic Socialists of America and two others are aligned with it. A year ago, the four members signed a pledge to investigate the city’s complicity in Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, he said.
The four democratic socialist members have pushed an agenda that included divesting from Israel and terminating Portland’s sister city relationship with Ashkelon, which has been inactive for more than 20 years, according to Horenstein.
“I think a lot of Jewish residents of Portland feel like they’re putting us at risk, and the same is true with anyone who accuses Israel of genocide,” he told JNS.
The Jewish community has a “very good” relationship with the local police, but the department is “very understaffed,” according to Horenstein.
“They should have at least 1,200, if not more, and they only have 800 police officers,” he told JNS. “That’s a problem.”
