Stretching two miles east of the Willamette River, Oak Grove is an unincorporated community in northern Clackamas County that's less than 25 minutes from downtown Portland on state Route 99E. It offers a mixture of old and new houses in a suburban environment with plenty of parks and places to grab a bite to eat.
Oak Grove's somewhat gridded streets offer an even mixture of ranch-style houses from the 1960s, split-levels from the 1970s, and contemporary houses built within the past 30 years. They sit atop 8,000 to 12,000-square-foot lots with plenty of space for a well-manicured front lawn, a wide driveway, and a fenced backyard with plenty of trees. These old and new houses range from $400,000 to $750,000 apiece. Though you can expect to pay a premium — sometimes upwards of $1 million or more — for riverfront houses and those situated atop a ridge on the community's eastern boundary that offers views of the river. Sidewalks only exist in the community's newest subdivisions, so you'll need a car to run the most basic errands. The community also boasts a dense canopy of trees that provides plenty of shade and leaves neighborhood children could spend an entire fall raking.
Oak Grove's most prominent feature is a three-mile-long section of the Willamette River's eastern shore between Elk Rock Island and Hog Island. Most of the community's riverfront houses have private docks to go fishing or boating, while the 5-acre Rivervilla Park offers a few public river access points. A 40-million-year-old land bridge directly links Elk Rock Island and Spring Park when it's not underwater. The 10-acre Hog Island is accessible only by boat. Head further into the community, and you'll find two 5-acre parks -- Risley Park and Stringfield Family Park -- that feature athletic fields and a playground for children. These two parks are on the North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District's Trolley Trail, a paved and gravel multi-use trail that follows an old streetcar right-of-way for six miles from Oregon City to Milwaukie.
Oak Grove's children will attend Oak Grove, Riverside, or View Acres elementary schools before moving to Alder Creek Middle School and Rex Putnam High School. All five of these schools received between a B and a C- on Niche.com, while the website named Rex Putnam the 10th-best of Clackamas County's 23 public high schools.
And Oak Grove residents have their pick of three grocery stores – a Fred Meyer, a Grocery Outlet, and a Walmart – when they need to stock up on essentials. These three stores are on a densely developed portion of state Route 99E that cuts the community in half on its way from Oregon City to Milwaukie. The Oak Grove 8 Cinema sits on this strip along with a few local restaurants like The Grove Restaurant and Bar, a pizza place turned sports bar that's served the community for almost 20 years, Sushi Kata Japanese Restaurant, and Voodoo Doughnut's Oak Grove location, where you can get the same treats served at the Portland's Voodoo Doughnut shop without standing in line for two hours. And speaking of Portland, Tri-Met's Orange MAX light rail line will get you from the SE Park Avenue Station at Oak Grove's northern tip to the city center in 25 minutes if you don't feel like doing the 9-mile drive down state Route 11E.
Patti Gage
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices NW Real Estate
(971) 255-5429
138 Total Sales
2 in Oak Grove
$465K - $500K Price Range
Tracy Wiens
John L. Scott Portland Central
(503) 782-1844
184 Total Sales
1 in Oak Grove
$560,000 Price
Eric Lehouiller
Oregon Choice Group
(971) 233-6265
119 Total Sales
7 in Oak Grove
$387K - $750K Price Range
Ernest Cooper
Cooper Realty LLC
(503) 608-7295
113 Total Sales
2 in Oak Grove
$416K - $575K Price Range
Tedi McKnight-Heikes
Engel & Volkers West Portland
(360) 946-0133
53 Total Sales
1 in Oak Grove
$599,000 Price
Cindy Sehorn-Singh
Soldera Properties, Inc
(971) 351-1553
54 Total Sales
2 in Oak Grove
$715K - $900K Price Range