In Forest Grove, you feel an intentional departure from metropolitan life — though Forest Park is but a 30-minute drive away, and Portland’s downtown just 10 minutes farther. Families who want a quieter life — and the city within reach — will feel at home here, where the food and drink are still top-notch, and the downtown improvement plan is focused on the charming details like outlets for street tree lighting and new trash cans.
Forest Grove’s additional attributes include small-town charm. It’s home to Holiday in the Grove, a celebration with a Hallmark-movie-worthy holiday light parade, and (randomly) the world’s largest barber pole. And Forest Grove boasts a strong track record in safety with an average police response time to high-priority calls of just 2.7 minutes in the first half of 2025. (In contrast, President of the Portland Police Association Aaron Schmautz said in April of 2025 that it sometimes can take Portland Police Bureau up to a half hour to respond to high-priority calls.)
What Neighbors Say
For Jamie Ford’s family of six, life in Forest Grove has come full circle. A mom of four and a real estate broker at John L. Scott Market Center, her grandparents bought their house in the city’s Old Town neighborhood (where vintage homes abound) in the 1970s — a house they still occupy today. Ford was born and raised in Forest Grove, though she lived in a few other places in early adulthood, including a stint overseas. After having her first two children, now 14 and 16, she went through a divorce, and the pull to be back with her family was strong.
Ford found the support she needed in her family, but also in her community — and she never left. “There truly is a tight-knit bond between parents who connect from school, sports activities, the many Mommy and Me groups and local activities. We have an incredibly supportive and diverse community,” she says.
Forest Grove is home to Pacific University, which brings Hawaiian culture to the area because it offers in-state tuition to Hawaii residents. Ford says the Corn Roast on campus in September is always great, and that’s just one of the many all-out community events this town is known for. Now she has two more children, ages 4 and 5, and there’s plenty for all her kids to enjoy, including a skate park, Theater in the Grove (a locally run live community theater), the summer concert series at McMenamins Grand Lodge, and “pretty much every sport you could think of,” Ford says.
“It’s such a fantastic town, so beautiful with its tree-lined streets,” she says. “But what kept me here is really that it feels so safe and quaint, yet it’s still so convenient.”
The only complaints Ford says she hears around town are centered around what she calls “growing pains” and they come from people who remember a town with a population half the size it is now a few decades ago. But, she says, “I have always found Forest Grove and surrounding areas to be supportive, kind, and accepting to all.”
Play Here
Rogers Park (pictured above) is one of the more charming parks for children thanks to the addition of Anna and Abby’s yard in 2020, a magical outdoor play area with a gut-wrenching back story. In 2013, young Anna and Abby lost their lives in a tragic hit-and-run accident while playing with the leaves in their front yard. The play structures in this park, many of them built from a repurposed 200-year-old sequoia tree donated by a neighbor, invoke whimsical play with a climbable dragon, statues of two sweet fairies, and a little play house with a secret closet where people can put books and toys.
In comparison, Stites Park is a minimalist park for play — but the innovative “Story Walk in the Park” creates wonderful fun for littles. The short nature loop is punctuated with (mostly) weatherproof stands displaying the pages (at little kid eye-level) of a seasonally appropriate story each month, making a nature walk easier for little legs and attention spans alike.
And if fun in nature is what you’re after, Forest Grove has much to offer. Hagg Lake and the Fernhill Wetlandsboth offer plenty of exploration and chances to see wildlife, and the Tillamook State Forest is immediately west of the city.
Eat Here
Wine-lovers may be especially at home in this area of Oregon, where vineyards abound. Carpenter Creek Winery has horses that little ones may pet and feed while grown-ups enjoy a tasting. Children are also allowed at the gorgeous David Hill Winery, one of the northernmost vineyards in the Willamette Valley. Downtown Forest Grove offers plenty in the way of gastronomic delights, including the newly relocated Pelagic Brewing, which has a sweet nautical-themed play area and a full bin of gently used picture books. Kama‘āina has incredibly delicious Hawaiian food (pictured above) with an equally superb kids’ menu. SaWa’s Donburi offers authentic Japanese while VEx Bar’s Vietnamese menu changes daily to reflect the freshest ingredients possible and welcomes families. Also worth a visit for dine-in or takeout are New Chinese Cuisine and Pac Thai.
Live Here
$525,000: Median home price
$1,670: Average rent for a 2-bedroom apartment
Source: Realtor.com and Zumper.com