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Oregon · Portland Metro · Mount Hood Country · #136 Most Populous County in the US
Clackamas County, Oregon
Portland's south suburban anchor - Lake Oswego, Oregon City, Milwaukie, Happy Valley, and the gateway to Mount Hood. Oregon's unique Measure 50 property tax system caps assessed values independently of market value. Property tax, courts, public records, probate, and senior services for Clackamas County residents.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
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Clackamas County's assessment ratio means effective tax rates are low — but incorrect appraisals still cost money. Ownwell manages the appeal with no upfront cost.
Office: Clackamas County Emergency Management – 2200 Kaen Rd, Oregon City, OR 97045 | EOC Phone: (503) 650-3342 | Fax: (503) 650-3387; also promotes emergency preparedness via the “ClackGo Prepared” resource.
911/Dispatch: Clackamas County Department of Communications (C-COM) – Emergency: 911 | Non-emergency: (503) 655-8211; answers 911 for all of Clackamas County except within Lake Oswego, West Linn, and Milwaukie city limits, which route to Lake Oswego 911 (LOCOM).
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-205 and OR-99E/213 serve Oregon City, the county seat, on the Willamette River near the southern edge of the Portland metro area.
Notes: Oregon City carries the nickname “End of the Oregon Trail” and the Latin motto “Urbs civitatis nostrae prima et mater” (First and mothertown of our state).
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Clackamas County Department of Transportation & Development – 150 Beavercreek Road, Oregon City, OR 97045; enforces county/state codes, solid waste, planning and land use, and building/grading ordinances.
Notes: Oregon City is genuinely, nationally significant: established in 1829 by the Hudson’s Bay Company, it became in 1844 the first U.S. city west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the terminus of the historic Oregon Trail. The land was originally home to the Clowwewalla, Cashhooks, and Molalla peoples. The Clackamas County Courthouse, 807 Main Street, Oregon City, is a historic building still in active use.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Clackamas County Veterans Service Office – 2051 Kaen Road, Suite 281, Oregon City, OR 97045 | (503) 650-5631 | Fax: (503) 655-8669 | [email protected] | Hours: Mon-Thu 7 AM-5 PM (closed Noon-1 PM), closed Friday; Supervisor/CVSO Gus Bedwell; provides free benefits counseling, claims assistance, and burial/survivor benefits guidance.
Federal: West Linn VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic – 1750 SW Blankenship Rd, Suite 300, West Linn, OR 97068 | (503) 210-4900 | Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-4:30 PM (no emergency services on-site).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Library Information Network of Clackamas County (LINCC) – a countywide consortium of 13 public libraries established as a funding levy in 1977. Oregon City Public Library – 606 John Adams Street, Oregon City, OR 97045 | (503) 657-8269 | Hours: Mon-Fri 10 AM-6:30 PM; ~83,000-volume collection, ~502,000 items circulated annually. County-operated branches: Gladstone Library and Oak Lodge Library, 3783 SE Concord Rd, Oak Grove, OR 97267 | (503) 650-3187.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The McLoughlin House (est. 1845, a National Historic Site) and the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City are the county’s premier historic attractions.
Notes: The genuine “first US city west of the Rockies to incorporate” and “End of the Oregon Trail” heritage is among the most historically significant facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Clackamas County Assessor – confirm current phone via clackamas.us.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
County: Clackamas County Dog Services – provides dog shelter, stray care, adoptions, and lost-and-found services; Licensing: [email protected] | Lost/Found: [email protected]; confirm current phone via clackamas.us.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Clackamas County Sanitary Sewer/Surface Water Management – confirm current contact via clackamas.us.
NOTES: Clackamas County is the third county in the Oregon v2 redo’s first batch (Baker, Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Crook). The genuine “End of the Oregon Trail” and first-city-west-of-the-Rockies heritage is one of the most historically significant facts covered in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Clackamas County
Clackamas County is the oldest county in the Pacific Northwest – organized in 1843 under the Provisional Government of Oregon, three years before the Oregon Territory was formally established and six years before Oregon became a US territory. Oregon City (the county seat) was the first incorporated city west of the Rocky Mountains and the original terminus of the Oregon Trail, where exhausted wagon train emigrants arrived after crossing 2,000 miles of prairie, mountain, and desert. The End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City marks this history.
The county today is defined by its position as the southern and southeastern anchor of the Portland metropolitan area. Lake Oswego – the county’s most affluent community, straddling the Clackamas-Multnomah county line – is consistently ranked among Oregon’s wealthiest cities, with a high concentration of corporate professionals, physicians, and executives drawn by the city’s lake frontage, excellent schools, and proximity to Portland. Happy Valley has been one of Oregon’s fastest-growing cities, with master-planned residential developments expanding rapidly into the Clackamas foothills. Milwaukie, West Linn, and Canby each have distinct characters ranging from historic river towns to new suburban growth.
Mount Hood – Oregon’s highest peak (11,249 feet), a dormant stratovolcano and one of the most climbed glaciated peaks in the world – dominates the county’s eastern horizon and is the centerpiece of the Mount Hood National Forest, which covers most of eastern Clackamas County. The Timberline Lodge (built by the WPA in 1937 and used as the exterior for the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s *The Shining*) sits at 6,000 feet on Hood’s southern flank and operates year-round skiing. Mount Hood’s glaciers supply a significant portion of the Portland metro area’s drinking water through the Bull Run watershed.
County government is a five-member Board of County Commissioners with a County Administrator. Separately elected: Assessor, Clerk, District Attorney, Sheriff, and Treasurer.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Oregon’s property tax system is unlike any other in the United States, governed by Measure 50 (1997), which created a permanent dual-value structure:
Real Market Value (RMV): The Clackamas County Assessor estimates RMV annually as of January 1 – this is the assessor’s estimate of what your property would sell for on the open market.
Maximum Assessed Value (MAV): Each property’s MAV was set in 1997 at 90% of its 1995–96 RMV and can increase by no more than 3% per year from that 1997 base – regardless of what the market does. Since the Portland metro market has appreciated dramatically since 1997, the MAV for most established properties is far below current RMV.
Assessed Value (AV): Your taxable value is the lower of RMV or MAV. For most Clackamas County properties, MAV is lower than RMV, meaning you pay taxes on the MAV – and benefit from the 3% annual cap protection regardless of market swings.
When to appeal – Decline in RMV: If your RMV has fallen below your MAV (rare in rising markets, but possible in downturns or for distressed/damaged properties), your AV resets to RMV – costing you the MAV protection. In this case, file an appeal with the Clackamas County Property Value Appeal Board (PVAB). The appeal deadline is December 31 of the assessment year. File at the Clackamas County Assessor’s office (150 Beavercreek Road, Oregon City, 503-655-8671). Pay the $62.50 filing fee. Appeals are heard by the PVAB; further appeal goes to the Oregon Tax Court Magistrate Division.
Note on MAV errors: Sometimes the Assessor incorrectly calculates the MAV – through errors in property description, incorrect exception for new construction or additions, or wrong base-year values. These errors can be corrected without a formal PVAB appeal in some cases by contacting the Assessor directly.
Senior Deferral: Oregon’s Senior/Disabled Deferral program allows qualifying homeowners age 62 or older (or disabled) with household income at or below $60,000 to defer payment of property taxes – the deferred amount accrues interest at 6% per year and becomes a lien on the property, collected when the property is sold or transferred. Apply through the Oregon Department of Revenue (not the county). Deadline: August 15.
Oregon has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Federal estate tax applies above approximately $13.9 million (2025).
OWNWELL CTA: Clackamas County’s PVAB appeal deadline is December 31 – one of the latest deadlines in the country. The dual RMV/MAV system means most appeals are about RMV declining below MAV, not about standard over-assessment. Senior deferral (age 62+, income ≤$60K) can be a powerful cash flow tool. No OR estate or inheritance tax. Ownwell manages the PVAB appeal with no upfront cost.
Recommended
Clackamas County's PVAB appeal deadline is December 31 - one of the latest deadlines in the country. The dual RMV/MAV system means most appeals are about RMV declining below MAV, not about standard over-assessment. Senior deferral (age 62+, income ≤$60K) can be a powerful cash flow tool. No OR estate or inheritance tax. Ownwell manages the PVAB appeal with no upfront cost.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
The Clackamas County Circuit Court at 807 Main Street, Oregon City (503-655-8447) handles all civil, criminal, family, and probate matters. The Clackamas County Clerk at 1710 Red Soils Court, Suite 100, Oregon City (503-655-8662) maintains all court records and land records – deeds, mortgages, and recorded documents – searchable online at clackamas.us.
Oregon probate: estates with assets over $275,000 (or any real property regardless of value) generally require formal probate. Oregon allows Transfer on Death deeds for real property. Oregon’s simplified small estate affidavit process is available for qualifying smaller estates.
Oregon Trail / Oregon City estate history: Oregon City’s historic position as the first American city in the West has produced generations of families with deep roots in Pacific Northwest land ownership. Clackamas County families with pre-statehood land grants, historic homesteads, and multi-generational timber or agricultural land face complex chain-of-title issues, easement histories, and succession challenges that require specialized Oregon real property expertise.
Lake Oswego and tech/medical executive planning: Clackamas County’s concentration of high-income Portland metro professionals in Lake Oswego and West Linn – physicians at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), Nike and Intel executives from Washington County who cross the Willamette, and tech founders – creates estate planning needs around equity compensation, closely held business interests, and Oregon’s absence of an estate tax (which is actually favorable for planning relative to Washington State, which has an estate tax above ~$2.2 million).
Senior Services: The Clackamas County Social Services – Aging, Disability and Veterans’ Services (503-655-8640) at 2051 Kaen Road, Oregon City coordinates senior centers, home-delivered meals, transportation, SHIBA Medicare counseling (Oregon’s SHIP program), caregiver support, Adult Protective Services, and connections to Oregon Medicaid long-term care programs.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
807 Main St, Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 655-8817
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Clackamas County Circuit Court, Oregon City (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Oregon City is the terminus of the Oregon Trail, giving the county rich pioneer-era historical resources.
Local societies
No dedicated Clackamas County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Clackamas County Circuit Court 807 Main Street, Oregon City, OR 97045 (503) 655-8447
Clackamas County is in northwestern Oregon (part of the Portland metro area), seated in Oregon City – Oregon’s third most populous county.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Oregon has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code, maintaining its own independent probate code under ORS Chapters 111 through 117. Probate is handled in the probate department of the Circuit Court in the county where the decedent lived (ORS 111.085). Oregon does not offer a separate unsupervised/informal probate track – its “simple estate” process and formal administration are the two paths.
Simple Estate Affidavit (ORS 114.505–114.560) – available when the total fair market value of the estate is $275,000 or less, made up of no more than $75,000 in personal property and no more than $200,000 in real property. The affidavit (“Affidavit of Claiming Successor”) cannot be filed until at least 30 days after death and must be filed with the clerk of the probate court. It requires a detailed asset description, a list of known creditors, and notice that claims are barred unless presented within 4 months of filing.
Full Probate Administration – required for estates that exceed the simple estate limits or don’t otherwise qualify. A personal representative is appointed by the court and administers the estate under ongoing court oversight.
Step 2: filing for administration
A petition for probate is filed in the Circuit Court in the county where the decedent resided (or, for simple estates, an Affidavit of Claiming Successor is filed with the probate clerk at least 30 days after death).
If a will exists, it’s filed with the petition or affidavit.
For full administration, the court appoints a personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Notice is given to heirs, devisees, and creditors; claims against the estate must generally be presented within the statutory period.
The personal representative (or affiant, for simple estates) inventories assets, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes what remains according to the will or Oregon’s intestacy laws.
Full administration closes once a final account is filed and approved by the court; simple estates close once assets are distributed and any required notices are filed.
What it costs
Filing fees vary; check with Clackamas County directly for current fees.
Oregon imposes a state estate tax on estates exceeding approximately $1,000,000, with rates ranging from 10% to 16%. No state inheritance tax.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
2223 Kaen Rd, Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 655-8218
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
1710 Red Soils Ct, Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 655-8510
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
2051 Kaen Rd, Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 655-8471
Department of Human Services
2051 Kaen Rd, Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 655-8640
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Clackamas County Public Health – 1710 Red Soils Ct., Suite 100, Oregon City, OR 97045; Health Centers primary care/dental: (503) 655-8471; mental/behavioral health: (503) 655-8401.
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Recommended for Oregon
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