About Clackamas

Clackamas is an unincorporated community in Clackamas County, first settled in 1843 and located about 10 miles southeast of downtown Portland, east of Interstate 205 along Oregon Routes 212 and 224 and just north of the Clackamas River. Unlike the incorporated cities that surround it, Clackamas has no city government of its own; it is instead governed as part of unincorporated Clackamas County. As of the 2010 census, the community's population was approximately 7,000, up from 5,177 in 2000, when the median age was 33. Clackamas is home to Clackamas Town Center, one of the largest shopping malls in the Portland metropolitan area, as well as Camp Withycombe, an Oregon Military Department installation, and a branch of Kaiser Permanente Hospital. Students in the area attend schools in the North Clackamas School District, split among Rex Putnam High School, Clackamas High School, and Adrienne C. Nelson High School. The community is served by several TriMet bus lines and the MAX Light Rail Green Line, which terminates at the Clackamas Town Center Transit Center, giving residents a direct rail connection into downtown Portland. Portland International Airport is about 15 miles to the north. Because Clackamas sits within unincorporated Clackamas County, county government provides its municipal services; the county itself is Oregon's third-most populous, with more than 421,000 residents at the 2020 census, and its seat is located in nearby Oregon City. Though modest in land area at roughly 2.18 square miles, Clackamas functions as a significant regional commercial and transit hub within the greater Portland area, distinct from the neighboring cities of West Linn and Lake Oswego, which lie elsewhere within the same county.