Employment and Wages in Oregon Nonprofits

August 07, 2026

A not-for-profit corporation, commonly referred to as a “nonprofit,” is organized to achieve a purpose other than to generate a profit. These entities qualify for federal tax-exempt status and must reinvest any surplus revenues into efforts that further the mission of the organization. They are prohibited from passing profits on to those who control the organization. These organizations range from trade unions and religious groups to food banks and private schools. Many hospitals are also organized as nonprofit corporations.

For the purposes of this article, the impact of nonprofits presented is limited to employment and wages.

Oregon’s 2025 nonprofit stats:

• 10,447 nonprofit establishments with employment and payroll

• 198,000 nonprofit jobs

• 43% of all nonprofit firms were in the other services industry

• 63% of nonprofit employment was in health care and social assistance

• $74,902 in annual average pay

Keep in mind that not all nonprofit organizations are employers and are not included in the employment and wage data presented here. Nonprofits in Oregon must file articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State’s office, while the Department of Justice regulates charitable activities.

The Secretary of State’s office provides a searchable database of active nonprofit corporations.

Likewise, the Department of Justice has a searchable database for Oregon charities.

How Many Nonprofit Employers Are There in Oregon?

Nonprofit organizations play an integral role in Oregon’s economy. They made up 6% of all private businesses in the state and had 198,000 jobs, accounting for 12% of Oregon’s private-sector employment in 2025. As a share of Oregon’s total (private and public) employment, nonprofits made up 10% in 2025, nearly as much as the state’s leisure and hospitality industry.

Nonprofits by Industry

Health care and social assistance dominated Oregon’s nonprofit employment in 2025, representing 125,500 jobs or 63%. The other services industry included 24,200 nonprofit jobs and educational services employed 18,900. Together, the top three industries represented 85% of Oregon’s total nonprofit employment.

Nonprofit Hospitals: Health Care and Social Assistance

Health care and social assistance led nonprofits with 125,500 jobs or 63% of Oregon’s nonprofit employment. There is a large amount of diversity in the industry from assisted living facilities to mental health services. However, hospitals completely overshadow the sector’s employment. Oregon’s nonprofit hospitals (general medical and surgical; psychiatric and substance abuse; and specialty) included 120 reporting units in 2025 and employed 60,700 workers, or 48% of the nonprofit health care and social assistance industry’s total employment. Social assistance had the largest number of reporting units in the sector with 1,564, representing more than half of all the nonprofit business establishments in health care and social assistance. However, social assistance only made up 20% of the jobs in the sector with 24,950 jobs.

Service Organizations

Other services represented about 12% of the state’s nonprofit employment (24,200 jobs). The correlation between other services and nonprofits makes sense. It is the industry that includes religious, grant making, civic, professional, and similar organizations. Places of worship, the Boys & Girls Club, The United Way, and local chambers of commerce are some of the most widely recognized nonprofits in Oregon, and there are a lot of these organizations across the state. Other services accounted for 43% of Oregon’s nonprofit organizations (4,445).

Educational and Employment Training Providers

Educational services accounted for 10% of Oregon’s nonprofit employment in 2025 with 18,900 jobs. The organizations in this industry range from preschools and tutoring services to colleges and employment training places. Nonprofit elementary and secondary schools represented the biggest slice with 10,300 jobs (55%) and 351 reporting units (33%). Nonprofit colleges, universities, and professional schools accounted for 6,200 jobs (33%) while representing 23% of the nonprofit educational services provider reporting units. Other schools and instruction, including sports training, provided 1,500 jobs (8%), and 18% of nonprofit educational services reporting units.

Pay at Nonprofits Follows Industry Standards

Oregon’s private industries paid an average annual wage of $71,936 in 2025, compared with $74,902 for nonprofits. The average wage gap between nonprofits and all private employers was $2,966 (4%) in 2025, with many industries differing by even more.

In 2025, three industry sectors reported higher annual average wages for nonprofits compared with all private businesses. Nonprofits in natural resources and mining paid an average of $52,867 in 2025, which exceeded all private pay by about $1,900 or 4%. However, natural resources and mining made up less than 1% of total nonprofit employment. Leisure and hospitality also favored nonprofits by $5,514 (+17%), despite having a relatively low annual average pay of $37,548.

Education and health services, Oregon’s largest nonprofit sector, enjoyed a pay advantage of nearly $13,000 or 19% over all private employers, paying an average of $80,201 in 2025. While wages in education and health services are highly concentrated in ambulatory health care services and hospitals, all subsectors in health care enjoyed a wage premium relative to the total private average annual wage. Other services paid $43,623 in 2024, falling about $9,300 or 17% below all private employers.

Rural Versus Urban

Oregon’s 21 nonmetro counties provided a home base for 1,600 nonprofit employer units in 2025, or 6% of all nonmetro private industry employer reporting units. Nonprofit organizations provided about 23,200 rural Oregon jobs, or 9% of all nonmetro private employment.

In Oregon’s metropolitan areas, nonprofits provided close to 171,600 jobs in 2025, or 10% of all metro private employment. With about 8,100 employer units, metros provided a home base for 78% of Oregon nonprofits, and nonprofits represented 5% of all metro private employer units.

Only four rural counties provided 1% or more of Oregon’s nonprofit jobs in 2025. Douglas County led rural Oregon with 4,000 nonprofit jobs, or 2.0% of Oregon’s total, followed by Klamath County (1.6%), Umatilla County (1.3%), and Clatsop County (1.0%). Metropolitan areas commanded 78% of Oregon’s nonprofit employment led by Multnomah County’s 31% (61,600 jobs). Together with Washington County (11.0%) and Lane County (8.3%), Oregon’s top three metro counties represented just over 50% of all nonprofit jobs in 2025.

The Future of Nonprofit Employment

The future of nonprofit employment in Oregon is directly linked to growth in health care and social assistance. The industry provided over 314,800 jobs in 2025, an increase of about 21% or 54,700 since 2016, including the reclassification of home care workers from state government in 2018. With 63% of Oregon’s nonprofit employment in 2025, health care and social assistance will continue to lead its job growth. Health care and social assistance represented an even larger share of rural Oregon’s nonprofit employment and payroll. The industry provided 71% of rural Oregon’s 23,200 nonprofit jobs along with 83% of its $1.5 billion payroll.