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St. Helens is a city in and the county seat of Columbia County, Oregon, on the west bank of the Columbia River about 28 miles northwest of Portland.

The 2020 census counted 13,817 residents in St. Helens, with 5,302 households.

The city was founded by Captain Henry Montgomery Knighton in 1845 as Plymouth and was renamed St. Helens in the latter part of 1850 for its view of Mount St. Helens, roughly 39 miles away in Washington.

St. Helens was established as a river port in the 1840s, was surveyed and platted by Scottish-born Peter Crawford, and was incorporated as a city in 1889.

The adjacent town of Houlton merged with St. Helens in 1914 and is now part of the West St. Helens neighborhood.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through and camped in the area that is now St. Helens on the night of November 5, 1805, while on their way to the Pacific Ocean, and Clark observed low rocky cliffs there.

In 1853 the Pacific Mail Steamship Company tried to make St. Helens its only stop on the Columbia River, but Portland merchants boycotted the effort and the San Francisco steamship Peytona helped break the impasse.

U.S. Route 30 passes through the city, and Milton Creek flows through town, entering Multnomah Channel via Scappoose Bay.

St. Helens uses ZIP code 97051 and has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate.

In October the town embraces the Halloween spirit with a month-long celebration of spooky events and decorations for families.