Portland

Portland is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 85.21% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Portland is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Portland who work in management occupations (12.67%), office and administrative support (9.99%), and sales jobs (8.49%).

Of important note, Portland is also a city of artists. Portland has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Portland’s character.

Also of interest is that Portland has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in Portland telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 12.69% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Portland is a popular destination for single career-starters. One thing that you will notice when you are out and about town is that there is a large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters out at restaurants, listening to live music, and enjoying other activities. They are a real visible part of the culture of Portland. This makes Portland a good place to live for young professionals. With so many people in this demographic, Portland presents many opportunities for single professionals to enjoy themselves, socialize, and to create lasting relationships.

Portland is a big city, and with that comes lots of benefits. One benefit is that most big cities have public transit, but Portland really shines when it comes to the extensiveness and use of its public transit system. More than most large American cities, Portland citizens use public transit daily to get to and from work. And while there are transportation options, most people in Portland ride the bus. Whereas in some cities one is destined to sit in traffic every morning to get to work and every evening to get home, in Portland a lot leave their cars at home (if they even choose to own one), and hop a ride on the bus.

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Portland, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Portland is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 50.98% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Portland in 2018 was $43,811, which is wealthy relative to Oregon and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $175,244 for a family of four. However, Portland contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Portland is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Portland home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Portland residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Portland include German, English, Irish, Italian, and European.

The most common language spoken in Portland is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Vietnamese.