Portland is a very large city located in the state of Oregon. With a population of 635,067 people and 188 associated neighborhoods, Portland is the largest community in Oregon. Portland home prices are not only among the most expensive in Oregon, but Portland real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Portland is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 85.75% 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 (13.18%), office and administrative support (9.20%), and sales jobs (8.09%). 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 22.04% 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. One of the benefits of being a big city like Portland is having a public transportation system, but in Portland the transit system is the mode of choice for lots of people getting to and from work every day. You will find many people using the bus for their daily commute, even though other transportation options exist. If you ask these commuters, many will tell you that not having to drive in the snarl of big city traffic is one of main reasons for leaving the car at home, or even not owning a car at all. With so many people taking the bus Portland benefits from a reduction in air pollution and traffic.If knowledge is power, Portland is a pretty powerful place. 52.55% of the adults in Portland have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Portland in 2022 was $52,577, which is wealthy relative to Oregon and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $210,308 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. Portland also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 10.27% of the city’s residents. 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.
