Dallas vs Portland?

[mhays25]

Apparently everything about a city can be described as "culture" then.

[Shakeesha]

Originally Posted by march2

I'd leave Portland for DFW without a doubt. DFW's economy is booming and it's much less expensive. A no-brainer to me.

I agree.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by mhays25

What an odd comment. Portland is far more like a traditional city...walkable urban neighborhoods, decent transit with far higher commute share, etc.

And you’re much more likely to find human excrement and piles of trash scattered across the urban core.

[BrianGC]

Originally Posted by Turnerbro

You mean they like Portland's culture better than Dallas's. Though Dallas isn't just chain restaurants and strip malls. That's kind of silly to say that.

I agree that there's more to Dallas than just massive suburbia sprawl, as I really like both Portland and DFW. That being said, I only like visiting Dallas, whereas Portland has the outdoor activities that make it live-able and more interesting long term. Not sure if I'd call that "culture" in and of itself - although the nature has an associated culture (if that makes sense).

For those who have a higher level of outdoor interest, stick with Portland or a myriad of other cities out west or even on the east coast. If you don't care about the outdoors as much (or at all), enjoy hot weather, and still want to be near booming cities, then you can't go wrong with the big Texas metros.

[mhays25]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

And you’re much more likely to find human excrement and piles of trash scattered across the urban core.

By "more urban" I didn't mean imply "perfect."

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

Respectfully, youre information on DC is extremely inaccurate. Below is information for both by metro area:

My DC information was outdated, but your "bay area" information was not correct in any way. The San Francisco MSA is not equivalent to the bay area.

In fact, DC is the only other metro area in the US (other than NYC and LA) that has at least 10% of every group.

That's an arbitrary statistic. Here's another: the bay area is the only area in the US with it's largest race/ethnicity group having less than 40% of the population. In essence, true minority-majority.

Then if we dig deeper, you can see that DC's black population is not just African American. It rivals NYC as the number one spot for foreign born Africans. The San Francisco Bay Area has almost no foreign born Africans to speak of. DC's Hispanic population is smaller than the Bay Area, but its also way more diverse with a much larger Central and South American population than the Bay Area. The Bay Area just has way more Mexicans.

See comparison below. 34 vs. 42. However, SF's group's are far more statistically significant than DCs, so I wouldn't call it a win for DC. The DC foreign-born population is 22%, which is 21st amongst all MSAs. SF MSA is 5th and San Jose MSA is 2nd in the country.

I would also draw your attention to this thread which breaks everything down by country and MSA:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-...r-country.html

Comparing sums doesn't seem fair when you are comparing the 4.68-million SF MSA to the 6.13-million DC MSA. Add in the 1.98-million San Jose to complete the "bay area" seems to make a difference.
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/prog...ropolitan-area

This might offer a better comparison. These are the statistically significant populations of each nationality (tallied for which area has more people):

SF(34): United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Iran, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Israel, Yemen, Australia/New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, Brazil, Nicaragua, Mexico,

DC(42): Greece, Spain, Korea, Afganistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Venezuela, Peru, Guyana, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba,

Toss-up: Bulgaria, Romania, Czech/Slovakia, Lebanon, South Africa

Note that only statistically significant populations were reported (over 2,000). Since San Jose and SF are reported separately, it's entirely possible that DC could have "more" with 2,000, while SF and San Jose have 1,999 each. Not perfect.

Overall, the bay area has a higher foreign born population (and share of total population) for Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Australia/Oceania. DC has Africa.

So at worst, DC is at least as diverse as the Bay Area.[/quote]

I'd still pick SF based on representation of groups, not just having random nationalities with 2,000 people, which is not a significant share of their "diversity".

I also find SF more diverse because as you leave the city it is still diverse. Diversity is found in adjacent counties that could also be part of the "bay area". DC is the opposite. It's either white or black.

But even more than these quantitative reasons, the history and political power of the DC region is a white/black thing. Diversity is better represented and embraced in SF.

[LongLeggedOne]

Originally Posted by march2

I'd leave Portland for DFW without a doubt. DFW's economy is booming and it's much less expensive. A no-brainer to me.

Thats how I feel too. Its a ***** for me to get out of Portland though. Hard to get here, harder to leave is how Portland is to me. DFW I have doubts on now, but Id take it over Portland. I been following stuff and, Portlands burbs are horrible too for travel and easili just as conservative and 'famili oriented", possibli more than somewhere like Garland. People think thei're getting a liberal utopia, but nope.

[LongLeggedOne]

Originally Posted by mhays25

What an odd comment. Portland is far more like a traditional city...walkable urban neighborhoods, decent transit with far higher commute share, etc.

Oh and it acts it too. Dallas I'd see as more accepting if u can cut through some of the fakeness.