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Actually, Seattle is only slightly larger in population:
2010 World Almanac:
Seattle population (2008) 598,000
Portland population (2008) 557,000
Seattle's skyline might make for a better sight from a distance, but at ground level I'll take Portland's downtown over Seattle's downtown any day. It is much more walkable with more cafes, bars, restaurants, stores, etc. Downtown Seattle has more generic, sterile office buildings.
City proper populations don't mean much at all in most of these comparisons. You have to compare the entire metro area to get an idea of how big a city really is- Seattle is at 3.5 million, Portland is at 2.5 million. So Seattle is a lot larger.
I've noticed (lived in both cities btw) that Seattlites are much more open to admitting the faults and needed areas of improvement to their city than Portlanders......tell a die hard Rose City fan there is any shortcoming to their city, and well - just don't do that.
Boots on the ground, deep in the city, both places feel quite urban. But Seattle has more of that older, dirty / gritty feel while Portland feels clean, sparkly and maybe even refreshing!
I've noticed (lived in both cities btw) that Seattlites are much more open to admitting the faults and needed areas of improvement to their city than Portlanders......tell a die hard Rose City fan there is any shortcoming to their city, and well - just don't do that.
Portlanders can get kind of sensitive if a person from outside of Portland knocks P-town as being a smaller city or for being overly liberal or whatever... But at the same time, a lot of people in Portland constantly discuss the problems of the city...More so older residents, but there is an entire industry of blogs in Portland harping on the direction that the city/metro govenment has taken in regards to development--and especially about the actions of the Portland Development Commision. Especially in regards to light rail and the urban renewal condo developments throughout town or the state of downtown Portland. It's more so the transplants who come with stars in their eyes and look sad when people knock the Rose City.
Then again there is kind of a native Oregonian thing too, where people will claim that Oregon is the greatest place on Earth but then wonder why the hell would anyone from California or the East Coast ever want to live here---but if simliarly a person from the outside of the region knocks Portland, they get extremely defensive about it. It's all kind of part of the internally focused provincialism of Oregon---which is great when it leads to things like restricting coastal development or protecting farmland outside urban areas, but annoying when you're trying to have an honest conversation about the state.
I've never got the feeling as much about Washington however---maybe because the state is larger and has multiple population centers and the whole east-west divide. Seattlites seem to be more business focused as well---while Portland is a city that attracts more for it's supposed laid back quality of life amenities. While Seattle has a lot of the same attractions, you have more people who are seriously career driven then Portland.
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