Portland VS Seattle (Salem, Beaverton, Hillsboro: spring break, sales, rental market)

[Rob Allen]

You mention that you're Indian-American. Next time you're here, try to catch a gig by these guys: Dj Anjali & The Incredible Kid

And/or head to the Valley Cinema Pub in Beaverton for a Bollywood movie: Valley Cinema Pub

[dperry9]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

I'm an Indian American who is considering portland as well - I was down there for a day and i couldn't get a handle on the city - kind of weird/odd. Not dangerous or anything, just not what I expected.

I like seattle a lot more - portland seems to be a great place to raise a family but for a single person in their 20's it feels pretty boring compared to boswash corridor.

Seattle has captured some of that energy and ambition that you find back east but married it to pacnw culture.

Oregon has Indian Americans but my guess is almost all of them are scientists and scientists employed in the tech sector. I've known a few of them.

Yes, Portland isn't "exciting", and Seattle is probably more so but that's almost entirely based on the size of the two areas. Portland is a slow growth city and I agree it is middle class and family oriented. It's also quite beautiful and most likely safer than Seattle in terms of crime.

If you are Ivy League and you want to live out west, California might be the better place to look, but it's really all going to depend on where you find specific work opportunities, particularly for your target salary. I honestly don't think anywhere west of Chicago is anything like the East Coast.

[carpenterant]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

I guess we're talking about different kinds of 20-somethings.

Portland seems pretty boring in the eyes of 20 somethings graduating from elite universities and making 6 figures right out of college. Or 20 somethings interested in positioning their careers in the power corridors of politics, finance, consulting, start up tech etc.

The type of 20 somethings that live for the 'work hard play hard' type of culture - work hard at your elite firm during the day, bottle service at clubs/lounges in the evenings or hobnobbing at a charity gala etc. I.E. Manhattan, DC, LA type lifestyle. Very fun if you are a 20 something with a great paying job.

Portland struck me as better for families as if you are an middle class/upper middle class family, you can afford decent real estate in the city and send your kids to Lincoln HS pyramid - which seems much better than public school pyramids in cities in the acela corridor (discounting magnet schools like stuy or bronx science).

My generation wants to stay in the city but only the very rich can stay in cities with kids as they can afford private schooling - it seems like in portland you dont have to do that.

I guess i'm analyzing portland from a north-easterners optics and coming to these conclusions.

Haha, I think you're right that we're talking about very different demographics. If there are actually 20-somethings hobnobbing at charity galas in Seattle, and if that's their idea of fun, then good for them I guess.

Nightlife in Portland has traditionally been more about going to see your buddy's band play, or playing bike polo or disc golf in the park, or if you're going to a "gala" event it's probably being put on by yourself or your friend's art organization which is usually just scraping by. That was *fun* in Portland for years, and that's why many young people moved here - the image of a laid back place to have an extended adolescence. This is definitely changing all over the PNW, but it's still no NY or DC, not even Seattle, not even close.

I think you're right on about Portland being a fine place for families to stay right in the city while raising kids.

[dperry9]

Portland is pretty to the eye (and easy on the lungs), mellow, safe, un-huge, reasonably affordable as cities over 2 million go, and I find it creatively stimulating based on the aesthetics of the environment alone. It also has some killer neighborhoods and I actually find many of the Portland neighborhoods more interesting and attractive than a lot of what I saw in the Bay Area.

Oregon may have untapped capitalist potential, but currently it is NOT a big destination for the jet set who dream of a vacation home in Dubai and/or keep up on the latest European sports car designs.

There is a grand total of one billionaire in Oregon and I'm pretty sure you know who that is [cough]Ducks football[/cough].

[mateo384]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

I guess we're talking about different kinds of 20-somethings.

Portland seems pretty boring in the eyes of 20 somethings graduating from elite universities and making 6 figures right out of college. Or 20 somethings interested in positioning their careers in the power corridors of politics, finance, consulting, start up tech etc.

The type of 20 somethings that live for the 'work hard play hard' type of culture - work hard at your elite firm during the day, bottle service at clubs/lounges in the evenings or hobnobbing at a charity gala etc. I.E. Manhattan, DC, LA type lifestyle. Very fun if you are a 20 something with a great paying job.

That sounds like a terrible lifestyle to me.

[dperry9]

I'm not clear on the 20 somethings who work hard and play hard in DC. Do they work for John Boehner?

[mufc1878]

Originally Posted by dperry9

I'm not clear on the 20 somethings who work hard and play hard in DC. Do they work for John Boehner?

Haha...



DC has a absolute truckload of 25-27 graduating law school starting at 160k in biglaw. then you have all the 20 somethings on the hill, consulting (all the big consulting firms have armies of young associates in dc), ngo's....there's a reason why dc during the financial crisis and since then has been one of the top 3 targets if not top target for college grads due to the jobs/relative health of the economy.

that's changed the dynamic of dc - which was supposedly very different 15 years ago, pre 9/11.

[mufc1878]

Originally Posted by dperry9

Portland is pretty to the eye (and easy on the lungs), mellow, safe, un-huge, reasonably affordable as cities over 2 million go, and I find it creatively stimulating based on the aesthetics of the environment alone. It also has some killer neighborhoods and I actually find many of the Portland neighborhoods more interesting and attractive than a lot of what I saw in the Bay Area.

Oregon may have untapped capitalist potential, but currently it is NOT a big destination for the jet set who dream of a vacation home in Dubai and/or keep up on the latest European sports car designs.

There is a grand total of one billionaire in Oregon and I'm pretty sure you know who that is [cough]Ducks football[/cough].

One of the reasons why I'm looking at portland is I'm an outdoors enthusiast and living out east sucks for it.

I do wish portland had maybe 30-40% of seattle's companies in pdx - the concentration of tech firms is ridiculous in seattle - a more balanced distribution between portland and seattle (if you could pluck and drop companies in each city) would make both cities better IMO.

And having such a concentration of firms allows for other businesses to have a presence - mom and pop stuff, retail, consulting, finance, manufacturing etc.

I just found out that portland has america's oldest ferrari dealership so portland perhaps has designs of being a global alpha/tier 1 city!

[mufc1878]

Originally Posted by dperry9

Oregon has Indian Americans but my guess is almost all of them are scientists and scientists employed in the tech sector. I've known a few of them.

Yes, Portland isn't "exciting", and Seattle is probably more so but that's almost entirely based on the size of the two areas. Portland is a slow growth city and I agree it is middle class and family oriented. It's also quite beautiful and most likely safer than Seattle in terms of crime.

If you are Ivy League and you want to live out west, California might be the better place to look, but it's really all going to depend on where you find specific work opportunities, particularly for your target salary. I honestly don't think anywhere west of Chicago is anything like the East Coast.

Indian American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oregon (and portland) are closer to smaller midwest/southern states/cities in terms of indian-american population rather than their counterparts up and down the i5.

I didn't say there weren't any but the #'s are a lot smaller (atleast in my view) compared to what I consider peer states (washington). It's close to a place like south carolina - which i think has nothing in common with oregon (besides gun culture perhaps). Then again I was surprised to see colorado that low as well because I do know of a lot of indian-americans who have moved to colorado in the last 3 years.

I hope no one in this board thought I was 'dissin' portland/oregon - i think there's a lot of nice things going for it and i'm pretty excited to come back out to explore in greater detail.

All I wish was that it was a bit more dynamic economically and ambitious of a city in terms of attracting firms and some more 'type a' people.

[SETabor]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

Haha...



DC has a absolute truckload of 25-27 graduating law school starting at 160k in biglaw. then you have all the 20 somethings on the hill, consulting (all the big consulting firms have armies of young associates in dc), ngo's....there's a reason why dc during the financial crisis and since then has been one of the top 3 targets if not top target for college grads due to the jobs/relative health of the economy.

that's changed the dynamic of dc - which was supposedly very different 15 years ago, pre 9/11.

I don't know about that. I lived in DC pre 9/11. It's been a town about work, and going and getting, and working hard to play yard with Type A people in charge since way before 2001.