Portland VS Seattle (Redmond: transplants, unemployment rate, income)

[mufc1878]

Originally Posted by SETabor

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.

The sheer amount/concentration changed post 9/11 and then really ramped up post financial crisis as grads who would normally go to other cities all converged on dc due to the health of the economy

[dperry9]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

Indian American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yea, I knew the number was pretty small. Actually every Indian American I've known has been from India and they were all scientists. I'm sure there are some working for Intel and scattered other places. There are in fact some that run 7-11's but I won't harp on that.

[dperry9]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

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!

Seattle was always destined to be bigger than Portland because it is coastal and Portland had to rely on river transport. Seattle is the San Francisco of the Northwest. Add to that the fateful presence of the Gates family (and the fact that Bill and Paul Allen didn't like the idea of having Silicon Valley breathing down their necks), the longstanding presence of Boeing (one half of the dual monopoly on large civilian air transportation builders), and some other net bubble success stories like Amazon....and of course STARBUCKS ...and you have that kind of much bigger draw for highly skilled workers and managers, etc.

Portland really only has Nike as far as huge homegrown successes. TBH, I think a lot of Portlanders probably prefer it that way, but I can understand where you're coming from in thinking it might be neat if there was more large scale commercial success and growth in PDX. I know others on this forum will frown on that idea.

[GatsbyGatz]

Seattle also once had Washington Mutual, one of the biggest finance players, before it collapsed during the banking crisis. Surprising how Seattle didn't seem to be negatively affected despite the collapse of such a huge player.

[phlinak]

Originally Posted by Dsero00

Looking to relocate to either Oregon or Washington.


What are the Pros and Cons of each city?

I have heard that Portland is an extremely racist place? any truth to this?

I'm a man of color and the father of four bi-racial kids. We were in Portland for vacation during the week of The Fourth of July and I can honestly say that we could not have been treated any better. Everywhere we went whether it was Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Salem, Cannon Beach, or Seaside, we didn't even get so much as a weird look, let alone an impolite word or remark. We found the people in Oregon to be the friendliest, most approachable, and nicest that we have ever encountered. I thought that Minnesotans were nice but Oregonians have them beat by miles.

Honestly, we had no idea and were very pleasantly surprised. We had such a positive experience that we're hoping to go back during either the Christmas or spring break.

Although Washington is a beautiful place, Oregon is even more beautiful, especially because of the people.

Go to Portland and leave your racial fears in the dumpster.

[phlinak]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

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!

God, I hope not.

Portland is special because it's not like a lot of other cities that are striving to become the next "destination".

I like Portland because it is different and is not only okay with being different but embraces it's uniqueness (Keep Portland Weird, right?).

Portland knows and loves itself, warts and all.

Portland is refreshing because it keeps it real and is always looking to change and improve for the better without "reinventing" itself.

No matter what happens Portland is always Portland and that's what makes it good.

[tifoso]

Originally Posted by Zaba

Yes, it's all true.

All those hipsters meet up at 'White Power Microbrewery' and discuss how awful other races are before tying up a noose with hemp rope, putting on their artisanally hand-crafted flannel Klan robes and marching down Burnside to a limited edition vinyl reissue of 'Sieg Heil Viktoria' as played by an obscure band you've never heard of who they've been listening to since LONG before anyone else.

Post of the week...at the very least!

[tifoso]

I've lived in both places for extended periods. but live in Seattle now.

The Seattle area is a better place to make money, but one can make a strong case that the Portland metro might well be a better place to live. While both share the Pacific Northwest label, in certain ways they are headed on different paths.

Economically, while Portland is doing fine, Seattle is going through one of its periodic boom cycles. It's the fastest growing large city in the country for a reason: job creation (recent layoff announcements for MSFT and Amgen notwithstanding). The consequent influx of people has caused a substantial rise in home prices and even more so in the rental market, particularly near job hot spots such as Amazonia (aka South Lake Union). While you'd have to run the numbers to be sure (Oregon has a fairly steep income tax that hits high rates low on the income scale, while Washington has a ridiculously high sales tax) my guess is that if you can score a job in the Portland area for close to what you'd make in Seattle, your money will go further in Portland. If you can find a job in Vancouver, WA and live on that side of the river, you can avoid the OR income tax and shop in OR to avoid the WA sales tax. Not that I'm advocating tax evasion But it all depends on the specific job you're looking for; if you can work as a developer for Amazon or Google or provide high-value services those folks require, go to Seattle. But if not, Portland might be a better bet.

All that economic activity means that in general Seattle is a noticeably faster-paced place than Portland. One could argue that Portland is more "traditional" Northwest...and I wouldn't disagree.

As far as the racial aspect, both areas have had their problems historically. While Portland has been tarred with the "racist" epithet more recently in the popular mind, the fact remains that it's the Seattle Police Department that's under a consent decree with the US Dept of Justice to clean up its act due to a long-running history of conflict involving members of minority communities.

The public schools are nothing to write home about in either city. As is the case in most metros, the best public schools are located in the most affluent suburbs.

Culturally, Seattle may have an edge, but that's largely a function of having more relatively generous big-money corporations in the area (though the notoriously stingy Amazon is hell-bent on changing that). Live music is probably a wash across most genres, although Seattle has IMO the better symphony. I'll let theatre buffs debate that one.

Food offerings? Seattle for sit-down restaurants, but Portland wins the food truck war hands down. Seattle is getting there, but is late to that particular party.

Sports? Seattle by a landslide. Unless you're an NBA fanatic, then it's Portland.

Weather is similar with Portland a bit warmer in the summer and a bit cooler in the winter. But it also has a few more sunny days as well. The big drawback in Portland's weather are the occasional ice storms that bring things to a crashing (pun intended) halt. Sometimes the area escapes without any problems one winter, then gets hit by a couple the next. YMMV.

Hope this helps, OP. Write back if you'd like more info.

[Qazulight]

Originally Posted by phlinak

I'm a man of color and the father of four bi-racial kids. We were in Portland for vacation during the week of The Fourth of July and I can honestly say that we could not have been treated any better. Everywhere we went whether it was Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Salem, Cannon Beach, or Seaside, we didn't even get so much as a weird look, let alone an impolite word or remark. We found the people in Oregon to be the friendliest, most approachable, and nicest that we have ever encountered. I thought that Minnesotans were nice but Oregonians have them beat by miles.

Honestly, we had no idea and were very pleasantly surprised. We had such a positive experience that we're hoping to go back during either the Christmas or spring break.

Although Washington is a beautiful place, Oregon is even more beautiful, especially because of the people.

Go to Portland and leave your racial fears in the dumpster.

Friendlier than Minnesota? I live in Fargo on the border. It is so friendly here I am falling in love with it. If Portland is more friendly, then I am thinking I might just take that job that has been mentioned.

Cheers
Qazulight

[dperry9]

Wow, I'm glad to know visitors think we're friendly. Might have had something to do with the fact that when Oregonians finally see the sun, we come out of our caves and rejoice in the new found light.