From the outside looking in: How does our region measure up?
Oregonians love to compare ourselves with other places – and to be compared with other places around the globe.
Recently, three national studies have focused on the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region and compared it to other major U.S. cities.
In a preview to the 2010 Census report the Washington D.C. based Brookings Institute included Portland in its “State of Metropolitan America” report, ranking Portland as the 23rd largest among 100 cities nationwide. It is one of 19 cities recognized as the “New Heartland,” distinguishing regions that are high growth, low diversity and highly educated.
The Economist Magazine recently featured an article entitled “Is Oregon’s metropolis a leader among American cities or just strange?” The article concluded by saying, “Indeed Portland, for all its history of Western grit, is remarkably white, young and childless.” Really?
According to the Brookings Institute, the Portland region experienced 14 percent growth in population between 2000-2008, while the national average was 7.8 percent. When it comes to race and ethnicity, only 22.2 percent of the population is nonwhite, yet 24.8 percent of the region’s children have at least one foreign-born parent. More than one-third of our population over the age of 25 has earned a bachelor’s degree, and 34 percent of 18-24 year-olds are enrolled in higher education.
In terms of jobs, the middle-wage workers in the Portland-Vancouver region earn on average $19.58 an hour. More than 70 percent of the working population commutes alone, yet the Portland region ranks 11th for transit users with 6.4 percent of the population using public transit here, compared to only 5 percent nationwide.
In a third study, Portland was used to measure Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s “knowledge base economy.” The study by the Public Policy Forum in Milwaukee, provides an interesting comparison and contrast of seven comparably-sized U.S. cities
The authors identified Portland, Oregon; Austin, Texas; and Kansas City, Missouri as “leader regions,” and credited our region with having “already made a successful shift to a knowledge economy.” Three other Midwestern cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Cincinnati, Ohio were included for comparison as “regional peers,” and served to “set a bar toward which the Milwaukee region could strive to improve its performance.”
Through their effort, the authors of this 46-page report also give us an interesting Midwest perspective and comparison of how well the Portland MSA stacks up against these other cities in terms of:
Not surprising, Portland led all seven cities in both benchmark regions in terms of small business formation; real GDP per worker; and the value of exports produced by private sector workers in 2007. Yet “The City That Works,” and its surrounding region, trailed the pack in terms of the number of jobs available for every 1000 residents in the metropolitan region, falling from 584 jobs in 2000, to only 508 jobs by 2007.
For the latest local economic and demographic indicators, visit www.westside-alliance.org.