Welcome to Portland

Portland is affectionately known as the "City of Roses," and the metropolitan area is home to two million residents. As Oregon’s largest metropolitan area, it boasts a growing multi-cultural population and an urban lifestyle as energizing as it is diverse. The city offers an array of restaurants ranging from gourmet to bistro, from organic to vegetarian. Coffee houses, clubs, galleries, and a wide range of event venues support a rich and coloful nightlife.

A small city with a big heart, Portland is proud of its reputation for progressive politics and social consciousness. Portland is also known for being forward-thinking. Its innovative urban planning is a model of livability that keeps urban sprawl in check while promoting distinctive, vibrant neighborhoods and luxuriant, tree-filled parks. The city boasts a number of natural forested areas, including the 5,100 wooded acres of Forest Park, the largest forested area in the U.S. situated within city limits.

Kudos for the City of Roses
Travel + Leisure magazine readers rate Portland as one of America's favorite cities, ranking high in areas like environmental awareness, public transportation, cleanliness and quality of life. Sperling's selected the Portland metro area as the 12th Best Place to Live in 2005. Portland also appears in the top ten list of Outside Magazine's 18 New American Dream Towns. Whether it's from great reviews or word-of-mouth, Portland's growth attests to its consistent popularity and livability.

Portland is Among the Greenest Places!
Do you enjoy the great outdoors and a city that keeps its green spaces green? Being environmentally aware is part of life in Portland, and we’re the
No. 2 greenest place in the world as judged by grist.org. And in 2008 SustainLane, an online resource for sustainability, voted Portland #1 green city.

In 2010 the Portland metro area was ranked the greenest U.S. city; No. 1 among 43 U.S. metro areas in a report on America’s greenest cities by the Business Courier of Cincinnati. The “Green Cities Index” ranks metro areas on a variety of environmental factors, including traffic congestion, transit use, water quality, carbon emissions, LEED-certified projects and number of “green” jobs.

It’s official, Portland is not only green but clean. According to a 2009 study by Nalgene Outdoor, Portland is the 3rd least wasteful city in the nation. We're not wasteful – and we're clean. Reader's Digest ranked Portland America's cleanest city in June 2005.