Portland Neighborhoods and Suburbs

Out of Love for Portland

Portland, Oregon is an amazing place with distinct neighborhoods and suburbs, each with its own attractions and culture. We love our town! We enjoy writing about these unique spots, offering relocation tips and providing stats on Portland neighborhoods and suburb growth, development, schools, and more.

Portland’s MAX Light Rail: Where’s it going in 2020?

August 28, 2020

The MAX (short for Metropolitan Area Express) is the only light rail system in Oregon and the fourth-busiest in the country, after systems in LA, Boston and San Fransisco. The service, run by TriMet, hopes to gain funding to expand MAX service into Tigard and Tualatin in 2020. This year also brings fresh challenges in maintaining ridership and safety. We’ll look at some 2020 updates for the MAX, but first, a little background on the trains that are ubiquitous across Portland. MAX Quick Facts 60 miles of rails run the MAX light rail from Hillsboro to Gresham; Portland Airport to Milwaukie and just about everywhere in between. It has five color-coded lines (blue, green, orange, red, yellow) and 94 stations...

Top 5 Safest Portland Suburbs 2020

August 17, 2020

Despite Portland’s recent notoriety for localized conflicts, most people who live here can tell you that it’s overall a safe place to live.  Crime statistics can tell us some things about the safety of a given city or suburb, but there are other aspects of safety to consider: What’s the natural disaster risk? How prepared is the community to shelter in place in the wake of, say, an earthquake? Then there’s pedestrian and traffic safety, which is a special concern to home buyers with regular commutes or kids who walk to school.  Overall, the Portland suburbs have a reputation for increased safety, and many perform better than the city in terms of fewer crimes reported. However, when it comes to...

Oregon County Spotlight: Clackamas – Land of Rivers, Mountains, & Trees

August 10, 2020

The Portland metropolitan area (on the Oregon side) spans five counties: Multnomah County, Washington County, Columbia County, Yamhill County and Clackamas County (possibly Columbia as well). In this County Spotlight, we head to Clackamas, where forested wilderness meets picturesque suburbia, and rivers nurture outdoor recreation and fantastic farmland.  Geography of Clackamas, Oregon Clackamas County is a mostly rural county that begins where Southeast Portland leaves off. Generally speaking, Clackamas encompasses the area east of the I5, with its northern border running in a straight line from Milwaukie to Mt. Hood. Oregon City is the county seat of Clackamas, and its claim to fame is that it was the End of the Oregon Trail and the first incorporated city west of...

2020’s Top 5 Most Affordable Portland Suburbs

July 27, 2020

Despite the pandemic setback to the real estate market this spring, home prices in Portland are as strong as ever, especially at the low-to-mid range of the market. While this is great news for homeowners, those shopping for a home — especially a first home — can feel a bit daunted.  Fortunately, the Portland metro area, spanning three Oregon counties, offers plenty of options. And while the definition of “best suburb” can be difficult to pin down, “most affordable” is a little easier. These five Portland suburbs were selected for coming in with the lowest median sale price. But because things are changing so rapidly, we also included the July 2020 median home value for the area, as indexed by...

5 Things you Didn’t Know About Oregon City

June 15, 2020

If we had to make a list of Portland suburbs posed for growth, Oregon City would probably be at the top. With a population of 37,000 and big plans for the future, this city stands as a destination in its own right — not just for tourists but for home buyers as well. Read on for five things you didn’t know about the first incorporated city west of the Rockies.  1. The Clackamas River is Awesome Oregon City is defined by its location between two rivers: The Willamette, which flows up from the south and heads toward downtown Portland, and the Clackamas. With headwaters in the Cascade Range, the Clackamas River flows through the Mt. Hood National Forest before dropping...

Top 5 Portland Suburbs – Your 2020 Move Away Guide.

May 4, 2020

In the first part of 2020, social distancing has pushed working from home into the mainstream. For a large number of workers, the new standard could be to telecommute, driving to the office only occasionally.  Portland has long been ahead of the telecommuting curve, with nearly 8% of our workforce doing so last year. Now that 40% of the current work-from-home population is reporting that they could make the change permanently, Portland’s suburbs are looking even more appealing. Traditionally, business and urban centers have driven demand for real estate, and in 2020, home buyers still want to live near stores, amenities and things to do. But it’s no longer necessary to do all those things in an urban area, and Portland’s...

Portland Zip Code Map 2020 Update

April 6, 2020

“What’s the zip?” Zip codes are so much a part of everyday life that we hardly even notice them. Whether shopping for real estate, verifying a credit card or sending a piece of mail, Portland zip codes are a convenient shorthand for location. Also, if you’re new to a city and don’t yet know the zip codes, they can be frustrating! Enter the Portland Zip Code Map. Metro, the regional governing body for Portland and surrounding areas, has the definitive zip code map, available in full-size pdf for handy saving and printing by clicking the thumbnail below. It covers Portland, west to Forest Grove, north into the state of Washington, east to Troutdale and Estacada, and south as far as...

South Portland = New Official Oregon Address

March 23, 2020

In spring of 2020, the City of Portland is rolling out a new official address area: South Portland. Although it’s a small area, it contains important centers for jobs and healthcare, as well as a wide range of housing. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at how South Portland came to be, what defines it, and what the future is for real estate. Why a new South Portland address area? In addition to Southeast, Southwest, North, Northeast and Northwest, there is now a South Portland as an official address area of the city, just south of downtown on the Willamette River. (For real estate and other purposes, we also usually refer to everything east of 82nd Ave as...

Top 5 Portland Neighborhoods: 2020 update

February 17, 2020

Searching for a home in Portland in 2020, but not sure where to start? In this blog post, we give you an overview of where the neighborhoods are in Portland. Then, we name our top 5 hot picks for affordable, fun, and friendly places to live in the city. What are the Five Sections of Portland? To be prepared to look at homes in Portland, home buyers should familiarize themselves with the Big Five: The Southwest, Northwest, North, Northeast and Southeast sections of Portland. These areas are defined by rivers and major roads, and each has their own unique character. Check out PortlandNeighborhood.com for an incredible clickable Portland neighborhood map, and guide, as well.) Southwest. When you enter Portland from...

Top 5 Highest Rated Elementary Schools – Portland Metro 2020

February 10, 2020

Talk to five students attending any given school in the Portland area, and you’re likely to get five different answers to the question “Is this a good school?” The truth is, there are many factors impacting student performance in 2020, from teachers to administration, to the student’s own home life and level of interest.  On the other hand, there are schools that excel – and some that don’t – in measurable areas like graduation rates, student-to-teacher ratio, and staff turnover. While we can’t give a complete picture of what life is like in every school in the Portland metro area, what we’ve done here is gleaned the Top 5 public elementary schools, using two trusted online sources for school performance...