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.

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...

Is Portland Safe? – 2020 Update

January 13, 2020

Is Portland safe, is a legitimate question as Portland, Oregon has been in the news often as of late with many hours of newsreels focused on Antifa and Proud boys or Portland’s growing homeless population. I promise this will not be another polictically opinionated piece in response to that question, but a relaying of the facts. I’m a local real estate agent in Portland, licensed here since 2003, and so livability and quality of life, as you might imagine, is one of the most important things to my present and future clients. The question of whether Portland is safe or parts of Portland are safe, is an important one to my real estate profession. Portland Safety Ratings and Crime Map...

Top 3 Portland Neighborhoods for Highly Rated Elementary Schools: 2020 Update

January 6, 2020

Research shows that home values near top-performing schools are valued higher, (whether that is a good or bad thing is not being discussed here, rather reporting that it is a reality) and 50% of buyers say they’ll pay more for a home if it’s near a desirable school. The Portland area is home to hundreds of schools, but not all perform equally. We’ve sorted through the highest rated public elementary schools in the city and matched them with their Portland neighborhood. 1. Southwest Hills The schools: Ainsworth Elementary has a long history in Portland, going back to 1914. The three-story brick building is local landmark, and the school has a robust music and art program as well as a Spanish Immersion...

5 Best Cities (Not Suburbs) Near Portland – 2019 Update

November 5, 2019

Aren’t all suburbs cities? No! Driving around Portland’s metro area, it can be difficult to tell where one city ends and other begins. What some home buyers don’t realize is that some suburbs of Portland aren’t even cities at all. Should that matter to home buyers? We think so! Governance has a huge impact on quality of life and will impact your real estate investment down the road. City governments are local and tend to have better responsiveness for their citizens. Taxes collected locally will go directly back into the community.  Of course, that doesn’t mean you should avoid buying a home in an unincorporated community, but there are some things to be aware of. Unincorporated communities (also known as...

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Troutdale, Oregon

October 25, 2019

Located 12 miles east of Portland, at the confluence of the mighty Columbia river and its major tributary, the Sandy River, the city of Troutdale is known as the Gateway to the Gorge. You can bet that Troutdale is a tourism hotspot — but many Portland home buyers overlook it as a place to settle down.  They’re missing out. Here are five reasons why Troutdale is worth exploring for your real estate investment.  1. Troutdale is named for a fish for a reason. Dales of trout. Sea captain John Harlow bought the original land claim in the Troutdale area in 1872, and built an expansive estate. Ponds forming in the dales of his land held abundant populations of native trout...