Immigrate to Portland: Guide to Settling in Oregon

Portland is a city located in the U.S. state of Oregon, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776,  estimated to have reached 587,865 in 2012, making it the 28th most populous city in the United States.

Portland is Oregon’s most populous city, and the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest region, after Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Approximately 2,289,800 people live in the Portland metropolitan area (MSA), the 19th most populous MSA in the United States.

“The study [by the Fiscal Policy Institute]  should be required reading for all Oregonians, as it makes clear just how much of the economic growth of the state’s largest metropolitan area is due to immigrants”  – Joy Margheim, policy analyst with the Oregon Center for Public Policy.

As with much of the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades, Portland experiences a temperate oceanic climate typified by warm, dry summers and mild, damp winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, Portland falls within the cool, dry-summer mild temperate zone, also referred to as cool-summer Mediterranean, because of its relatively dry summers.

Portland is often awarded “Greenest City in America” and “most green cities” designations. Popular Science awarded Portland the title of the Greenest City in America in 2008,[47] and Grist magazine listed it in 2007 as the second greenest city in the world. The city is home to the Rose Bud and Thorn Pageant, started in 1975 and modeled after the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court of Oregon.

In 2012, the city was listed among the 10 best places to retire in the U.S. by CBS MoneyWatch.