Portland nose dives in best cities list
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Portland's ranking in an annual list of the country's best cities fell more than 60 spots due to a significant loss in short-term job growth and available affordable housing.
State of play: The Milken Institute's yearly report measures U.S. cities' economic performance based on job and wage growth, housing costs, economic equality and other factors.
- 200 metro areas and 203 small cities are assessed in the annual report.
The big picture: While many cities have largely emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, cities like Portland are making a sluggish recovery.
- Portland dropped from 40th place last year to 105th this year.
How it works: The annual rankings from Milken — a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank — are based on its Best Performing Cities index, which takes into account cities' labor markets, tech industry growth and economic access.
- Yes, but: The report doesn't explicitly look at other quality-of-life factors people may consider when picking a place to live, including traffic congestion, public transit access or park space (where we rank high!).