Portland Neighborhoods

There are technically 95 neighborhoods in the city of Portland, Oregon. They are all unique in some way or another whether it be because of their location to a well-known historical hot spot or because of their amount of coffee shops per block. There is quite a distinction between sections of the city, for example, northeast and southeast Portland. Understanding these contrasts may help when deciding where to live in the eclectic quilt of Portland, as it has many different patches.

Portland Neighborhoods

NW Portland	SW Portland	SE Portland	North Portland	NE Portland
Pearl District	South Waterfront	Sellwood	University Park	Humboldt
Old Town - Chinatown	South Portland	Eastmoreland	St. Johns	Eliot
Goose Hallow	Southwest Hills	Reed	Cathedral Park	Lloyd
Northwest District	Homestead	Brooklyn	Portsmith	Sullivan
Arlington Heights	Hillsdale	Hosford-Abernethy	Overlook	Grant Park
Forest Park	Bridlemile	Buckman	Arbor Lodge	Alameda
Hillside	Healy Heights	Kerns	Piedmont	Sabin
Northwest Heights	Hayhurst	Mt. Tabor	Hayden Island	King
Linnton	Maplewood	Woodstock	Kenton	Boise
Downtown Portland	South Burlingame	Laurelhurst	East Columbia	Vernon
Downtown Portland	Collins View	Sunnyside	Bridgeton	Concordia
	Marshall Park	Creston-Kenilworth		Woodlawn
	Arnold Creek	Richmond		Beaumont-Wilshire
	Markham	Ardenwald-Johnson Creek		Rose City Park
	West Portland Park	Brentwood-Darlinton		Cully
	Far Southwest	Mount Scott		Roseway
	Ashcreek	Foster-Powell		Madison South
	Multnomah	South Tabor
		North Tabor
		Montavilla

SE Portland

Farmers Market in SE Portland

Southeast Portland is known for being the quirkiest of areas in Portland. In this section you will find coffee shops, young families, old houses ranging of all sizes and styles, writers, environmental advocates on the corners of sidewalks (wait, that’s everywhere), waffles that are served from a window, bizarre neighborhood layouts, lush gardens, fun and involved community, older couples with an empty nest, bars, thriving night life, music venues and micro brews. It’s impossible to put any of these areas of Portland in a box, especially southeast Portland because it has an attitude that refuses to go into any sort of holding device. SE Portland is one of the ways Portland is keeping itself Weird. But on the polar opposite, you will find completely calm and charming neighborhoods in SE Portland such as Laurelhurst which revolves around its park, Laurelhurst Park. There is a lot of activity happening in SE Portland, but finding the niches where peace lies is easy as there are plenty of cafes and coffee shops that provide this atmosphere, spread out across the area.

SW Portland

South Waterfront in SW Portland

This section of Portland maintains quite the combination of vibes. With a quirky and small town Goose Hollow near the beautiful Washington Park, there is also South Waterfront which is the largest green development in the country with its innovative ideas and high class living in residential towers. In each section of Portland there are tons of parks, but SW Portland is the heart of green spaces in Portland because of Washington Park which has many attractions for visitors and locals such as the International Rose Test Garden and the Oregon Zoo, and then there is Forest Park which is one of the country’s largest urban forest reserves. So there are neighborhoods that feel completely urban, some that feel suburban and others that are smack in the middle of a forest. There are many luxury homes overlooking downtown Portland in the West Hills of southwest Portland, where you will find homes that literally cause your jaw to drop (they made mine, at least). So ranging from old, modest homes in neighborhoods that have a small town feel to new, multimillion dollar homes that are perched on top of Portland, the southwest section of Portland has got basically everything.

NW Portland

Boutique in NW Portland

This section of Portland is very popular for living and visiting, as it has many boutiques and classy restaurants, as well as a late night coffee shop that locals from all areas of Portland love called Coffee Time. The popular NW 23rd Avenue is a well known destination for taking a day trip, or for locals just a trip to a good coffee shop. With many old and beautiful homes, there is also high class living in the Pearl District of northwest Portland, which is made up of high rise apartments and lofts designed by innovative thinkers, on top of green spaces in an urban setting. And sitting a closer to the waterfront in NW is one of Portland’s oldest neighborhoods, Old Town Chinatown. With rich history and a popular Farmers Market, this neighborhood is also a unique aspect to the northwest section of Portland.

N Portland

St. Johns Bridge in N Portland

North Portland is where you will find some small town neighborhoods where people have lived their whole lives, such as St. Johns. And other neighborhoods of north Portland are either upcoming and have in the past few years received an influx of residents because the area has recently become more established and a safer place to live. With a couple universities, a lot of great coffee shops and restaurants, there is a mix of students, young families and older generations living in this section of Portland. There are a few popular historic areas such as the Historic Mississippi Avenue, which is a thriving area in north Portland. Both sides of the street are filled with food carts, boutiques, bars, coffee shops and other places that keep locals and visitors coming back. With old homes, local businesses and good biking quality, locals of north Portland are happy and content with where they live.

NE Portland

Market in NE Portland

Northeast Portland is another upcoming neighborhood which is now thriving for its fun atmosphere and beautiful, old homes in its active neighborhoods. With many little niches, locals enjoy the calm area through dense trees lined along neighborhood streets in an urban setting. The section of Portland offers old, beautiful mansion-like homes with a large price tag as well as more modest homes for those who have smaller incomes. The neighborhood is occupied with many families and people from all walks of life, creating a broad sense of diversity. The area is primarily residential but it does have areas such as NE Alberta Street which holds a Last Thursday event monthly, bringing in a large crowd of people who are a part of the thriving art scene in Portland. The street also has many bars, restaurants and boutiques that can be compared to places in SE.