A little statistical comparison

When people find out I've come to Philadelphia to be trained as a social worker, naturally they have quite a few questions, and given the nature of the work many of those questions have to do with Portland, my previous work and what I've seen (sometimes asked with a certain "girl, do you know what you've gotten yourself into?" look in the eyes). Today I was asked about the size of Portland's African American population and I estimated 10 percent, but then back at the office I decided it was time to clarify for myself just where it is I came from, and where I am now.

Well, first off, per Wikipedia Portland is the whitest American city among those with a population over 500,000, so I guess all my observations to that effect have been accurate. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia African American population is the fourth largest in the nation.

Now, for those other stats:

PDX PHL
Population: 500,000 / 2.3mil metro 1.4 mil / 5.8 mil metro
Land area: 145 mi sq. 142.6 mi sq.
White: 77% 45%
Black: 6.6% 43%
Latino: 6.8% 8.5%
Asian: 6.3% 5.5%

You know, I think the Latino stat is interesting, because to hear some people tell it, Portland is turning into little Tijuana or something. I guess part of living in a 77% white city is being so used to only seeing people who look like yourself that to have a group present at one tenth your number is perceived as a threat. (For a humorous take on this phenomenon, see the "Goobacks" South Park episode. More info and quotes from it here.)

PDX PHL
Per capita income: $22,643 $16,509

Median income: $50,271 $30,746

Child poverty rate: 15.7% 31.3%

Homicide rate: 4.8/100,000 28/100,000

2006 homicides: 27 406