Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
USA
MSA
Central City
suburbs
Figure 8.28.
Portland-Salem CMSA,
percentage of population living below the poverty threshold, 2000
Unlike the three previous cities, poverty in the city center is only slightly higher
than the national average (see Figure 8.28).
This greater social cohesion may be related to the fact that there are fewer
minorities in Portland than in the cities previously studied. African-Americans
represent only 2.3% of total population of the metropolitan area and 6.3% in the city
of Portland.
We may note the beginnings of a “ghetto” in parts of northeast Portland, but
blacks do not constitute a majority in any census tract.
The Spanish-speaking population is three times larger than the black community,
and represents 6.8% of the metropolitan population, but only 5.4% of that of the city
center. There is a Hispanic enclave in the south, in the small town of Woodburn,
where Spanish speakers account for 39% of 17,000 inhabitants. In Salem, Spanish is
the first language of 13% of 127,000 inhabitants.
Unlike Seattle, the presence of Asian communities is discrete for a metropolis of
the Pacific coast, and people of Asian origin do not exceed 6.3% of the metropolitan
population.
