Portland: Eastside vs Westside

A series of recent conversations about where Portland, Oregon’s city commissioners live, and the democratic implications of having a majority of folks from the Westside govern the majority of the folks who live on the eastside (a claim that was met with incredulity), prompted me to dive a bit deeper into:

Portland — Eastside vs Westside, by the numbers

Currently, Portland has five City Commissioners. Let’s see how they break down:

Mayor Wheeler (SW Hills) - WESTSIDE
Commissioner Fish (Goose Hollow) - WESTSIDE
Commissioner Fritz (West Portland Park) - WESTSIDE
Commissioner Eudaly (Woodlawn) - EASTSIDE
Commissioner Hardesty (East Portland)  - EASTSIDE

Looks like WESTSIDE, 60%, EASTSIDE, 40%

However, Portland’s population as a whole is 79% Eastside, 21% Westside, as measured by population. So, even with two out of five commissioners from the eastside, the westside is still over-represented. Indeed, it would be more equitable if four commissioners were from the eastside, and only one from the westside, by sheer population.

The average households size on the eastside is 2.53; on the westside, it’s 2.0. (The citywide average is 2.4 people per household.) Due to this difference household sizes, 75% of all households are on the eastside, and 25% on the westside.

For whatever reason, though citywide 94% of homes are occupied (that is, there are 0.94 households for every dwelling unit), the occupancy rate of eastside houses is 95%, vs. 92% on the westside. As a result, 74% of all homes are on the eastside, and 26% on the westside.

Given that less than 80% of homes and households are on the eastside, it could be argued that, every once in a while, proportional representation would mean there should be a second Commissioner from the westside…

A Deeper Dive into Eastside vs Westside

The source for all of this data is the UrbanFootprint (UF) base canvas. I was the project manager for the initial development of UrbanFootprint at Calthorpe Associates, and now that I’m with Cascadia Partners, I use the tool on a regular basis. It’s rich with data, and its interface makes certain types of complex geographical analysis very simple to perform quickly. 

This allows me to quickly discover that the Eastside is home to 72% of single family homes on large lots, but 92% of all single family homes on small lots; 56% of all townhomes, but 61% of all apartments. Of those, it’s home to 82% of all Missing Middle apartments in buildings with 2 to 4 units, but only 60% of all apartments in buildings with 5 or more units.

When it comes to employment, the picture looks much like that for larger apartment buildings: 60% of all jobs are on the eastside, including 66% of all retail jobs, 52% of all office jobs, 77% of all industrial jobs, 74% of all retail service jobs, and 63% of all retail jobs. 

However, the westside is home to 58% of all public sector jobs, and 69% of all agricultural-sector jobs within city limits.

The bottom line is that the eastside contains 69% of the land area of the City of Portland. It’s larger; it should have more of the things. It also has a higher average population density, at 9.94 people per acre vs. 5.94 on the westside.

Perhaps surprisingly, however, the westside has a higher employment density, at 7.94 jobs per acre on average, vs. 5.22 jobs per acre on the eastside. This is driven by an average retail density of 1.61 retail jobs per acre on the westside, vs 1.39 on the eastside; 3.92 average office jobs per acre, vs. 1.93 on the eastside; and 1.47 public sector jobs per acre, vs. 0.48 on the eastside.

With most of the public sector jobs on the westside, but most of the population and total jobs on the eastside, the case could be made to de-centralize Portland’s public-sector jobs by placing more of them on the east side of the Willamette. I don’t know exactly what this might look like, but it’s certainly worth keeping in mind!

cheers,

~Garlynn