How does our region measure up?

Three recent studies have been done which measure how the Portland region stacks up against other metropolitan areas.

• The Arts and Economic Prosperity III Study looked at the direct economic impact of the arts and culture in the Portland metropolitan area.
  • Local arts and culture organizations generate $318.26 million in local economic activity every year. Including $166.73 million in direct spending, and additional $151.53 million in event-related spending by their audiences.
  • The economic activity from the region’s arts and culture industry supports 10,321 full-time equivalent jobs.

• The Creative Vitality Index used community participation and arts-related employment to measure the creative vitality of regions and states across the country. Looking at a number of factors a national baseline for creative vitality was set at 1.

Areas that were less than the national average were less than 1. Areas with greater creative vitality than the national average were greater than 1. The study determined that the state wide average for Oregon was slightly higher than the national average at 1.05. Washington and Multnomah County was much higher than the national average at 2.16. Clackamas county was at 0.69. The full report Creative Vitality in Oregon, can be found online here.

• City Vitals, conducted by Joseph Cortright for CEOs for Cities, measured a number of nationwide indicators which were determined to be factors in creating successful cities. You can view a PowerPoint summary of City Vitals here. The following table summarizes how the Portland ranked among 50 regions across the country.