Portland is a somewhat small coastal city (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Texas. With a population of 14,944 people and four constituent neighborhoods, Portland is the 158th largest community in Texas.

7.89% of the workforce is employed in the armed forces, making the military a huge focus of life in Portland. Even though it is a military town, the civilian sector still plays an important role in the local economy. The Manufacturing and Education industries respectively employ 14.03% and 12.85% of the civilian workforce.

Because of many things, Portland is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Portland really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Portland perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic night life, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

One of the nice things about Portland is that is it nautical, meaning that parts of the city are somewhat historic and on the ocean, or touch tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

Residents of Portland by-and-large get to work each day by driving: 98.4% use their own cars for their daily commute, making it a very car-oriented city. While Portland may be a convenient place for driving around town, the negative aspect of this is that places that are suitable for walking or bicycling to and from work or stores may be few and far between. In general, car-oriented communities emphasize roads and convenience of driving, but not have a lot of walking-friendly areas to get from home to work, and tend not to have a lot of public transportation options.

Portland Information and Demographics

The overall education level of Portland citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 25.52% of adults in Portland have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 14.96%.

The per capita income in Portland in 2000 was $19,871, which is upper middle income relative to Texas and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $79,484 for a family of four.

Portland is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Portland home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Portland is White, followed by African-American. Portland also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 26.08% of the city's residents. Important ancestries of people in Portland include German, English, Irish, and French.

The most common language spoken in Portland is English. Some people also speak Spanish.