Portland, OR (population: 573,530) has three administrative assistant schools within its city limits. Everest College-Portland, the highest ranked school in the city with an administrative assistant program, has a total student population of 737. It is the 4443rd highest ranked school in the USA and the 53rd highest in the state of Oregon (#1 is Reed College).
Administrative Assistant students from Portland schools who go on to become administrative assistants, dental assistants, medical secretaries, medical office assistants, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 22,336,450 people working as office and administrative support employees alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $32,990. Also, Switchboard operators, including answering service make on average $26,000 per year and there are about 146,980 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton-WA area alone, there are 780 employed switchboard operators, including answering service earning an average salary of $28,680. Office and administrative support employees in this area earn $34,810/yr and there are 163,930 employed.
Portland lies in Clackamas county, which is one of the 16 counties in Oregon. Overall, the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton-WA area has 993,470 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.6% unemployment rate, $22.15/hr average worker wage, and a $46,080 average annual salary. Thus, about 165.010 out of every 1000 jobs in Portland are held by office and administrative support employees, and 0.788/1000 are held by switchboard operators, including answering service.
Of the 3 administrative assistant schools in Portland, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Heald Colllege-LLC-Portland comes out as the most expensive ($20,427/yr) for administrative assistant students, with Portland Community College as the lowest, reported at only $6,829/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Portland |
| Vancouver | WA | 169,603 | 5 | 29.2795 | 91 | 6.3 miles |
| Beaverton | OR | 94,639 | 1 | 27.5128 | 6 | 8.8 miles |
| Aloha | OR | 48,328 | 1 | 25.9507 | 7 | 10.8 miles |
| Gresham | OR | 104,562 | 1 | 12.9715 | 88 | 11.0 miles |
| Oregon City | OR | - | 1 | 13.6089 | 75 | 12.9 miles |
| McMinnville | OR | - | 3 | 33.009 | 71 | 34.7 miles |
| Salem | OR | 157,890 | 12 | 32.4146 | 406 | 46.3 miles |
| The Dalles | OR | - | 1 | 11.3829 | 21 | 71.8 miles |
| Astoria | OR | - | 2 | 18.4622 | 36 | 72.0 miles |
| Corvallis | OR | 51,582 | 1 | 28.8426 | 8 | 73.6 miles |