Portland, OR (population: 573,530) has twelve vocational schools within its city limits. Warner Pacific College, the highest ranked school in the city with a vocational program, has a total student population of 1,332. It is the 625th highest ranked school in the USA and the 8th highest in the state of Oregon (#1 is Reed College).
Vocational students from Portland schools who go on to become vocational educators, event planners, landscape architects, landscape designers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 114,420 people working as vocational education teachers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $52,030. Also, Middle school teachers make on average $53,550 per year and there are about 665,420 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton-WA area alone, there are 4,760 employed middle school teachers earning an average salary of $52,420. Vocational education teachers in this area earn $59,570/yr and there are 770 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 0.779 out of every 1000 jobs in Portland are held by vocational education teachers, and 4.793/1000 are held by middle school teachers.
Of the 12 vocational schools in Portland, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, University of Portland comes out as the most expensive ($26,906/yr) for vocational 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 |