Accolades

Portland is known for many wonderful and great things! From architecture to sustainability, fitness to industry, the city is recognized and respected throughout the world for its many cultural facets that contribute to making Portland such a wonderful place to visit and live!  Portland has been highlighted in many major national and international publications with various awards, accolades and designations for the different accomplishments and recognized as a leader and role model for some of its practices and ways of life.

Here is some of the recognition and accolades that Portland has received or has been designated over the years.

Real Estate

• #4 – Ten Best Housing Markets – Forbes Magazine – 2009
• #9 – Americas Top 10 Long Term Housing Bets – Forbes – 2008
• 20 Best Places to Retire – Black Enterprise Magazine – 2008
• Where to Live Next – Smithsonian Magazine – 2008
• World’s Most Livable Cities – Monocale – 2008
• Top 10 Cities for Design in America – Businessweek – 2008
• Top Cities for Architecture & Design – RMJM Hillier – 2008
• 5 Great Places to Live – AARP – 2007
• Best Places to Live – Cities Ranked & Rated – 2007
• 50 Best Places to Live - Men’s Journal - 2006
• Best Towns in the US – Outdoors Magazine – 2005
• “America’s 10 Best Places to Live and Work for Those Under 40” – Monster.com – 2005
• Best Places to Live in the US – Money Magazine – 2001
• Best Big City – Money Magazine – 2000

Green Living

• #1  Most Eco-friendly Cities in America – SustainLane.com – 2008
• # 2  World’s Greenest City – Country Home magazine – 2008
• # 1  Greenest City in America – Popular Science – 2008
• #2   World’s Greenest City – Grist – 2007
• # 2  America’s Greenest City– MSN.com – 2007
• Inaugural recipient, Solar America Cities Award – U.S. Department of Energy -2007
• One of the cleanest U.S. cities for ozone air pollution – American Lung Association – 2007
• # 1  Environmental Awareness– CNN/Travel + Leisure – 2007
• # 2, 10 Greenest Cities in America– MSN.com City Guides – 2007
• Cleanest environment of any U.S. city of comparable size, and No. 3 overall in America – Earth Day Network – 2007
• Top 10 Greenest Cities – Yahoo! Real Estate – 2007
• # 1  Most sustainable big city in America – SustainLane.com – 2006
• “America’s Cleanest City” – Reader’s Digest – 2006
• 20 Greenest Cities & Towns – Vegetarian Times -  2005
• “The City of Portland has a nationally recognized reputation for green building innovation and outreach.” – U.S. Green Building Council  – 2003
• “Top Recycler Among the Nation’s 30 Largest Cities” – Waste News – 2001

Fitness

• Best Cities for Cycling – Bicycling Magazine
• Bicycle Freindly Community (Platinum) – League of American Bicyclists
• 10th Best City for Walkability – Walkscore.com – 2008
• #6 Fittest Cities in America – Men’s Fitness Magazine – 2009
• # 1 in nation for biking to work – U.S. Census Bureau – 2007
• Oregon named “Top Dog in the USA” for mountain biking – Annual International Mountain Biking Association’s “Report Card” – 2007
• “Best Walking Town in America” – Prevention magazine – 2006
• America’s “Best running town” and “Best urban running trail: the Leif Erickson Trail” – Runner’s World – 2003
• Americas Best Walking Town – Walking.com – 2001
• America’s Top 10 Fittest Cities – Men’s Fitness Magazine – 2001
• Portland’s Forest Park ranked “Best urban park” in the nation – Outside magazine – 2001

Art/Culture/Travel

• # 2, “America’s Best Airports 2008″ – MSN.com – 2009
• Portland International Airport named “Nation’s Best Airport” for the third year in a row – Condė Nast Traveler magazine – September 2008
• “Top 10 Cities for Independent Moviemakers” – MovieMaker Magazine – 2008
• Top 10 Cities to Beat / “Portland: Leader of the New Urbanism” – BusinessWeek – 2008
• #2, Cooking Light’s 20 Best Cities Awards – Cooking Light – 2007
• One of the World’s Top Travel Destinations for 2007 – Frommer’s Guidebooks/Frommer’s.com – 2007
• “These days Portland is a wine and food town, and a serious one.” – Wine Spectator – 2004
• “This gateway to Oregon’s wine country is a wine destination in its own right.” – Food & Wine magazine  – 2003
• # 1  Urban destination for summer travel in the United States, according to Travel + Leisure readers – 2003
• # 1 for general safety; No. 1 for ease of getting around; No. 3 for fall travel. – Travel + Leisure magazine – 2003
• One of “America’s 10 Best Summer Vacations” – Citysearch Editors’ Poll – 2002
• One of “10 perfect places in North America to spend your summer holiday.” – Money magazine – 2002
• One of America’s “Top 25 Arts Destinations” – AmericanStyle magazine – 2002
• Called “the next Napa” and “. . . the Burgundy of America.” – Gourmet magazine – 2002