Youthful Portland's

Portland's culture and businesses have come to reflect the city's youthful edge. Among U.S. metro areas with more than a million people, only Seattle -- another magnet for the young and educated -- has more coffee shops per capita than Portland, according to NPD Group. Roughly 8% of Portlanders commute regularly by bike, the highest proportion of any major U.S. city and about 10 times the national average,

According to Boulder, Colo., bike-advocacy group Bikes Belong. Andrew McGough, executive director of Worksystems Inc., a Portland nonprofit that helps people find work, says he's seen young people continue to stream into the city even as the economy has worsened. "Assuming they are educated, we like it," says Mr. McGough, who moved to Portland himself without a job in the early 1990s.

Portland's vibrant music scene was part of what drew Ryan Suarez, a 28-year-old civil engineer, from San Diego two years ago. In February 2007, when Portland's unemployment rate was about half what it is today, Mr. Suarez took a one-week trip to scout for jobs, lined up five interviews -- and got five offers. But construction work has slowed with the rest of the economy. Mr. Suarez says his firm has had two rounds of layoffs; he survived, but took a 20% wage cut. "Things have changed a lot," he says.