As a citizen of an Eastside suburb of Seattle, I have a bias toward Seattle, although I do think it is a better city, at least in my opinion. Both Seattle and Portland are great cities, but I have a few reasons for Seattle being a better city.
Mainly, I like Seattle because of the geography, more hills, direct water access on both sides of the city (the sound and lake washington), the greenery (which portland does have). It's a perfect mixture of development and nature. On the other hand, Portland may be very green, but it's too flat for my taste and it doesn't have large bodies of water. (The Columbia doesn't really count even though it is a very large river)
I also think Seattle is slightly more vibrant and is more liberal as a whole. I like bigger cities, and Portland always seems "sleepier" than Seattle. Also, the metropolitan area of Seattle is much more interesting than Portland; as said before, the suburbs of Seattle have a more excited feel, and are also more liberal than in Portland.
The main downside to Seattle is the disgusting traffic (I doubt there will be a completed light rail system for most people before 2100). There are other small things about Seattle that I don't like, but I love this city greatly. It's too bad we did horrible on American Idol...
Definatly Seattle... the only drawback is the huge f****** volcano that could wipe it out any second.
Mount Rainier poses no threat to Seattle other than making it really ash-y. The Tacoma area, where I live, is a different story.
Very true, Mt. Rainier won't do much to Seattle, even the chance of ash is rather low because winds go west to east. Although the lahars could impact Tacoma, it would only be really bad in the areas near the mountain, elsewhere, people could evacuate and damage would be slight.
I'd chose both over almost anywhere else in the US. Both certainly in the top 5.
That said, I love to be abkle to get away from the city easily, and to varied landscapes. I think Portland has a slight advantage there. I also like a vibrant CBD, which is about equal for the two, and nice, leafy inner city areas, which I think Seattle has the advantage on. I like rain (well, a little bit) but not snow, and both have too much of it. I know Portland's a little rainier, but I think seattle is a little snowier.
I'm a big fan of a good local music swcene, which Seattle definately has...but not a huge fan of grunge, meaning it's probably about equal. Good job prospects, schools and universities are important but not critical, and frequent major sporting events are a plus.
Basically, Seattle meets my criteria a little better than Portland, but there's one crucial thing: I do love a 'second city' atmosphere. Less hustle more bustle.
I voted Portland.
A few notes on Seattle:
We get rain, but not alot of it, just the most number of days with rain. It's also overcast almost always. I also always thought that Portland got more snow based on the news that I've watched, although this year was an exception.
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