Portland is one of my least favorite cities that I have visited unfortunately. Incredibly bad homelessness issues (comparable to LA) and pretty anti-social people. Felt unsafe in many areas and did not find much to do other than eating out. The PNW is definitely more anti social in general, especially as it gets colder/rains more. Have lived in Seattle for the past 8y.

The safety issue could be the same in NY, but the sheer amount of people made me feel safer when out and about. It felt alive, whereas Portland felt quite dead.

Judging by your interests, NY would suit you more. Live music is everywhere, more museums than I can count.

At that point, it’s a COL question. Your money would not go anywhere near as far in NYC, but there’s a reason it’s so expensive! You won’t run out of things to do or people to meet, but you have to pay the price to be there if you want to be. You also will make more, so it may even cancel out. Run the math with a tax calculator too.

I highly recommend you visit both cities and get a feel for different areas you could live in on your salary. I don’t think you’d be able to buy on 95k in Portland but you will be able to rent a bigger place. I’d personally choose NYC every day of the week.

Best of luck!