I live in the biggest one in PNW and it still feels super small. A friend who moved here from SF (a relatively small city itself) and was surprised how small Seattle feels, even in comparison to SF -- he was wondering where 3 quarters of city disappeared to.
I'm thinking strong writing communities, world-class art museums (Portland Art Museum is good, while Seattle Art Museum is not so well funded compared to the east coast -- our billionaires don't care for art), great universities with top non-professional programs (UW is really good, but is not an elite college), etc. The food scene here is also not great -- it's got pockets of good eats, but in general not a foodie city -- nothing is here among the best. There are too many eat-to-live rather than live-to-eat types. (granted, Portland has a much better food scene — especially Thai and food carts —than Seattle, but it's not super diverse compared to most big cities like NYC or Chicago).
Even in tech, it’s pretty much a company town. Most people work for the few big names. Someone from Silicon Valley who lives here now told me Seattle has tech but has not really a strong startup ecosystem because most people are self selected corporate types (all of top 10 market cap tech companies are here, either HQ or branch). People who come to Seattle here mostly come to draw big tech salaries and be comfortable, not to change the world. Apart from a few people at the top of their fields, there is no sense of hunger here, not like NYC or LA or SF where people take risks to go there to make it big.
Like I said, it works for many folks, but if you're used to NYC and Chicago (or even SF), there's a lot that's missing.