Portland's population continued to decline between 2023 and 2024, while several metro area cities like Vancouver and Hillsboro grew. Although many factors are at play, we decided to dig into the cost of planting roots in the City of Roses.

The median household income in Portland is $75,149, according to the US Census Bureau. State-wise, Oregon has the 19th-highest median income in the country at ~$71,562 per household.

Healthcare and utilities shake out in our favor compared to the national average, but housing and transportation costs hit hard. | Screenshot via bestplaces.net

The overall cost of living in Portland is 27.7% higher than the national average, and 11.7% higher than the rest of the state.

In Portland, the cost of healthcare is lower compared to other parts of the state and the US. However, the cost of groceries, housing, transportation, and other miscellaneous expenses in the city have higher average costs than other cities in Oregon and the country overall.

Breaking down the numbers

Hypothetically speaking, if you live in a household that brings in $75,000 annually — according to experts — you shouldn’t spend more than 30% of your monthly gross income on rent and utilities. Don’t worry, we did the math for you — your max monthly budget would be $1,875. The average monthly rent for an apartment in Portland is $1,754 — leaving you little-to-no wiggle room.

Meanwhile, if you’re wondering how much you can currently afford to spend on buying a home in Portland, try using SmartAsset’s cost calculator. Factors like your marital status, annual pre-tax income, down payment, and monthly debt, will help determine that figure. According to BestPlaces, the median home cost in Portland is $537,200.

While we’re crunching numbers, let’s also take a look at the chart below to see how Portland’s cost of living compares to that of Bend.

Which category surprised you the most? Let us know. | Screenshot via bestplaces.net

Interested in seeing Portland’s cost of living compared to cities in other states? We played around on nerdwallet’s cost of living calculator, where you can search other locations along with your current pre-tax household income to find out what cities you could actually afford to live in.

We took a look at the cost of living in Portland compared to Austin, TX. Here’s what we found:

The cost of living is 18% lower in Austin.
Based on Portland's aforementioned median household income, to maintain our standard of living an Austin household would need to bring in $61,484.
The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,870, which is $720 less than Portland.

Local housing + developments

Portland also has entities such as Home Forward and other government-funded programs to help develop more affordable units.

There are also a number of local development firms working on apartments, although 2024 will see the lowest number of new new multifamily units built since 2009. Projects set to break ground this year include hollywoodHUB and Julia West, and approx. 392 apartments will open in the Slabtown neighborhood.