Cost of living in Portland, OR
The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metro area (2,537,070 people) ranks #23 of 149 for prices among the U.S. metro areas we cover. Here's what it costs to live there.
Hover over or tap a dot to see its value.
See all 149 cities
Price level, from cheaper to pricier.
- The Villages, FL 85.4
- McAllen, TX 85.9
- Springfield, MO 88.6
- Wichita, KS 88.9
- Jackson, MS 89.0
- Tulsa, OK 89.2
- Columbus, GA 89.3
- Little Rock, AR 89.4
- El Paso, TX 89.9
- Oklahoma City, OK 90.4
- Sioux Falls, SD 90.6
- Baton Rouge, LA 90.8
- Clarksville, TN 90.9
- Fargo, ND 90.9
- Killeen, TX 91.1
- Spartanburg, SC 91.1
- Fayetteville, AR 91.4
- Chattanooga, TN 91.5
- Toledo, OH 91.5
- Birmingham, AL 91.6
- Des Moines, IA 91.7
- Augusta, GA 91.9
- Omaha, NE 91.9
- Fayetteville, NC 92.0
- Winston-Salem, NC 92.0
- Jacksonville, NC 92.1
- Memphis, TN 92.2
- Kansas City, MO 92.5
- Fort Wayne, IN 92.6
- Knoxville, TN 92.6
- New Orleans, LA 92.6
- Dayton, OH 92.7
- Greensboro, NC 92.9
- Lexington, KY 92.9
- Huntsville, AL 93.1
- Louisville, KY 93.1
- Greenville, SC 93.3
- Akron, OH 93.4
- Billings, MT 93.5
- Myrtle Beach, SC 93.6
- Columbia, SC 93.7
- Cleveland, OH 93.9
- Daphne, AL 94.7
- Pittsburgh, PA 94.7
- San Antonio, TX 94.7
- St. Louis, MO 95.1
- Ocala, FL 95.2
- Savannah, GA 95.2
- Cincinnati, OH 95.4
- Albuquerque, NM 95.5
- Columbus, OH 95.5
- Grand Rapids, MI 95.5
- Indianapolis, IN 95.7
- Syracuse, NY 95.7
- Buffalo, NY 95.8
- Nashville, TN 96.3
- Wilmington, NC 96.4
- Asheville, NC 96.5
- Cheyenne, WY 96.5
- Gainesville, FL 96.7
- Milwaukee, WI 96.9
- Tucson, AZ 96.9
- Crestview, FL 97.0
- Rochester, NY 97.0
- Lakeland, FL 97.1
- Charlotte, NC 97.3
- Madison, WI 97.3
- Panama City, FL 97.3
- Durham, NC 97.6
- Pensacola, FL 97.7
- Richmond, VA 97.9
- Virginia Beach, VA 97.9
- Hilton Head Island, SC 98.0
- Austin, TX 98.1
- Provo, UT 98.2
- Raleigh, NC 98.2
- Prescott, AZ 98.3
- Boise, ID 98.4
- Houston, TX 98.6
- Harrisburg, PA 98.7
- Daytona Beach, FL 99.4
- Jacksonville, FL 99.5
- Albany, NY 99.6
- Allentown, PA 100.0
- Palm Bay, FL 100.0
- Atlanta, GA 100.1
- Greeley, CO 100.2
- Las Vegas, NV 100.2
- Port St. Lucie, FL 100.2
- Detroit, MI 100.3
- Ogden, UT 100.3
- Spokane, WA 100.3
- Norwich, CT 100.4
- Punta Gorda, FL 100.5
- Colorado Springs, CO 100.7
- Ann Arbor, MI 100.9
- Bakersfield, CA 100.9
- Burlington, VT 100.9
- Salt Lake City, UT 100.9
- Tampa, FL 100.9
- Charleston, SC 101.0
- Reno, NV 101.0
- Fort Collins, CO 101.1
- Orlando, FL 101.4
- Eugene, OR 101.6
- Providence, RI 101.8
- Portland, ME 101.9
- Fresno, CA 102.2
- Cape Coral, FL 102.3
- Sarasota, FL 102.4
- Worcester, MA 102.5
- Philadelphia, PA 102.6
- Hartford, CT 102.7
- Dallas, TX 103.1
- Naples, FL 103.2
- Trenton, NJ 103.2
- Phoenix, AZ 103.3
- Bend, OR 103.6
- Chicago, IL 103.6
- Olympia, WA 103.7
- Baltimore, MD 104.5
- New Haven, CT 104.6
- Minneapolis, MN 104.8
- Stockton, CA 105.1
- Boulder, CO 105.2
- Anchorage, AK 105.4
- Portland, OR 105.4
- Bremerton, WA 105.6
- Manchester, NH 105.7
- Denver, CO 105.8
- Riverside, CA 106.4
- Sacramento, CA 106.7
- Bridgeport, CT 106.9
- Santa Rosa, CA 107.8
- Boston, MA 108.3
- Vallejo, CA 108.5
- Santa Barbara, CA 108.8
- Washington, D.C. 108.9
- Salinas, CA 109.0
- Poughkeepsie, NY 109.4
- San Jose, CA 110.4
- Oxnard, CA 110.5
- Honolulu, HI 111.0
- Seattle, WA 111.1
- San Diego, CA 111.9
- New York, NY 112.6
- Los Angeles, CA 113.6
- Miami, FL 114.2
- San Francisco, CA 115.6
Compare Portland with your city
See what you'd need to earn in Portland to keep your lifestyle, after taxes and local prices. The calculator starts from Seattle, WA, which sends the most households here of the metros we cover (IRS, 2022–2023), using its median household income as an illustrative single-earner salary. Household income can include several earners and other income; it is not a typical individual wage. Pick your own city, salary and filing status.
Equal salary in Portland: $115,300
Compare any two of 149 U.S. metro areas. All cities
To keep the same lifestyle, you need about $115,300 in Portland, OR to match $110,000 in Seattle, WA ($5,300 more), after 2026 taxes and local prices.
Single filer, W-2 salary. Washington has no state income tax on wages; Oregon does; includes Portland resident tax $50 (inside city limits).
Prices and housing cover the metro area; taxes use Washington and Oregon, their principal states. A metro can span several states; living in its other state can change the tax result.
What things cost in Portland
The vertical line marks the U.S. average (100). BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 for the metropolitan area.
Taxes in Portland
In this fixed example, one single filer earning a $100,000 W-2 salary keeps $71,282 after 2026 federal tax ($13,170), Social Security and Medicare ($7,650) and Oregon income tax ($7,148), plus $700 in state payroll programs, and $50 in Portland resident income tax. The salary is rounded from median household income, not an observed individual wage. This example stays fixed when you change the calculator.
Prices and housing cover the full Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metro area; the tax example uses its principal state, Oregon. A home in another state within the metro can have different taxes.
Portland residents in Multnomah County pay the Metro Supportive Housing Services tax (1% of Oregon taxable income above $128,000 single / $205,000 joint), the Preschool for All tax (1.5% above $125,000 / $200,000, 3% above $250,000 / $400,000) and the city's Arts Tax ($50 a person, $100 on a joint return, once Oregon taxable income passes $20,000 / $40,000). Living outside Portland avoids the Arts Tax. Preschool for All covers all of Multnomah County (Gresham and the other east-county suburbs too), and the Metro housing tax covers the urban parts of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, so most suburbs still pay the Metro tax. Both also apply to people who live elsewhere on income earned inside those areas. Living and working in Washington or Clackamas County avoids Preschool for All as well, which is what the suburban estimate assumes.
Housing
| Measure | Portland area |
|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,767/mo |
| Median home value | $584,800 |
| Median property tax | $4,889/yr |
| Monthly cost to own the median home (20% down) | $3,690 |
| Median household income | $98,994 |
Climate and jobs in Portland
In the Portland area the average January low is 36°F and the average July high 82°F, and the area has about 15 days a year at 90°F or hotter. Unemployment averaged 4.9% in 2025, above the U.S. rate (4.3%), and the median wage across all jobs was $60,690 a year, 19% above the U.S. median.
| Climate | 1991–2020 average |
|---|---|
| January low | 36°F |
| July high | 82°F |
| Days 90°F or hotter | 15 a year |
| Precipitation | 37 in a year |
| Snowfall | 4.2 in a year |
| Jobs and pay | Metro area | U.S. |
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate, 2025 average | 4.9% | 4.3% |
| Median wage, all jobs (May 2025) | $60,690 | $50,980 |
| Wage and salary jobs (May 2025) | 1.2 million | 155.5 million |
Climate: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020 averages at the Portland International Airport station (USW00024229). Weather varies across a metro area, especially with elevation and distance from the coast. Jobs: unemployment from BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics; wages and job counts from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, which count wage and salary jobs, not the self-employed; wages are before taxes. The 2025 average covers 11 months: October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown.
Retiring in Portland
Our modeled retiree budget is about $3,436 a month here with a home owned outright, or $4,256 renting. It uses spending benchmarks for households with a reference person age 65 or older (BLS 2024), adjusted for local prices. These are household-based estimates, not observed spending by a single retiree in Portland. See where your budget goes furthest.
Where people move to and from Portland
- Portland to Seattle
- Portland to Phoenix
- Portland to Los Angeles
- Portland to Bend
- Portland to Eugene
- Portland to San Francisco
- Seattle to Portland
- Los Angeles to Portland
- San Francisco to Portland
- Eugene to Portland
- Phoenix to Portland
IRS county-to-county migration data, 2022–2023, aggregated to the 149 metro areas we cover.
Natural hazard risk
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores for the Portland area is 94.6 of 100 (very high county-score mean), with modeled expected losses of about $477 per resident per year. A mean of county percentiles is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. It describes the counties in the metro; your property's risk can differ. Disaster risk by county in Oregon.
The vertical line marks county-score scale midpoint (50).
Frequently asked questions
What salary do you need to live in Portland?
In a fixed single-filer W-2 example living inside the principal city, about $89,600 in Portland matches the buying power of $75,000 in an average-priced area with no state income tax. The example uses 2026 federal taxes, Oregon state taxes and modeled resident local taxes where applicable. It stays fixed when calculator inputs change. Renting the median home at 30% of income takes $70,680, and buying the median home with 20% down takes about $158,124.
Is Portland expensive?
The Portland metro area's price level is 105.4 (U.S. = 100), #23 of the 149 metro areas we cover, from most to least expensive. Its housing rents price index is 125.1, 25% above the U.S. average.
Are people moving to Portland?
Counting moves to and from the other 148 metro areas we cover, Portland had a net gain of about 1,432 households in 2022–2023 (IRS county migration data).
What is the weather like in Portland?
In NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for the Portland area (Portland International Airport weather station), the average January low is 36°F and the average July high 82°F. The area has about 15 days a year at 90°F or hotter and gets 37 inches of precipitation a year and about 4.2 inches of snow.
What are jobs and pay like in Portland?
The Portland metro area's unemployment rate averaged 4.9% in 2025, above the U.S. rate (4.3%). The median wage across all jobs was $60,690 a year in May 2025, 19% above the U.S. median of $50,980 (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
What natural disasters affect Portland?
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores is 94.6 out of 100 (very high county-score mean). This is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. The highest county-score means by hazard are earthquake, heat wave, riverine flooding.
Compare Portland with other cities
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Cities with similar prices
- Anchorage, AK 105.4
- Bremerton, WA 105.6
- Boulder, CO 105.2
- Manchester, NH 105.7
- Stockton, CA 105.1
- Denver, CO 105.8
- Moving from Oregon
State-agency links identify the responsible tax office; they do not verify every modeled rule. Use forms and guidance for the year you are filing. Local-tax references retain their own publication or filing years. Some documents cover an earlier filing year; a source link is not a claim that every rule has just been rechecked.