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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
This is one of the closest races in our database: the top 5 cities are separated by just 6 points on the cost index. Gresham, Salem, Portland, Hillsboro, Eugene are all within striking distance. At this margin, secondary factors — taxes, rent trends, category-specific costs — become the tiebreakers.…
#1 Ranked: Gresham — cost index 107, rent $1,594/mo, income $73,608
Top 5 separated by only 6 points
3 of 5 cities come in below the national cost-of-living average of 112
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
This is one of the closest races in our database: the top 5 cities are separated by just 6 points on the cost index. Gresham, Salem, Portland, Hillsboro, Eugene are all within striking distance. At this margin, secondary factors — taxes, rent trends, category-specific costs — become the tiebreakers. Here's the full breakdown.
Rent data is sourced from Zillow's Observed Rent Index (ZORI), which tracks the median rent across all active listings — not just new leases. This gives a more representative and stable signal than asking prices alone. Gresham: $1,594/mo, Salem: $1,600/mo, Portland: $1,710/mo. The cheapest city here is $301 under the national median — that's $3,612/year in savings on rent alone.
Here's Gresham by the numbers — and there's a lot to like (and a little to watch). Cost index: 107. Rent: $1,594/month — which, honestly, is lower than you'd expect here — . Income: $73,608/year. Home price: $463,410. Population: 110,685. The strongest category is Utilities at 98; the most expensive is Housing at 117. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are saving renters $3,612 per year vs. the national median. That's a meaningful edge in practice.
Top 5 separated by only 6 points. The race is tight: Gresham, Salem, Portland, Hillsboro, Eugene are all within 6 points of each other. At this level, differences in rent, taxes, or a single category can sway the decision (and that gap widens if you factor in state taxes). Solidly above average.
If you're ready to act on this, three things to do next: 1) Click into the city pages for the top 3 and check rent trends — direction matters more than the snapshot. 2) Run your income through the salary calculator for a personalized cost comparison. 3) Compare your top two picks head-to-head on our comparison page. The data is here; the decision is yours (that's pre-tax, of course). Below the radar, but not for long.
110,685 residents · Oregon
At $1,594/month for rent and a cost index of 107, Gresham is pretty much what you'd expect from a mid-size city in this part of the country. Income is $73,608. It's fine. Not great, not bad.
177,432 residents · Oregon
Why Salem ranks #2: the numbers tell a clear story. At 105 on the cost index, residents save roughly 7% less than the typical American. Rent sits at $1,600/month while the median household pulls in $71,900/year. The Utilities category is particularly strong at 97, though Housing (113) lags behind. Home prices average $432,341 — $35,029 below the national median.
630,498 residents · Oregon
The #3 spot goes to Portland, and the breakdown explains why. Renters here pay $1,710/month — which, honestly, is lower than you'd expect here — — saving renters $2,220 per year compared to the national average. Meanwhile, Utilities is the standout at index 102, keeping costs manageable. The weak spot? Housing at 128. At a 23% rent-to-income ratio, there's genuine breathing room in the average household budget.
107,730 residents · Oregon
Here's Hillsboro by the numbers — and there's a lot to like. And more often than not, cost index: 114. Rent: $1,869/month. Income: $103,207/year. Home price: $516,726. Population: 107,730. The strongest category is Utilities at 104; the most expensive is Housing at 134. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are saving renters $312 per year vs. the national median. This is the kind of number that should get your attention.
177,899 residents · Oregon
The #5 spot goes to Eugene, and the breakdown explains why. Renters here pay $1,988/month — costing renters $1,116 more per year compared to the national average. Meanwhile, Utilities is the standout at index 104, keeping costs manageable. The weak spot? Housing at 133. The 37% rent-to-income ratio is a pressure point — for median earners, housing takes more than recommended (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling).
Rent is the single largest expense for most households. We rank all tracked cities in Oregon by median 1-bedroom rent (Zillow ZORI) from lowest to highest, filtering out any cities with incomplete data. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Gresham ranks #1 in Oregon for this analysis with a cost index of 107 and median income of $73,608.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
Gresham (ranked #1) has a cost index of 107 and rent of $1,594/mo, while Eugene (ranked #5) has a cost index of 113 and rent of $1,988/mo — a 6-point difference in cost of living.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Gresham is $1,594/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $301 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Gresham is $463,410, which is 6.3× the local median income. Most median-income households would stretch to buy at this ratio. The national median home price is $467,370.
Oregon has a 9.9% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 0%, and the effective property tax rate is 0.87%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.