What am I likely to pay for rent in Portland, Oregon?

December 10, 2014 7:17 PM

Job offer in Portland. Yay! Only thing is, it is very modestly compensated. I have never lived in Portland and have never even been there, so I really have no idea how much things cost. If I were to look to live with roommates, how much would I be likely to end up paying?

I'm in my early 30s, would be working at a nonprofit, would probably want to find roommates in their mid 20s-mid 30s range to live with - group house, shared apartment? Don't care about living in in a posh neighborhood or anything, but would like to be downtown and not terribly far from my prospective place of work (within maybe 2 miles? Something bike-able, anyway), which is near the Portland Saturday Market. I don't have a car, and am not really planning on getting one (I hear there is good public transportation?). What would be a likely/attainable rent for a place that is in decent shape?

Thanks for any advice! (And actually, general advice on a neighborhood that might fit the needs described above would be great too!)

posted by thesnowyslaps to Work & Money (16 answers total)

You don't need to be downtown to be within two miles of the Portland Saturday Market. I'd look at close-in neighborhoods in SE, like the edges of Belmont, Hawthorne, Sunnyside. Downtown will be expensive and have not-great housing, generally speaking.

The public transportation truly is good, and if you don't mind biking in the rain, it's pretty bike-friendly. There's tons of buses that go from the east side across the Burnside Bridge, which would dump you about three blocks from the Market.

If you're sharing a house or apartment with folks, I'm guessing you could get an okay place for $350. (A studio by yourself would be around $600.) Other folks should weigh in on that, though, since I haven't shared a place for about 14 years.

Portland is great! If you need any more info, please feel free to memail me.
posted by Specklet at 7:26 PM on December 10, 2014

Response by poster: Woah . . . $350! As someone who currently lives in the DC area, this astounds me . . .
posted by thesnowyslaps at 7:32 PM on December 10, 2014

Don't get excited: a quick look on Craigslist shows that my estimate would be for a small, crappy room. Looks like $500 would be more realistic, but it really does vary depending on neighborhood and what you're willing to put up with.
posted by Specklet at 7:49 PM on December 10, 2014

Response by poster: Haha, yeah, I just did the same myself. $500 would still actually be one of the cheapest rents I've ever had. For some reason, I always live in ridiculously expensive cities.

Okay, will let folks answer and stop being chatty :)
posted by thesnowyslaps at 7:51 PM on December 10, 2014

I agree that 500-600 is probably more realistic for something decent - although, I would recommend against downtown. Close-in NE or SE would be best in my opinion. Trimet will get you anywhere you want to go - if you work downtown, it is not an issue.

I moved to Portland sight-unseen 13 years ago . . . it is one of the best decisions of my life. Welcome!
posted by ainsley at 7:54 PM on December 10, 2014 [3 favorites]

Oh . . . and the term "close-in" is used a lot with regard to neighborhoods and mystified me when I moved here . . . . it basically means below 39th. The streets on the East side are numbered (with the lower number being closest to downtown) . . . so close-in is 39th-ish or lower.

But Hollywood District, which is NE 40-60-ish is also worth considering, I think. Anything past 82nd will probably not appeal to you - although will be cheaper.
posted by ainsley at 8:04 PM on December 10, 2014 [5 favorites]

If you want to bus commute, get friendly with the Tri-met bus app. For any place you look at run a route finder and make sure it's just 1 bus line away from downtown. I agree that you should look in SE and NE though I have lived three times in SW just S of downtown (up by OHSU, down off Terwilliger, and in Lair Hill). Rental market is tight but you can probably find something on your own for around $800. Renting a house with roommates can be a better deal of course. And rents are so much cheaper than DC.
posted by amanda at 8:32 PM on December 10, 2014

I have lived in Portland for 10 years, albeit entirely as a homeowner. However, I've helped many a friend look for rentals. The market is incredibly tight if you are looking to live by yourself in anything close-in and having any sort of vintage charm. It's pretty common to show up for a viewing and have the landlord tell you the apartment has already been rented. I once made a friend of mine submit an application before the apartment was even advertised and she could view it; that was the only way she got it after seeing about 10 places. But there are many newly constructed apartment bldgs popping up now, if you're into hideous new construction. Even so, a decent studio close-in that isn't gross will be at least $900, 1BRs will be around $1200. Better roommate shares will be at least $600.

Also, don't live downtown. Everywhere close-in in Portland is close to downtown without having to actually live there.
posted by violetk at 1:56 AM on December 11, 2014

I know you want to live in Portland the city and not in Beaverton/Hillsboro the suburb, but the Max line reaches out west :) and you may be able to find something within walking distance of a Max station that is do-able. Lots and lots of apartment construction out here. [There are probably other neighborhoods close to Max lines -- I am just very familiar with what I see around my workplace :)].

Good luck with your move!
posted by elmay at 5:39 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I'd say that the initial estimates are too low by some-to-quite-a-bit. I suspect you'll be looking at $600-800 at least for a decent shared house/roommate situation, and $700-1000 or more for your own place. More in some areas and for some places than others, of course.

Inner east side will get you slightly more house for your money, but competition for good rentals is fierce. Like, we just went to an open house for a property that had a crappy no-photos listing on a Craigslist ad that was up for about 48 hours. There were at least 5 other households there for the viewing, and even though we submitted our application sight unseen for the place the day the CL ad went up, I don't think we got the house. So when I say "competitive" I mean it.

I love Portland and I love living here, but the rental market is crazy-tough and may not ease up much in the future, so be realistic in your expectations.
posted by Kpele at 6:41 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

We're not at SF or NY levels of competition for places…but I would say that there are pockets of town that come close.

When it comes to renting in Portland (and, just about everything else) you're going to need to know people to settle into a good situation. None of the best places I've ever lived in town have been listed to the public. It always seems to be that I know someone is moving out of a place that I can get on in first. Apartments, especially good, cheap ones in Southeast get handed down to "generations" of friends. Historically, this has saved us about 10-20% off the 'market rent.' Right now we're in a house, pretty far out in SE, and we're saving almost 30% off similar houses up for rent in the neighborhood, because we know the folks.

You're going to need a network for stuff like that, and tapping into it can be difficult here. Plan on things being shit for a little while, and probably plan on paying a little bit more than you really want to, and living in a neighborhood that you're not really stoked on. Portland is a city of neighborhoods, all with their own flavor and character….and downtown is actually the last place you want to live. 'Downtown' is a surprisingly small zone considering the size of Portland in general.

Studios haven't gone for $600 for years; you're looking closer at $800-1,000. Rooms in decent neighborhoods (depending on size, and quality) tend to go for closer to $450-650/month.

There's a shortage of housing in Portland right now, and you're going to have to fight pretty hard to have a 'good' rental situation. It is doable, but don't count on it happening before you have a network set up here.
posted by furnace.heart at 9:13 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Agreeing with Kpele about initial estimates being low by some to quite-a-bit. I have lived in Portland for 9 years and have always lived "close in." I rented a small (but charming!) one bedroom apartment in the NW neighborhood for $950 (now increased to about $1,250 last time I was in that 'hood and looked at their leasing sign), and then a two bedroom house for $1,500 in SE (now $2,200 just two short years later).

My family and I now own a house in inner SE but I have friends who currently rent. Their ranges have been $700 for a studio to $2,700 for a house (split by 5, so not too bad).

Inner SE or NE certainly fit the bill. I also really enjoyed living in the NW neighborhood when I first moved to Portland. It was walkable to downtown, and a really cohesive neighborhood (whereas SE and NE seemed too spread out and suburban to my young self).

We are currently about 25 streets east from the river (that divides West and East Portland, downtown is on the West). My husband rides his bike to work downtown and it takes him about 18 minutes door to door. If you can ride a bike, you can certainly get around everywhere easily and efficiently and do not need a car. Many of my friends and colleagues either do not own a car or do a majority of their commuting via bike.

I also work with nonprofits and am in my early 30s, feel free to drop me a MeFi message when you get to town, or earlier if you have more questions!
posted by click at 9:21 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

As others have said, don't limit yourself to downtown, particularly if you bike; Portland is incredibly bikeable and that fact should help you broaden your search a bit. Check out North Portland, particularly St. John's or Arbor Lodge/Kenton - Arbor Lodge and Kenton are really close to the MAX light rail that goes downtown, and all three areas have a lot of really cool stuff and great bikeability at a lower cost than a lot of the more close-in neighborhoods.

For reference, I bike from Arbor Lodge to downtown, and it's about a 20 minute ride.
posted by pdb at 3:01 PM on December 11, 2014

Former Portlander, now in LA, here's my brain farts:

Don't live in a suburb if you can help it. Yes, you can get in/out of downtown quickly but you'll be cut-off from what makes the city good. (And US-26 does get really backed up during rush hours). Only live outside the city if you just bought giant plot of land.

I used to live in Arbor Lodge (Interstate & Rosa Parks) and it was a great situation, the MAX was right nearby so I just took it into work everyday. Lived in a 3 BR w/ basement with a few other people, total rent was like $1800. I biked some, but the MAX made it much easier in the rainy winters. Being close to a (good) coffee shop makes your zone much more livable too. Portland is known for good coffee, but there are also a lot of oversized couch & syrup mid-90s coffee shops that serve burnt caramel-peppermint bullshit.

There's also something about the city that makes people extremely lazy to leave their zone, despite only being a few miles away. So if you make a bunch of friends in NE, don't expect them to come to SE all that often. Avoid SW and NW unless you are buying a house and are 50 years old*.

*Also, no one dyes there hair in Portland. So unlike other cities the whole populous looks much older because no one dyes their gray.

Rents have gone up, drastically unfortunately. They are getting on par with more major cities.

Also, don't use an Umbrella, they don't work so great anyway in a general misty fog that is 9 months of the year. Buy a rain-proof jacket instead.

> I don't have a car, and am not really planning on getting one

Yes you can get around without a car, but it's a much better experience if you have one for the weekend and week nights. It's a city, yes, but getting Groceries at Fred Meyer is 1000x easier with an old Subaru or Volvo (there are tons of these models around town). Also, getting out of the city is a chore without. There's lots of nature to go see/do outside the city.
posted by wcfields at 7:02 PM on December 11, 2014

Padmapper is a good place to start estimating what you'd pay. The very, very top end of Portland basically starts $2k a month in Pearl District.

thesnowyslaps: "I don't have a car, and am not really planning on getting one (I hear there is good public transportation?)."

I've been happy with the Max as a tourist / visitor, but I'd probably want to zip / rental car on a regular basis for bulk grocery shop and trips to the outdoors parks / coast.
posted by pwnguin at 10:03 PM on December 11, 2014

I can't answer to shared housing prices, but this article from yesterday is in line with reality if you plan to eventually move in the direction of raising a family. It's cheaper to buy, if you're able to.

And I actually live down in the Gorge, where rental prices are frustratingly even higher than the PDX metro.
posted by stormyteal at 4:27 PM on December 12, 2014