Portland is the 8th most expensive city in the country

(MARCH 17, 2023) Portland is an expensive city. But how much do you need to live comfortably? That probably depends on what "comfortably" means to you. But one company thinks it has a guide.

SmartAssets is a website. It provides financial information. SmartAssets wanted to know more about salaries and living expenses around the country. So it did some research. What did it learn? Portland is the 8th most expensive large metropolitan area in the country. An area resident needs to have an annual salary of $74,086 after taxes to live "comfortably".

The data for the research comes from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its online calculator tells you the living wage for a specific place. A single adult in Multnomah County, for example, will have typical living expenses of $45,458 before taxes. 

SmartAssets then used a common rule for budgets. The rule says that 50% of after-tax income should pay for those typical living expenses (needs). Another 30% should pay for discretionary spending (wants). Another 20% should be for savings or debt payments.

So a person in Portland with $74,086 after taxes would spend:

• $37,043 on needs

• $22,226 on wants

• $14,817 on savings

Minimum wage, on the other hand, is $13.50 per hour ($28,080 annually) in many parts of Oregon.

The most expensive place in the country is San Francisco. The most affordable place in the country is St. Louis.