All homes and bedroom counts
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Portland, OR
Portland is a selective investigation for buyers prioritizing tenant affordability and negotiation leverage, not a broad buy.
Median price$553k
Median rent$1,805
Gross yield3.9%
Job growth▼ 1.8%
Composite Market ScoreRank #535 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Portland, OR?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,805 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 0.39% from a year earlier.
Studio, 1BR and 2BR listings
Occupied rental units paying rent
Two-bedroom standard
These figures are not averaged together. Zillow and Realtor describe asking-rent markets, ACS measures rent paid by surveyed households, and HUD publishes administrative bedroom standards.
Exact county schedules
HUD rent benchmarks inside Portland
Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.
| County | Studio | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multnomah County, ORFIPS 41051 | $1,570 | $1,677 | $1,922 | $2,619 | $3,109 |
| Washington County, ORFIPS 41067 | $1,570 | $1,677 | $1,922 | $2,619 | $3,109 |
| Clark County, WAFIPS 53011 | $1,570 | $1,677 | $1,922 | $2,619 | $3,109 |
| Clackamas County, ORFIPS 41005 | $1,570 | $1,677 | $1,922 | $2,619 | $3,109 |
| Yamhill County, ORFIPS 41071 | $1,570 | $1,677 | $1,922 | $2,619 | $3,109 |
| Columbia County, ORFIPS 41009 | $1,570 | $1,677 | $1,922 | $2,619 | $3,109 |
| Skamania County, WAFIPS 53059 | $1,570 | $1,677 | $1,922 | $2,619 | $3,109 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Portland is a selective investigation for buyers prioritizing tenant affordability and negotiation leverage, not a broad buy. Buyers comfortable with a $553,092 median value and a calculated 3.92% gross yield may investigate; investors requiring near-term job or rent momentum should avoid it.
Opportunity lies in softer pricing without abundant inventory: values fell a calculated 0.99% year over year, a calculated 36.14% of listings had price drops, yet months of supply was 2.9. Median asking rent was $1,805, equal to a calculated 22.23% of median household income, indicating tenant affordability rather than strong rent growth.
Risk remains concentrated in demand and ownership costs. CES jobs fell a calculated 1.85%, while asking rent rose only a calculated 0.39%. Tax-filing migration was negative, and earthquake is the dominant hazard. Insurance pricing, retrofit exposure, and property-level condition are not published and require separate diligence.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What income profile does the median property offer?
The record lists median asking rent of $1,805 per month, a median home value of $553,092, and a calculated gross yield of 3.92%.
What negotiating conditions does the listing data show?
Months of supply is 2.9, median days on market is 19, and a calculated 36.14% of listings had price drops.
What climate issue requires property-level diligence?
Earthquake is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is a calculated 0.1614%; insurance premiums and retrofit costs are not published.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 3.9%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 0.39%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 5.4%
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Put the evidence to work
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Portland as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
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Market pulse
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
Months of supply2.9 mo.▼ from 3.2 mo. a year ago
Median days on market19 daysunchanged from a year ago
Listings with price drops36.1%▲ from 35.4% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio100.2%2026-05-01
Home value growth▼ 1.0%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 0.39%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield3.9%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▼ 1.8%CES · 12m to 2026-06
Release-to-release evidence
What actually changed
This comparison exists because at least one underlying source period advanced. Rebuilding the same data never creates a new observation.
Published score held steady27→27
0 ptsThe published component scores did not move in this release.
Weights were unchanged at metro-2026-07-v2-omb2023, so the movement comes from refreshed evidence and percentile ranks.
The named source periods advanced, but the measured values on this page held steady.
The one chart
Rents versus prices, indexed to 2019
Both series start at 100. The gap between the lines is the investment case, and which line is closing it tells you what kind of market this is.
Reindexed Price vs. Rent Growth
2019 = 100 · annual · 2019–2026
Since 2019, prices are up 33% and rents 27%. Prices running ahead of rents is what compresses yield. ✓ recomputed from series
Composite breakdown
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
27| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 4 | 30% | 1.20 |
| Rent trend | 9 | 25% | 2.25 |
| Affordability | 68 | 15% | 10.20 |
| Supply pressure | 52 | 15% | 7.80 |
| Climate risk | 38 | 15% | 5.70 |
| Published score | 27 | ||
Portland, OR scoreRank #535
27Job growth4/100
CES employment fell a calculated 1.85% year over year -> current labor-market momentum is weak.
Rent trend9/100
Median asking rent rose a calculated 0.39% year over year -> current rent momentum provides little support for income growth.
Affordability68/100
Rent is a calculated 22.23% of median household income, while price-to-income is 5.68 -> tenant affordability is stronger than acquisition affordability.
Supply pressure52/100
Months of supply is 2.9 and a calculated 36.14% of listings had price drops -> buyers have negotiating evidence despite limited inventory.
Climate risk38/100
The annual climate loss ratio is a calculated 0.1614%, and earthquake is the dominant hazard -> insurance terms and structural condition need property-level review.
The numbers
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
ZHVI Median Price
$553k
YoY ▼ 1.0%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,805
YoY ▲ 0.39%
Gross Rental Yield
3.9%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,805 × 12 ÷ $553,092
Job Growth (YoY)
▼ 1.8%
CES payrolls
Job signal 4/100
Median Household Income
$97k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
22.2%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
5.7x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,922
Market rent 93.9% of FMR
Historical affordability context
Compare aligned 2019 and 2024 asking-rent and nominal household-income endpoints across the direct-overlap metro set.
Independent rent evidence
One market, several legitimate rent benchmarks
These releases observe different homes and different moments. RentMarker keeps them separate: ZORI remains the scoring baseline, while the other sources test how sensitive the market story is to bedroom mix and measurement method.
Monthly benchmark5 of 5 reported values
Zero-based scale$1,805Primary RentMarker baseline
2026-06-30
All homes and bedroom counts
A smoothed metro rent index for observed rentals; it is the primary rent used by RentMarker scores and career ratios.
View source release ↗$1,599−$206 vs ZORI
2026-05
Studio, 1BR and 2BR listings
The median advertised rent in Realtor.com's 50-largest-metro rental report; source NAs remain unavailable.
View source release ↗$1,677−$128 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
One-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,922+$117 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
Two-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,724−$81 vs ZORI
ACS 2024 5-year
Occupied rental units paying rent
A five-year survey estimate of contract rent plus applicable tenant-paid utilities; it is not a current asking-rent index.
View source release ↗Take the next step
Keep Portland as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Portland, OR
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 38900. They are kept separate from Zillow asking rent, Census occupied-home rent and property-level comparables.
Direct recent-lease rent history
Monthly overall-rent index; missing observations are not filled from another geography.
Recent-lease rent$1,6572026-07 · -1.7% year over year
Rental vacancy6.4%2026-07 · +0.6 percentage points year over year
Time on market31 days2026-07 · +1.3 days year over year
Measured rent retention
How much of gross yield survives the first two measured deductions?
This bridge subtracts direct rental vacancy and effective property tax only. It is not net yield, NOI, cap rate or property cash flow.
measured retention property tax vacancy
- Gross yield
- 3.9%
- Vacancy
- 6.4%
- Effective tax
- 0.9%
- Retained yield
- 2.8%
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Portland
BEA compares each category with the United States, which equals 100. This is a 2024 price-level comparison—not annual inflation.
BEA Regional Price Parities · 2024US = 100
Occupation wage lens
How asking rent sits against major local occupations
Annualized Zillow asking rent is divided by each BLS annual median wage. This is a screening ratio for one wage, not a household budget or affordability verdict.
Six largest published major groupsannual rent ÷ median wage
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$52,840 median wage
41.0%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$39,080 median wage
55.4%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$47,340 median wage
45.8%
Sales and Related Occupations$45,680 median wage
47.4%
Business and Financial Operations Occupations$90,240 median wage
24.0%
Management Occupations$136,440 median wage
15.9%
Supply pipeline
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
National supply context
Compare this authorization pipeline with asking-rent growth, jobs and for-sale liquidity across the evidence-complete metro set.
Building permits by structure type
units per year · latest year annualised
10,140 units authorised in 2026, 44% of them in 5+ unit buildings. A meaningful share is apartments, which discount first when they lease up. ✓ recomputed from series
Who is arriving, and who is buying
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
Net Household Move
−397
48,451 in vs 48,848 out (IRS SOI)
▼ 0.8% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
−$12,866
Arriving $76,820 vs leaving $89,686
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
5.4%
1,370 of 25,518 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
earthquake
0.161% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: other
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Marion County · Los Angeles County · King County · Lane County · Maricopa County
✓ 48,451 in − 48,848 out = -397 netDirect market links
Where tax-return households moved from and to
These are the largest flows where both counties map to a RentMarker market area. They are a documented subset of the all-US IRS totals above.
Leading inbound markets
- Salem, OR2,959 arriving
- Seattle, WA2,864 arriving
- Los Angeles, CA2,760 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Seattle, WA3,294 leaving
- Salem, OR2,984 leaving
- Phoenix, AZ1,874 leaving
The other side
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- CES jobs declined a calculated 1.85% year over year, leaving current employment momentum negative.
- Median asking rent increased only a calculated 0.39% year over year, while the calculated gross yield is 3.92%, offering limited current income momentum.
- Tax filings recorded net migration of -397, and average mover income was $89,686 outbound versus $76,820 inbound.
Inside this metro area
Move from the market-area average to local evidence
Use the available county and city pages to add local price, rent, housing, migration and hazard context to the market-area view.
County records
County · ORMultnomah County$511k home · 4.0% yieldCounty · ORWashington County$569k home · 4.0% yieldCounty · WAClark County$554k home · 4.1% yieldCounty · ORClackamas County$623k home · 3.6% yieldCounty · ORYamhill County$512k home · 4.7% yieldCounty · ORColumbia County$455k home · 4.7% yieldCounty · WASkamania County$568k home · n/a yield
Cities in this market
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Portland
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Market area | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland, OR (Target) | 27 | $553k | $1,805 | 3.9% | ▼ 1.8% |
| Ogden, UT | 32 | $520k | $1,614 | 3.7% | ▼ 0.9% |
| Baltimore, MD | 47 | $408k | $1,936 | 5.7% | ▼ 1.2% |
| Denver, CO | 36 | $573k | $1,930 | 4.0% | ▼ 0.1% |
| Providence, RI | 52 | $532k | $2,172 | 4.9% | ▼ 0.3% |
Provenance
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rent | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — historical household income | direct | ACS 2019 and 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent index | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| BEA County Personal Income — income and population | direct | 2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levels | direct | 2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wages | direct | May 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15) | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-08-02 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA | 2026-08-08 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 2025 | 2026-08-02 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income band | direct | HUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23) | 2026-08-03 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalk | direct | HUD-USPS 2026Q1 | 2026-08-09 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-06 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-06 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rents | direct | top-50 rental asking rents 2026-05 | 2026-08-05 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supply | direct | ZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-03 | 2026-08-12 |
| USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | direct | USDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | 2026-08-02 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusted | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv | 2026-08-15 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-08-08 |