Unfortunately, Portland ranked in the bottom 20 on our list of the best cities for first-time homebuyers. The median home value in the Portland metro area was $368,800 in 2020,3 which isn’t too bad considering that the median home value in San Jose was nearly $1,000,000. Still, paying for your mortgage and other monthly costs associated with owning a Portland home would eat up a significant portion of your paycheck. This is especially true if you were making Portland’s average individual income of $41,310 a year.4 If you want to buy your first home in the near future, Portland probably isn’t the best place to move. Look for homes in our top 10 cities for first-time homebuyers instead.