Family of 4 on approx. $55K? (Portland, Hillsboro: affordable apartment, renters, houses)

[eliza2011]

My husband has a job offer from a company located in downtown Portland for about $55K and we're trying to decide if we can afford to live there on one salary, at least until I find a job. We have two small children and are currently renters not homeowners. As such, we would not be looking to buy a house straight away, and couldn't afford it anyway, but would hope to be able to rent a nice 3-bd house in a kid-friendly part of town with good schools and within close commuting distance to downtown Portland.
If we live a fairly modest life, is Portland really feasible for a family of four on one salary? I honestly have no idea.

[roneb]

You won't be "living large", but it is definitely possible. My family of six has gotten by on less for quite some time now - though admittedly our debt has been mounting since I became unemployed a year ago. Consider yourselves fortunate if your husband has a solid job offer at 55K.

[tomfallon]

What, haven't you been watching in Wisconsin? 55k is ridiculously rich per the republicans! (but they also say making over 250k is almost poverty so...yes really they have contradicted like this watch fox) Seriously though I suggest looking at apartment options. Renting a house will be more money and an apartment can help you stretch your budget further I think. Especially if you find a deal. Then save that money towards down payment on a house or for other things. Also your energy bills, etc shouldn't be as high (consider heat/a/c loss through roof, 4 walls verse 1 or two walls in an apartment). Old houses will have big heat bills. Stay away from oil heat homes and homes with no in-wall insulation.

I love Whole foods - but they're too expensive, consider shopping at Fred Meyers and look at Farmer's market options near where you end up (sometimes cheaper sometimes more expensive). I also really like Safeway but I'm not sure if they're more or less than FM.

Keep an eye on groupon & living social sites for entertainment and dining deals. Some are pretty good.

Consider living on one car - I know this is hard with a family - worker should consider using public transit. There are many one-car families. My partner is a pediatric dentist and I'm and architect and we have 1-car. My neighbor across the street is a dentist - they have one car (he rides his bike to work and leaves car with wife and kids). I walk/ride my bike places. I use zipcar for client meetings when the house-car is not available. Public transit whenever possible. Our public transit is really good here. If you have an iphone, theres a pdxbus ap that tells you how far away the bus is from your stop.

Try to live without cable/satellite. Also, for internet service ask if there is a cheaper service available as opposed to their fastest connection. Unless you're working from home some of the middle-services are still pretty fast and can save 5-10/month. Our cable+home phone+internet bill is $200/month. Then there is cell phone on top of that! It's ridiculous. We've been talking of getting rid of the home line but that might not be practical for a family. If you can raise a family without cable though do it! I wish we could get rid of the tv (well sometimes, I do love HGTV).

good luck - you'll do fine and you'll love it here!

[EnricoV]

You'll do better in living on less in the suburbs, and out of Multnomah County. Somewhere like Milwaukie to the southeast, or Hillsboro to the west. I agree, you husband is going to want to use public transportation. Not only to cut the need for more than one car, but parking downtown (unless his employer provides it) will eat up a lot of the budget.

And I agree, cable is a ridiculous waste of money. I don't even have a working television. I watch all my television/movies via the internet. A $9.99 monthly Netflix (or some other type site) subscription will give you more movies and television than you'll ever want (or have time) to watch.

There are lots of low-cost/free options for entertaining yourself and your children, if you seek them out. And plenty of much less expensive places to buy groceries than either Whole Foods or Fred Meyer. The problem with those is, most are in the suburbs. So again, "in" town is going to be more expensive.

I think it's very doable, as long as you're not living the high life, or trying to keep up with the Jones'.

[carolinajack]

maybe not in portland but in beaverton hillsboro,where affordable apartment rents and affordable train is good to downtown. we lived in a big city of Philadelpia on 60k, will be moving to hillsboro oregon or austin texas, as they are more affordable than philly

[carolinajack]

and you can ride your bike to work, shop at the coops, lots of free parks and activities. and dont forget picking berries on sauvie island

[carolinajack]

glad to see another family in the bracket of real middle class. all too often the people who are moving there we here are in tech and making way more money and wonder why they needhelp. esp in the economic downturn. the home prices do work in the middle class column in portland but in the suburbs you can definitely find some, places.