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What are the taxes in Portland, OR?

Vancouver, WA or Portland, OR?

  • Okay, so it's not quite "Travel" per-se, but I'm considering moving to the Portland area. I love Seattle, it will always be my hometown, but it's getting really crowded (not to mention expensive) here. There are a couple things regarding moving southward I'm not too sure of, however. 1) Which city would be better to live in - Vancouver, WA or Portland, OR and why? (Take into consideration cost-of-living as well as housing costs, commutes, etc). 2) Because of difference in taxes (i.e. WA has sales tax, OR has income tax) what would happen if, say, I moved to Vancouver and held a job in Portland or vice versa - how does the income tax play out?

  • Answer:

    re: #2, as others have said, if you work in Oregon, you pay Oregon income tax even if you live in the state of Washington. Vancouver has cheaper housing, no state income tax, great schools, better roads, worse alternative transit, more sprawl, and worse commutes to downtown Portland. Also, your comparison is sort of an apples to oranges comparison. Vancouver is a suburb of Portland, so your answer ties to whether or not you want to live in a city (warts and all) or a suburb. If you are asking about Vancouver versus other suburbs, then I would say your job should be the determining factor in which suburb you live, but again it's personal preference. Another poster said they live in Vancouver but work in Beaverton... well Beaverton is a great suburb with great schools, but they chose to trade off a huge commute (and that is gigantic since no bridge connects Clark County to Washington County directly) for a better bang for the buck on housing and schools. I live in Orenco Station (Hillsboro) and I love the convenience, the schools (much better than Portland but not as good as Lake Oswego which is ranked the highest), riding light rail, a pedestrian/bike friendly neighborhood, etc... But it's not cheap and we have a smaller lot. If you're not willing to deal with the headaches of living in Vancouver but you still want the schools, reasonable housing prices, etc., you might want to check out places that are a little farther out like Forest Grove (west), Wilsonville (south), or Troutdale (east).

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I'd live in Vancouver, and work and shop in Portland. I live in Pierce County and will be moving to Vancouver when my lease is up because it is so expensive in the Seattle/Tacoma area now. Good Luck

Astro Gurl

seattle is cool, but you should move to montreal(canada)

fukuoka

housing is cheaper in vancouver. the town is small, so you may end up working in portland with a hellish commute over the jammed bridge in the morning. Portland is trafficky. portland has high income taxes AND property taxes. Washington's property taxes are offset by their sales tax.

Besmirched Tea

my son lives in Vancouver wa for the very reason you cite on Portland taxes...but any business will still charge you if you work there and make you pay Portland taxes. Neither are inexpensive.

sweetpea

I live in vancouver and work in Beaverton. 100% of my income is taxible in Oregon. I choose to live in Vancouver because the Evergreen School ddistrict is excellent, whereas Oregon has a major educational budget crisis.

thermion7

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