Area’s median income? Depends whom you ask

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Nov 11, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the median income for a family of four in the Portland-Vancouver, Wash., metropolitan region was $67,900 for fiscal 2005, which ended in September.

But the U.S. Census Bureau says the median household income for a family of four in Portland was $40,793 last year.

Michael Leachman, a policy analyst with the Oregon Center for Public Policy, said that “HUD overstates Portland’s income.”

For starters, he said, HUD does not conduct its own income surveys. Instead, it takes the once-a-decade census finding and then multiplies it each year by a number of factors, including inflation. In addition, Leachman says, the HUD figures cover a five-county area that includes Clackamas and Washington counties, where incomes are traditionally higher than Multnomah County, which includes Portland.

Despite that, all Portland agencies that received HUD funds are required to use the federal department’s figures when determining housing affordability. National affordability studies frequently cite the HUD figures for Portland, too.

City Commissioner Sam Adams believes the Census Bureau figures are much more accurate Ñ and he believes the HUD figures have created a false impression about how much money Portlanders earn.

“Portland is actually poorer than we think it is,” he said.

As part of an initiative he has launched called the Economic Dashboard project, Adams has convened a panel of state and local economists to review and evaluate all available economic data related to Portland. If they agree the HUD figures are too high, he will present that information to the City Council within the next few months.

What could be done about it is unclear.

Ñ Jim Redden

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