Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro → Memphis

Moving from Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro to Memphis shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 105.4 to 92.2 (100 = US average), so a Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro salary needs to be multiplied by 0.87 to hold the same purchasing power in Memphis. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,922/month in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro to $1,274/month in Memphis - a lower monthly bill of $648, or $7,776/year. That rent delta alone is often the single biggest line item when relocating.

Wages tell the other half. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report a median salary of $79,572 in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro versus $65,102 in Memphis - a raw gap of $14,470 lower. The Memphis labor market has 597,090 tracked jobs against 1,180,420 in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, shaping how easy it is to find a comparable role. Combine that with the cost-of-living shift above and you get the real purchasing-power delta, sometimes a "higher salary" is actually a pay cut once rent and RPP are applied.

Safety, schools, and childcare round out the move. FBI UCR violent crime rates near Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro and Memphis are 335 and 602 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 17.6:1 at origin versus 15.3:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $12,639/year in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro versus $7,860/year in Memphis. Our composite verdict - Strongly Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.