Buying a home in Hillsboro

Where a paycheck goes the furthest in this metro

Here's the finding, and I don't think anybody else in town is writing it down. Hillsboro has the highest median household income of any market I serve, at $106,409, and a median sale price of $524,714, which is essentially level with Beaverton and about ten thousand dollars below the City of Portland. Put those together and you get a price-to-income ratio of 4.9 times, the best in the set!

Incomes are Census five-year estimates in 2024 dollars. Sale prices are Redfin June 2026 for the metro cities and Beacon Appraisal Group April 2026 for Bend, so the months don't all line up and the ratio is a rough measure rather than a precise one. But the spread between 4.9 and 7.3 is much larger than the noise in it, and that spread is real.

What makes it more interesting is the direction prices are moving. Hillsboro's price per square foot fell 7.7% year over year to $280, the sharpest decline of any market here, while the number of homes sold rose 7.3% to 337. So you have more house per dollar and more transactions at the same time, which is not the usual pairing.

RSUs, bonuses, and why the hard part is documentation

Intel's Ronler Acres, Aloha and Jones Farm campuses dominate employment out here, and that's my own read on the local economy rather than a cited statistic, but it shapes almost every Hillsboro file I see. It means a lot of buyers whose income doesn't arrive as a flat salary. It arrives as base pay plus a bonus plus restricted stock that vests on a schedule, and possibly plus a spouse doing the same thing at a different company.

Is that a problem? Not for qualifying, usually. It's a paperwork problem, and paperwork problems are solvable if you start early. Here's what an underwriter is actually trying to establish:

• History. Variable income generally needs a track record, typically two years of receiving it, so that it can be averaged rather than guessed at. One big vest last March is not the same thing as three years of vests.
• Continuance. The lender needs a reason to believe it keeps coming. That usually means the grant documents and the vesting schedule, showing what's already granted and when it lands, plus an employer letter.
• What counts as income versus what counts as assets. Vested shares you've sold are income history. Unvested stock is not income, and it usually isn't reserves either. Vested shares sitting in a brokerage account can often count as reserves at a discount to market value.
• Timing. A vest that lands in the middle of your loan is a large deposit into your account, and large deposits get sourced. So tell me it's coming and we'll document it once, up front, rather than scrambling in underwriting.

The other thing worth naming honestly: Hillsboro's demand is unusually sensitive to semiconductor cycles. When the industry contracts, this market feels it faster than the rest of the metro does. That's not a reason to avoid Hillsboro, it's a reason to keep a real reserve cushion after closing rather than putting every dollar into the down payment.

If your income comes through a business rather than a W-2, or your returns show aggressive write-offs that make a good year look like a bad one, the bank statement loan page covers how deposit-based qualifying reads the same business differently. And it's worth reading before you conclude you don't qualify, because a lot of self-employed people are told no by a bank that only knows how to read a tax return.

What the market data says about writing an offer

Hillsboro reads as a competitive market with a pricing problem, and those two things together create an opening. The June 2026 Redfin figures:

Read those two bold-ish numbers together. Nearly 38% of listings took a price cut, and yet almost 35% of sales closed above asking. That combination describes sellers who are starting high and correcting, in a market where correctly priced homes still draw competition. So the practical guidance is: be patient with the overpriced listing, because it's likely to come down, and be ready to move quickly and cleanly on the one that's priced right, because you won't be alone on it.

A fully underwritten pre-approval matters more in that environment than a rate quote does. It's what lets you write a short contingency period without taking a real risk.

Property taxes, and the trap in new construction

Washington County's typical effective property tax rate works out to roughly 1.01% of market value, from an average of $17.96 per $1,000 of assessed value against a countywide assessed-to-market ratio of 0.560. Those are FY 2024-25 figures and countywide averages across all property types, so treat them as typical rather than as a quote for an address.

Now the part specific to Hillsboro, and it's a real one. Oregon caps growth in Maximum Assessed Value at 3% a year, and a sale does not reset it. But new construction, additions, remodels and subdivisions do reset it, at a value close to market at the time of the event. Hillsboro has a lot of new construction, concentrated in Reed's Crossing and South Hillsboro, so this comes up here more than almost anywhere else in the metro.

On the income tax side: Hillsboro is in Washington County, so no Multnomah County Preschool for All tax and no $35 Portland Arts Tax. The Metro Supportive Housing Services tax (1% above $128,000 single or $205,000 joint for 2026) applies to the urbanized parts of three counties and does not follow county lines, so check the address rather than assuming either way. The Oregon versus Washington guide has the full picture. Take your actual return to a CPA, because none of this is tax advice.

Loan limits

Washington County is at the national baseline, which rose $26,250 for 2026 from $806,500. At a $524,714 median, neither limit is a live constraint in Hillsboro. It only becomes one on the larger new-construction homes, and even then you're a long way from jumbo.

Down payment help, and how to get in line

These are budgeted programs run through partner organizations, the money runs out at different times in different counties, and neither agency publishes an open-or-closed status. So treat this as how it works and how to get in line, and confirm current availability with the organization administering the program before you count on it.

Oregon Housing and Community Services funds down payment assistance of up to $60,000 or 20% of the purchase price, whichever is less, for first-time and/or first-generation buyers at or below 100% of area median income. Homebuyer education and a meeting with a certified housing counselor are required. Veterans may use up to 10% for lender-required repairs, and 25% of the funding is set aside for eligible veterans and their families. It arrives as a grant, a forgivable second lien, or an amortizing second lien depending on the organization, and you apply to the partner organization serving Washington County.

OHCS can also pair that assistance with its own first mortgage, covering up to 100% of your cash to close. I'm not publishing the specific percentages or income caps for those products, because the only document I could find carrying them was last updated in February 2023, and out-of-date program numbers do more harm than a gap does. Ask and I'll get you the current ones.

The Portland Housing Bureau's larger program requires the property to be inside Portland city limits, so it does not reach Hillsboro. More on all of it on the first-time buyer page.

The numbers

Two things in that table are worth pulling out. Hillsboro is larger and growing faster than Beaverton, at 111,126 people and up 4.4% since 2020, which surprises people who still think of it as the smaller of the two. And with a quarter of the population Hispanic or Latino, a fifth foreign-born, and nearly 30% speaking another language at home, ITIN lending and non-traditional credit are ordinary business here, not an exception. Redfin's migration data also shows Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles as the top metros searching to move here.

On local character, which is my own read rather than cited research: newer construction concentrates in Reed's Crossing and South Hillsboro, both large master-planned communities, and in Orenco Station, which is transit-oriented and denser, with condos and townhomes on the MAX Blue Line. If you're looking at one of those attached homes, the project-level financing questions on the Portland page apply, because the building gets approved alongside you. Older stock sits in downtown Hillsboro and Witch Hazel, and Tanasbourne straddles the Beaverton line.

Run the affordability calculator to see what your income supports here, and the rent-versus-buy calculator if you're weighing the move at all.

Common questions

Is Hillsboro really more affordable than Portland?

Relative to local incomes, yes, and by a clear margin. The median sale price is about ten thousand below Portland's while the median household income is about fifteen thousand above it, which is what produces the 4.9-times ratio against Portland's 5.9. Whether it's right for you depends on your commute and what you want out of a neighborhood, but the money math is not close.

Can you use my RSUs to qualify?

Usually, if there's history and continuance. Generally that means about two years of receiving them, plus grant documents and a vesting schedule showing what's already granted. Unvested stock isn't income. Send me the grant paperwork early and I'll tell you what counts before you're shopping.

What about my annual bonus?

Same principle. A bonus with a two-year history that the employer confirms is likely to continue can generally be averaged into qualifying income. A first-year bonus usually can't. This is the single most common reason a Hillsboro pre-approval comes back lower than the buyer expected.

Should I worry about buying new construction here?

Not about the house. Worry about the tax estimate, because a new build resets its assessed value at the exception event and the listing figure is often based on land only. Ask me to estimate escrow from a comparable finished home in the same subdivision instead.

Almost 38% of listings dropped their price. Is the market falling?

It's mispriced more than it's falling. Price per square foot really is down 7.7%, but sales volume rose 7.3%, homes are going in 26 days, and about a third still close above asking. That's a market where the right house at the right price still draws competition.

---

Sources for the figures on this page: Redfin Hillsboro housing market data, June 2026; US Census Bureau QuickFacts, ACS 2020–2024 five-year estimates with income in 2024 dollars and July 2025 population estimates; price-to-income ratios computed from those two sources, with Bend's price from Beacon Appraisal Group (April 2026); Oregon Department of Revenue, FY 2024-25 Oregon Property Tax Statistics Report (150-303-405); Clackamas County and Multnomah County Measure 5 and Measure 50 explainers; City of Portland Revenue Division personal tax pages; FHFA 2026 conforming loan limit announcement; HUD press release 25-145 and industry FHA limit tables; Oregon Housing and Community Services down payment assistance page. Employment concentration, neighborhood and housing-stock characterizations are my own local read, not a cited data source. Income documentation requirements are typical agency practice and vary by program, lender and file. Nothing on this page is tax, legal or accounting advice, and I'm not a CPA or an attorney. Tax figures are published to help you ask better questions, so run your own situation past a CPA before you plan around any of it. This page is not a commitment to lend and not an offer of credit. Every loan is subject to underwriting, appraisal, program guidelines and final approval, and program terms change without notice. Mark Ruhl, NMLS #105591. Mortgage Express, LLC. Equal Housing Opportunity.