What salary do you need to live in Bend, OR?

What housing costs in Bend

Renters in Bend pay a median $1,576 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $1,308, three bedrooms $2,026, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $8,616 a year.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $602,600. Set against the $89,788 median household income, that is a ratio of 6.7×, which keeps the buying part of the score low for most incomes.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Bend's overall prices at 103.6 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $96,519 would elsewhere.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Bend

The salary lines for a two-bedroom household land at $72,000 for Tight, $145,000 for Okay and $291,000 for Comfortable. The gap between the Okay and Comfortable lines alone is $146,000, which says how much extra income it takes to make housing feel roomy here rather than merely workable.

Royal, the top band, starts at $801,000. At that income rent is 2% of pay and the median home 0.8× income.

Each figure is the lowest income, to the next $1,000, at which the calculator itself would show that grade for a two-bedroom in Bend.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Bend

Home size shifts the grade at $75,000: Tight for one bedroom, Tight for two and Stretched for three, as the rent share climbs from 21% to 32%.

In Bend the table's top salary of $150,000 stops at Okay (46) for two bedrooms; Comfortable starts higher, at $291,000.

How Bend ranks among 387 metros

On price level Bend is 40th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 57th, and on median home value 22nd. The two rankings agree, both falling in the most expensive quarter.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Charleston-North Charleston, SC ($1,581) and Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC ($1,575).

Bend next to Oregon and similar metros

Statewide, Oregon's median two-bedroom rent is $1,523 and its median home value $477,600. Bend's rent is +3% against that, and its home value +26%; the price parity is 103.6 versus 103.4 for the state.

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $255,000 — below Bend's $291,000 line.

Within Oregon, the metros closest to Bend on rent and overall prices are Corvallis, OR, Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA, and Salem, OR. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $260,000, $309,000, and $232,000.

Does the typical Bend income clear the bar?

The median household in the metro earns $89,788 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 32, Tight. That falls $201,212 short of the $291,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. Statewide, the Oregon median household ($83,011) grades Tight on the state's own medians. A household figure may pool several earners, unlike a single salary.

These are pre-tax estimates from public statistics, not financial advice.