New Haven vs Portland
Metro-area medians — New Haven, CT Metro Area vs Portland-South Portland, ME Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Portland comes out ahead, winning 6 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
New Haven and Portland cost about the same to live in, but Portland households earn about 4% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Portland.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you, Portland leaves you about $1,057/yr better off after tax and local prices.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
Choose Portland for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
New Haven vs Portland — frequently asked
- Is New Haven cheaper than Portland?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the New Haven and Portland metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, New Haven or Portland?
- Portland has the higher median household income — $93,062 versus $89,645 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 4% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in New Haven or Portland?
- A paycheck stretches further in Portland. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $91,364 there versus $85,736 in New Haven.
- Which has cheaper rent, New Haven or Portland?
- Rents are close — $1,600/mo in the New Haven metro versus $1,590/mo in Portland (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).