Portland, NY

The affordability dashboard for Portland, NY aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 919 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (46/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $49,267, median home value of $163,500, median rent of $615 per month, and 25.7% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $975 per month (studio $680, 1BR $754, 3BR $1,287, 4BR $1,291). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $12,844 per year, consuming 26% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are income, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 11.2% and poverty 33.3% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.