How Portland is run
Who runs Portland, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Portland's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 10, 2026.
Who runs Portland
The elected mayor heads the city government and appoints its top administrator and department heads. The council passes laws, adopts the budget and sets the tax rate.
What they are paid
- City of Portland benefits, including healthcare and retirement
Portland city staff
7,159 full-time-equivalent positions, including Portland Police Bureau 1,159, Portland Fire & Rescue 775. FY2026-27 adopted budget. City of Portland · Aug 4, 2026
The budget ordinance publishes pay ranges for city job classifications. We found no city-published list of pay by employee. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Portland in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
Savings
Unassigned general fund balance: $0 (2025-06-30). That means every dollar the general fund has saved is set aside in a named reserve or category, not that it has no savings. City of Portland · Dec 15, 2025
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026-27.
Comes from
- Transfers from other funds$376M · 32%
- Property taxes$366M · 31%
- Business license taxes$218M · 18%
- Utility license fees$112M · 9%
- Intergovernmental$49.3M · 4%
- Service charges and other$35.2M · 3%
- Lodging taxes$26M · 2%
- Beginning fund balance$4.3M · 0%
Goes to (FY2026-27)
- Public safety$561M · 47%
- City Administrator service area$235M · 20%
- Public works$200M · 17%
- City operations$91.3M · 8%
- Community and economic development$60.3M · 5%
- City Council$20.8M · 2%
- Office of the City Auditor$14.6M · 1%
- Office of the Mayor$3.5M · 0%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
About 40 cents of each property-tax dollar goes to the city ($9.11 of $22.94 per $1,000). These are the rates in the city's audited report; Oregon's Measure 5 limits can lower what an owner actually pays.
40¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Portland
- Education districts8.35 · 36%
- City of Portland (general)7.53 · 33%
- Multnomah County4.93 · 21%
- City of Portland (special revenue levies)1.2 · 5%
- Metro and other service districts0.48 · 2%
- City of Portland (debt service)0.38 · 2%
- Port of Portland0.07 · <1%
- Total ($ per $1,000 of assessed value)22.94
FY2024-25 rates for property in the city of Portland (Multnomah County). City of Portland · Dec 15, 2025
See what a Portland home costs each year, line by line →Who provides your services
Not everything in Portland is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityPortland Police BureauCity of Portland · Dec 15, 2025
- Fire and rescueThe cityPortland Fire & RescueCity of Portland · Dec 15, 2025
- WaterThe cityPortland Water BureauCity of Portland · Dec 15, 2025
- Sewer and stormwaterThe cityBureau of Environmental ServicesCity of Portland · Dec 15, 2025
- City streetsThe cityPortland Bureau of TransportationCity of Portland · Dec 15, 2025
- Parks and recreationThe cityPortland Parks & RecreationCity of Portland · Dec 15, 2025
- Building permitsThe cityPortland Permitting & DevelopmentCity of Portland · Dec 15, 2025
Compared with similar cities
The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.
| Per city | GreshamOR | EugeneOR | SalemOR | PortlandOR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 111,513 | 178,618 | 181,779 | 635,109 |
| Top administrator's base pay | $260,000 | $306,000 | $305,000 | $370,000 |
| Council member pay | $28,956 | Not confirmed | No salary | $133,207 |
| General fund per resident | $1,171 | $2,779 | $1,087 | $1,867 |
| Debt per resident | $814 | $359 | $1,394 | $5,427 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $1,372 | $1,702 | $1,273 | $6,856 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 6.2 | 9.4 | 7.5 | 11.3 |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how).
What Portland publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Yes: Adopted budget posted online City of Portland
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member online City of Portland
- Yes: Council pay stated in a public documentThe Independent Salary Commission's final report sets the mayor at $175,463 and councilors at $133,207. City of Portland
- Partly: Employee pay published City of Portland
Help decide what comes next
What do you want to know about Portland next?
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Every number here was checked by hand against the linked document. Cities publish on different schedules, so years differ between sections; each figure says which year it describes. Spotted something wrong or out of date?
See something wrong? Report an error
Something wrong or missing? Tell us what and where, with a link to a source if you have one. Reports feed the next verification run.