Yep, housing up here is ridiculously expensive, even post bubble. It's a little better out here in the 'burbs. I'm checking out a small 900' home, my first, for $97K.

Overall, food is WAY better in Portland than anywhere in TX. TX style BBQ is gonna be very lacking (consider yourself lucky that you're not an Eastern Carolina BBQ fan like me, there ain't nothin' at all like that out here) and Tex-Mex and Mexican choices are slightly more limited, but Portland has quite possibly the best array of $10 dinners of anywhere in the nation. I must reiterate, if you like taco truck Mexican, the city is littered with 'em and most are really good.

If you're averse to Thai, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Japanese, wacky fusion stuff, etc, then you won't really be able to take full advantage of Portland's food choices.

Seattle doesn't have as much in the $10 range, but has more to offer in the $25+ range than Portland.

One thing about Portland is paucity of Buffalo Wings. It's a far better situation than it was in the 1990s, but it's a far cry from Phoenix, AZ (and most big cities in TX) in that realm.