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If you’re planning to move to the Portland metro area and are looking for a place to buy a home, you might want to put the city of Hillsboro on your short list.
This city of roughly 106,000 residents is the fifth-largest in the state of Oregon and offers great employment opportunities combined with natural beauty.
This Hillsboro Oregon home buyer guide offers some important information about the city of Hillsboro from a home buyer’s perspective. We’ll also cover the Hillsboro housing market so you can be well-informed about buying a home in the area.
Located in the Tualatin Valley and approximately 17 miles west of Portland, the city of Hillsboro is home to many tech companies and locally known as the Silicon Forest.
Hillsboro is part of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. As of the last census, the city had a population of roughly 107,000 people. The broader metro area is home to around 2.5 million people, making it the second most populous U.S. metropolis within the Pacific Northwest.
Like the rest of the Portland area, Hillsboro offers a mild, temperate climate that includes cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Extreme temperatures are a rare occurrence in this region, which partly explains its popularity.
The city has a strong economy anchored by the technology and healthcare sectors in particular. Major employers in Hillsboro include Intel (the biggest employer by far), the semiconductor company ASML, Kaiser Hospital, and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Oracle and Salesforce also maintain offices in Hillsboro, but with less than 1,000 jobs between the two of them (according to the city’s official employment data).
Hillsboro has an agricultural heritage that continues to this day. You’ll find a number of farms still operating in the area.
According to Niche.com, the Hillsboro School District is an above average public school district in the state. There are plenty of public and private school options for kids, and several colleges and universities nearby, including Pacific University Oregon, Portland State University, Reed College, and Lewis & Clark College, to name a few.
In some regards, the city of Hillsboro could be considered a bedroom community for Portland, Oregon. Many residents choose to live in the smaller city but commute over to Portland for work.
The same could be said for many other bedroom communities that surround Portland, which include the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, Lake Oswego, and Oregon City.
But as it turns out, Hillsboro does a better job of keeping its residents in place by offering plenty of local employment opportunities.
According to an article on OregonMetro.gov:
“Thirty-three percent of employed Hillsboro residents have jobs in Hillsboro. By comparison, about 17 percent of employed Beavertonians work in Beaverton; that number dips to 14 percent for Tigard, Oregon City and Lake Oswego, 12 percent for Tualatin and 8 percent for Milwaukie.”
Employment opportunities have a lot to do with this distinction. The city of Hillsboro has a lot of middle-income jobs that align with the local demographics. So there’s less reason for residents to commute to the larger job market in Portland.
Like other cities in the Portland metro area, the real estate market in Hillsboro, Oregon can be fairly competitive for home buyers. If you’re looking at moving to Hillsboro, you want to go into the process armed with the right information.
Here are five things you should know about the Hillsboro, Oregon housing market if you’re planning to buy a home there.
The city of Hillsboro often experiences supply shortages when it comes to the number of homes for sale. So you’ll have to be patient and persistent when looking to buy a home in Hillsboro.
In fact, when this article was published, Hillsboro had an even lower level of housing market supply than the city of Portland. Both cities had less than a two-month supply of homes for sale as of early summer 2024. But the housing market in Hillsboro was the tighter of the two.
As you might have already guessed, home prices in Hillsboro, Oregon, typically exceed the national average. In June 2024, the city had a median home value of around $546,000, compared to the national median price of $360,000.
Hillsboro home values are comparable with Portland metro area homes. Right now, the average home price in Portland is roughly $547,000, as per Zillow. So, as you can see, home prices in Portland and Hillsboro are basically at par.
Due to the supply-and-demand imbalance mentioned above, properties listed for sale in the city of Hillsboro tend to sell quickly (and faster than the national average).
So keep this in mind if you’re in the market to purchase a home. Be ready to move swiftly when the right property comes along.
Hillsboro is primarily a suburban city. Most of its housing stock consists of detached single-family homes located in planned neighborhoods.
But the downtown area has undergone some revitalization in recent years, with new condo and apartment developments emerging alongside historic buildings. This offers a more urban living option for those seeking a walkable lifestyle with nearby shops, restaurants, and attractions.
In the many suburbs of Hillsboro, you’ll find a variety of architectural styles dominated by traditional, Craftsman, and ranch-style homes.
The Hillsboro real estate market can move pretty fast. The same is true for most cities across the Portland metro area. This Hillsboro Oregon home buyer guide may provide you with a lot of information, but it’s always best to team up with industry experts to give you every advantage you need to succeed.
At Sammamish Mortgage, we can help you prepare for the home buying process by pre-approving you for a mortgage loan. With a pre-approval letter in hand, you’ll be able to make a stronger offer on a home that could increase your chance for acceptance. If you’re considering buying a home in Hillsboro, OR, reach out to Sammamish Mortgage today to start the mortgage process!
Whether you’re buying a home or ready to refinance, our professionals can help.
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No Obligation and transparency 24/7. Instantly compare live rates and costs from our network of lenders across the country. Real-time accurate rates and closing costs for a variety of loan programs custom to your specific situation.