Skip to main content
The price of everything is too damn high. Groceries. Gas. Going out, whether for fast food or haute cuisine. Even a quiet night in—say, a frozen pizza, a bottle of wine, and a few hours of trashy television on your favorite streaming service—costs a few bucks more in 2026 than it did a couple of years ago. (This is especially true if you factor in rent.)
The Price Ain't Right
The good news is that many Portlanders are ready to meet this moment, and you’ll meet them in the following pages. DIY culture is strong here; one of our writers, for example, is here to encourage you to try fixing your own car and appliances. Another writer visited the cheapest gas station in town and found, unsurprisingly, it’s also the busiest. I spoke to a group of Portlanders who are organizing to fight student loan debt. We also talked to the founder of a new, consumer-driven media outlet about how to save on groceries, and we scouted local burrito joints and found that, yes, it’s still possible to find a burrito for $10 or less in Portland. And even though 2026 is a hellscape of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, we believe in keeping it silly, so one of our writers visited a few bars with TVs and did some complex calculations to figure out whether it’s better to enjoy a cheap drink and a muted movie with strangers, or stream the film at home.
One of the most distressing aspects of this moment is that the future is impossible to predict. With gas prices topping out at more than $5 a gallon at many Portland-area pumps as spring break hit, it’s hard to imagine what summer will look like. But Portlanders are nothing if not thrifty and resourceful, and we hope that by showing you how other Portlanders are weathering the cost-of-living crisis, we can learn a thing or two about how to move forward. The price may be all wrong, but we might be all right. —Christen McCurdy, interim Arts & Culture editor
