Insights / Hardest-to-fill healthcare jobs / Oregon
5 hardest-to-fill healthcare jobs in Oregon
Oregon gets tight at Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Portland, score 8.8, pay about $45.6K, 27% above the national median.
Portland pays Home Health and Personal Care Aides about $45.6K, 27% above the national median. In Oregon that search scores 8.8, hard band. The national median is about $35.8K.
Density in Portland is 18.916 jobs per 1,000, the mix figure is 0.68, and the metro has about a third fewer of these workers than a typical metro.
This Oregon list finishes on Phlebotomists in Portland, at 7.7 in the hard band. Every row in this Oregon cut is hard-band. December 2025 put all-industry openings in Oregon at 3.5 for the hiring list. For the hiring list, the U.S. rate was 4.0, and Oregon sat under it.
Ranked table
| Rank | Occupation | Metro | Score | Band | Location quotient | Jobs per 1,000 | Metro median | U.S. median | Pay ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Home Health and Personal Care Aides | Portland, OR | 8.8 | Hard | 0.68 | 18.916 | $45,570 | $35,800 | 1.27 |
| 2 | Nurse Practitioners | Portland, OR | 8.5 | Hard | 0.56 | 1.153 | $158,890 | $132,300 | 1.20 |
| 3 | Medical Assistants | Portland, OR | 8.1 | Hard | 1.01 | 5.288 | $56,240 | $45,690 | 1.23 |
| 4 | Pharmacy Technicians | Portland, OR | 8.0 | Hard | 0.67 | 2.038 | $58,590 | $45,750 | 1.28 |
| 5 | Phlebotomists | Portland, OR | 7.7 | Hard | 0.85 | 0.785 | $51,680 | $45,230 | 1.14 |
Takeaways
- Start the Oregon search with Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Portland.
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Portland pays about $45.6K. The national median is about $35.8K.
- The Portland bench for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is about a third fewer of these workers than a typical metro.
- Portland is the bottom Oregon metro here, at 7.7 for Phlebotomists.
For recruiters
- Match pay in Portland, OR before a start date.
- Write the Portland, OR median into the offer note.
FAQ
- Are these posted wages or open jobs?
- No. The table is a government survey or a designation file.
- What should a recruiter do first?
- Follow the recruiter note on this page.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Related hiring pages
Methodology
The five rows are the five recruiting occupations on the hiring grid whose best scored metro page in Oregon has the highest score. A state with fewer than five scored recruiting occupations is omitted. Pages under 500 local workers are not scored and are not eligible. A metro page is scored only when OEWS employment for that occupation is at least 500. Below that, the page stays up and is left off this ranking. Postsecondary teaching occupations and medical scientists are left off even when they are scored. Nominal weights, before a missing shortage match is rescaled, are projected openings divided by 2025 employment 18%, projected growth 22%, the metro median divided by the U.S. median 40%, how common the occupation is locally compared with the country 8% (the location-quotient column; a lower figure means a thinner local bench), a matching HRSA shortage designation 8%, and statewide all-industry JOLTS for December 2025 4%. Bands are Standard under 4, Elevated from 4 up to 7, and Hard at 7 and above. The Oregon total-nonfarm job openings rate for December 2025 is 3.5. The U.S. rate is 4.0. Both are all-industry JOLTS rates. Rounded figures in the prose: $45,570 is stated as about $45.6K. a comparison of 1.27 is stated as 27 percent. $35,800 is stated as about $35.8K.
Sources
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics · May 2025
- BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, total nonfarm · December 2025
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