I'm about 20 minutes from downtown Portland with no traffic, and am on the Washington side. We have the horses at home now, but when we boarded it was fairly reasonable (and convenient, we have a boarding barn across the street, and one behind us), though neither were very quality barns... not bad, but not anything super nice. The barn across the street from me is $300 a month for full care, and I think most others in the area are comparable. There are a ton of barns in the Vancouver area, which is the first city you are in once you cross the river from Portland into Washington.

For hay, my mom just got a ton of 80-lb bales of grass hay for $175 from a private person, but the hay place near us is about $225 for nice hay.

Again, this is for the Vancouver, area (though technically Vancouver is considered part of Portland), but the cost of living in Vancouver is cheaper than Portland. Gas right now is $2.89 I think. Or $3.89? Haha I can't remember, I'll look next time I leave.

I have been applying for jobs in the area, and there is a lot of stuff posted (Portland has one of the most active Craigslist boards), but I haven't received many calls back.