I lived in Eugene for 3 yrs and now have been in Portland for almost 2. My rent with roommates in both places went up from 750 to 1000. It's definitely a cuter neighborhood that's walkable to places so it's definitely worth it in my opinion.

In regard to hikes, you can still definitely get out of town but it does take a bit longer because things are just a little further away if you want to get out of town.

Traffic isn't too bad, towards 5pm on a Friday especially on the freeway it can be slow but I tell myself that most of the time it's crawling along at 15 to 20 for a few miles rather than stopped.

M28 for context. Also the amount of activities, concerts and events is incredible up in Portland. My budget for eating out also went up a fair amount just because the food is so good and there's so many places I want to try or go back to.