Portland
Multnomah County Health Department, Environmental Health Services
In short
Multnomah County Health Department, Environmental Health Services issues 4 permits we publish for Portland, last verified 2026-09-09. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant / Food Service Establishment License | Multnomah County Health Department, Environmental Health Services | Multnomah County Environmental Health Services 2026 base fee, by seating capacity: 0-15 seats $970; 16-50 seats $1,150; 51-150 seats $1,290; over 150 seats $1,545. A Bed & Breakfast restaurant is $420; a Limited Service (prepackaged items only) establishment is $890. New-construction plan review is billed separately at $1,265 standard or $3,780 rush; a remodel plan review is $1,185 standard or $3,565 rush. A recheck after a failed inspection is $270; general consultation is $265/hour. Fees rise again on January 1, 2027 (0-15 seats to $1,035, 16-50 to $1,225, 51-150 to $1,375, over 150 to $1,650). | annual | 2026-09-09 |
| Food Cart Pod Licenseonly if it applies to you | Multnomah County Health Department, Environmental Health Services | Multnomah County EHS 2026 base fee for a pod of two or more carts sharing a site: $540/year for 2-9 units, $720/year for 10 or more units, plus a one-time $770 Food Cart Pod Plan Review. Separately, a Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) Sanitary System Development Charge applies to the pod's required dump station connection. BES publishes no flat per-cart dollar figure for this charge — it is the connection's drainage fixture units (DFU) multiplied by a per-DFU rate set by occupancy tier (FY2026-27: Tier 1 $623/DFU, Tier 2 $831/DFU, Tier 3 $1,425/DFU). BES's own SDC Rate Tiers by Occupancy Type table places 'Food carts with direct connections' in Tier 2 and 'Food service - cart pod' in Tier 3, so an individual cart's own direct connection is billed at the Tier 2 rate per DFU while a pod's shared connection is billed at the Tier 3 rate per DFU. | annual | 2026-09-09 |
| Mobile Food Unit (Food Truck) License | Multnomah County Health Department, Environmental Health Services | Multnomah County EHS 2026 base fee: Mobile units Class I, II or III are $760/year; Class IV is $920/year. Mobile plan review (required before a new unit can operate) is $790, or $2,380 rush. A commissary agreement servicing the mobile unit is billed separately at $720/year (or $630/year for a stand-alone warehouse). An out-of-county mobile unit visiting Multnomah County is $25. | annual | 2026-09-09 |
| Child Care Facility Health & Safety Inspection | Multnomah County Health Department, Environmental Health Services | By enrollment, for a certified child care center: 1-12 children $370; 13-20 children $390; 21 or more $410. A certified family child care home is $385; a before/after-school program is $370. Where a facility participates in CACFP, kitchen inspection fees also apply: full-service kitchen $425, satellite kitchen $390, serving kitchen $345, school-program kitchen $220; consultation is $265/hour and a recheck after a failed inspection is $270. | aligned with the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care license renewal cycle — request the county inspection at least 30 days before the state license expires | 2026-09-09 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Restaurant / Food Service Establishment License
Oregon delegates food licensing to counties, and inside the City of Portland the actual food-permitting authority is Multnomah County Environmental Health Services, not the Oregon Health Authority directly — a restaurant here is licensed and inspected by the county, on top of (not instead of) whatever building, zoning, sign, and business-tax requirements the City separately imposes.
Food Cart Pod License
This is the county's pod-level food-safety fee, on top of each individual cart's own Mobile Food Unit license. A pod also needs its own City land-use sign-off — PP&D's own guidance states a vending cart pod needs a Development Review (DR) permit to check zoning and utility requirements, plus a commercial building permit for any permanent structure such as a shared restroom. The current Land Use Services Fee Schedule names no review type called 'Development Review', so it publishes no separate figure for that step; ask PP&D for the charge. A pod's required dump station and grease interceptor also carry a Bureau of Environmental Services Sanitary System Development Charge, recorded in the fee above. BES's own rates page publishes no flat per-cart figure: it prices the connection by drainage fixture units (DFU) multiplied by a per-DFU rate that varies by occupancy tier, so flat per-cart figures quoted by secondary sources (such as about $4,979 per cart) do not follow BES's published method.
Mobile Food Unit (Food Truck) License
This is the county food-safety license only. Operating inside the City of Portland separately requires a PP&D zoning check (a standalone cart on private property needs no additional City land-use permit, but a cart longer than 16 feet, or a motorized food truck, faces added zoning restrictions), a City of Portland Business License Tax / MCBIT registration, a Portland Fire & Rescue propane permit if the unit cooks with propane, and — if sited on the public sidewalk rather than private property — a PBOT right-of-way vending permit. See the related Food Cart Pod, Propane Use Permit and Vending Cart Right-of-Way Permit records.
Child Care Facility Health & Safety Inspection
Distinct from and additional to the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care's own state child care license — Multnomah County Environmental Health performs the health, safety and sanitation inspection a Portland child care centre or family home needs before the state license can be issued or renewed. Easy to miss because it is filed with the county health department rather than the state licensing agency.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Portland
- Phone
- (503) 988-3400
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Child and Adult Care Facility InspectionsMultnomah County Health Department, Environmental Health Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Full List of Environmental Services Rates and Charges, FY2026-27 — Sanitary System Development Charge tiers ($623/$831/$1,425 per drainage fixture unit) and the SDC Rate Tiers by Occupancy Type tableCity of Portland, Bureau of Environmental Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Mobile Vending Carts and Food Carts on Private Property (Brochure #16)Bureau of Development Services (now Portland Permitting & Development) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-09
- Multnomah County — 2026 environmental health licence fee schedule, restaurants banded by seatingMultnomah County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-03
Other offices serving Portland
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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Oregon jurisdictions
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