At a flat $60k, online tax bracket estimators for federal and Oregon taxes combined (with no deductions at all, which is unlikely) result in a little over $17k in taxes, leaving you with a net of $43k.

$43k/12 months = a little over $3,500/mo.

Your 50/30/20 breakdown results in $1,790 for necessities.

$1,075-ish can go towards "financial obligations."

$716 can go towards "personal choices," meaning your "personal choices" budget is about $24/day.

A truly wonderful, self-reflective follow up article would be a daily "personal choices" diary of how this author (and maybe some volunteer friends) spend their money.  Is she or the average Portlander being responsible in only spending 20% of their net income on "personal choices," and thus justified in complaining about the rest of the equation and state of affairs in Portland proper?  Inquiring minds would *love* to know!