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Anyone live/work/go to school in Oregon
- Thread starter jjessico
- Start date
I visit there from time to time, its a great place IMO. 🙂
PrinceofWands
Lifer
I would NEVER live anywhere other than oregon or washington...well, maybe alaska or maine, but I'm not sure about those two. It is cloudy, grey, and rainy a lot. If you need a lot of sun, or a lot of heat, the pacific NW may not be for you unless you stay to the eastern side of the state (or maybe bend in oregon).
Schools are cheap (except private institutions like Reed), and some are relatively well respected. Beach, river, forests, mountains, desert...all within an hour or two of each other. Big cities like Portland and Seattle are expensive as crap, but smaller towns are cheap as hell. Someone in my town can live comfortably on 16k a year. Oregon does have a state income tax, so you have to prepare for that. Washington has a state sales tax.
Currently the job market is BEGINNING to pick back up after a 1yr - 2yr slump. Tech is still tough as hell here, since so many people lost their jobs and are in the market right now. Elementary teachers and medical professionals are in HIGH demand currently. Unless you're in a high professional field in salem, portland or seattle don't expect to make as much as other places...cost of living just isn't that high here.
People are AWESOME here, just no other description for it. Open minded, laid back, progressive, caring...if you know anyone from New Jersey or Washington DC just imagine the opposite person and you've got a pacnw'er. You should be well prepared for EXTREME liberal counter-culture here. It isn't that we don't have conservatives, just that they aren't usually well thought of. I don't think anyone but a democrat has gotten electorals out of Washington in my lifetime.
Anything else you wanna know just ask, I've lived here about 29 of my almost 33 years.
Schools are cheap (except private institutions like Reed), and some are relatively well respected. Beach, river, forests, mountains, desert...all within an hour or two of each other. Big cities like Portland and Seattle are expensive as crap, but smaller towns are cheap as hell. Someone in my town can live comfortably on 16k a year. Oregon does have a state income tax, so you have to prepare for that. Washington has a state sales tax.
Currently the job market is BEGINNING to pick back up after a 1yr - 2yr slump. Tech is still tough as hell here, since so many people lost their jobs and are in the market right now. Elementary teachers and medical professionals are in HIGH demand currently. Unless you're in a high professional field in salem, portland or seattle don't expect to make as much as other places...cost of living just isn't that high here.
People are AWESOME here, just no other description for it. Open minded, laid back, progressive, caring...if you know anyone from New Jersey or Washington DC just imagine the opposite person and you've got a pacnw'er. You should be well prepared for EXTREME liberal counter-culture here. It isn't that we don't have conservatives, just that they aren't usually well thought of. I don't think anyone but a democrat has gotten electorals out of Washington in my lifetime.
Anything else you wanna know just ask, I've lived here about 29 of my almost 33 years.
I guess I'm not a guy that needs tons of sun. As long as it doesn't snow too much I'm ok with a little cloudy greyness.
I am in the tech industry, so that's a bummer that the market is still saturated for those jobs, but I think I will be focusing on school for another one or two years anyhow.
I was looking mostly at Eugene, Oregon so hopefully that falls under the 'cheap' category rather than the 'expensive' one as I live in Minneapolis, MN right now and things are pretty darn expensive. Any cost-relief over that would be nice.
The state income tax doesn't really bother me that much becuase I'm from Minnesota where anything that moves, we tax so I can't imagine that taxes are worse in Oregon than here.
Jason
I am in the tech industry, so that's a bummer that the market is still saturated for those jobs, but I think I will be focusing on school for another one or two years anyhow.
I was looking mostly at Eugene, Oregon so hopefully that falls under the 'cheap' category rather than the 'expensive' one as I live in Minneapolis, MN right now and things are pretty darn expensive. Any cost-relief over that would be nice.
The state income tax doesn't really bother me that much becuase I'm from Minnesota where anything that moves, we tax so I can't imagine that taxes are worse in Oregon than here.
Jason
PrinceofWands
Lifer
Very little snow, except at elevation. In fact, in my 30+ years here I can count on my fingers the number of years we had snow on the ground that stuck for more than a day.
Eugene is slightly less expensive, but not by much. Analysis based on both 30k and 45k salaries shows a net savings of less than $300/yr. (go here for a cost of living calculator that is fairly accurate.
You might SERIOUSLY want to consider something in or near Wilsonville. It's one of the fastes growing areas of Oregon. It has overall better job opportunities (albeit at a lower level most of the time), and retains somewhat of a smaller town feel. If nothing else, live within commuting distance somewhere cheaper and look for work there. Not only that, it has the only Fry's. 😎
PrinceofWands
Lifer
I live in a VERY small town in sw washington, and I have a very simple lifestyle. I don't ever use credit, don't buy what I don't actually need or want, don't cave to peer pressures, don't participate in social pandering, etc. That makes it easy to live on very little. I'm sure most people wouldn't be as content as I am at that income level.
Oregon is pretty hosed right now. Schools are going down the crapper, crime is soaring, cost of living is rising rapidly, job market is crap. Washington isn't much better overall really...the tech crash deeply injured this part of the country.
DT4K
Diamond Member
I lived in Eugene from 1973 (age 2) to 1999. I'm now in the Medford area.
By tech industry, do you mean IT? If so, the job market is still pretty bad, unemployment is high in Oregon. There are a lot more tech jobs in Portland than anywhere else, but last I heard, it was still a lot of competition for those jobs. The main problem is that Portland and Eugene have a very anti-business attitude compared to more conservative states.
The willamette valley(Eugene, Salem, Portland):
Pretty mild climate. Summers are sunny and warm, but not too hot, usually highs are in the 80's with a couple hot spells in the 90's. 100's are rare, but do occasionally happen. Winters are cold and rainy, but rarely cold enough to get snow. Very grey and cloudy, even when it's not raining. Sometimes you can go weeks without ever seeing the sun.
Very liberal overall with a minority of conservatives.
Southern Oregon:
Decent amount of rain in the winter, but not as much as Eugene and Portland.
A lot more sunshine. Even in the winter, there are a lot of nice clear sunny days. Still cold though.
Much hotter summers. mid to upper 90's most days in the summer with 100's fairly common.
Very conservative overall with a minority of liberals (mostly in Ashland)
Any other questions, feel free to ask.
DT4K
Diamond Member
I'd be living in a van down by the river if I made 16k in Medford, OR.
Well, ok, not really, but I definitely wouldn't own a home. I bought my new 1500 sq. ft. house in Eagle Point (small town outside Medford) for 145k two years ago. It's worth about 225k now.
EDIT: oh, and yeah, we had a "budget crisis". There's always a budget crisis here when they decide they want to raise taxes. As always, the governor said the sky would fall if they didn't pass the biggest tax increase in Oregon's history. They said they would be having all kinds of cuts if we didn't raise taxes. The tax increase was defeated, then the government "found" millions of dollars that they claim they didn't know they had. AFAIK, most of the cuts they tried to scare the people with haven't happened or haven't been nearly as deep as they claimed they would be.
PrinceofWands
Lifer
Again, that's in a large metro area...small towns still have plenty of housing available at <100k...unless oregon is a LOT different than washington. Hell, I could still get a reasonably nice 2000sq ft place here on land for under 100k. A piece of crap 1500sq ft can be had for <60k if you watch for it.
DT4K
Diamond Member
Maybe they exist, but I don't know of any small towns in Oregon where you can get a decent house for under 100k. If there are any, they are likely out in the middle of nowhere and not anywhere close to a decent sized city. I guess you could call Medford a "large metro area", but it's not like it's a big city, and my small town is about 10 miles away from Medford.
OP, you said you were focusing on school for a couple years. Which schools are you thinking about? U of O and OSU are large state schools with a decent reputation. The other public colleges are a notch below them in terms of quality and variety of programs.
I currently live in Eugene; I just moved out here in June from CT although I was born and raised in Seattle.
The main drawback is the weather. It's difficult to make an adjustment from cold but sunny to temperate but rainy. Also, not seeing the sun for a week is difficult, but the flip side is that Eugene is a wonderful green and alive year round.
The people here are amazing. Everyone is openly friendly, I rarely stand in a line somewhere without having a stranger start a conversation with me. The city is certainly liberal, although Oregon is a swing state this year.
I will warn you that while Eugene is a pretty inexpensive place to live, there are not that many jops. However, this is a very healthy place to live. Most people bike/run/hike and eat right.
If you are seriously thinking about moving to Oregon I would recommend visiting. People either absolutely love it ... or move to California.
Pokey
The main drawback is the weather. It's difficult to make an adjustment from cold but sunny to temperate but rainy. Also, not seeing the sun for a week is difficult, but the flip side is that Eugene is a wonderful green and alive year round.
The people here are amazing. Everyone is openly friendly, I rarely stand in a line somewhere without having a stranger start a conversation with me. The city is certainly liberal, although Oregon is a swing state this year.
I will warn you that while Eugene is a pretty inexpensive place to live, there are not that many jops. However, this is a very healthy place to live. Most people bike/run/hike and eat right.
If you are seriously thinking about moving to Oregon I would recommend visiting. People either absolutely love it ... or move to California.
Pokey
PrinceofWands
Lifer
Well, I guess you're right. Medford is sitting at 70k population, I thought it was closer to twice that...maybe I was confusing it with Eugene, or maybe I combined it in my head with surrounding areas. As for myself I would NEVER consider living in an area with more than 25,000 people, so my definition of metro is a little skewed. 😎
I guess housing prices are just REALLY different between Washington and Oregon.
PrinceofWands
Lifer
I find that fascinating. It seems like Oregon is split North/South and Washington is split West/East. I don't know why I find that interesting, but I do. 😎
I wonder if there's a correlation between hot dry climates and conservativism. hmmmmm
By tech I do mean IT. I'm a IP/Telecommunictions network engineer right now. I'm hoping to be able to stay in the field even if I can't find a completely comprable job to the one I have now. I'm a little saddened that Oregon seems to be characterized by anti-business, but I come from Duluth, MN which is about as anti-business as it gets, so I'm fairly used to it.
I think I will probably try and take some vacation this winter and fly out there just to see what it's like.
DT4K
Diamond Member
It's not really North/South. Eugene and Portland are liberal. Pretty much everywhere else is more conservative, including central and eastern oregon. But that is a generalization. There are liberal towns in Southern Oregon and conservative towns in the willamette valley. Southern Oregon is conservative in general, but Ashland(about 12 miles south of Medford) is ultra-liberal. There is a protest against something almost every weekend in downtown Ashland.
Medford is about 70k, but there are lots of other "cities" that are really part of the Medford area (Central Point, Phoenix, White City) and quite a few other towns within 20 miles (Eagle Point, Shady Cove, Jacksonville, Ashland, Talent). I think the total population of the metro area here is around 150k-200k depending on how much area you include.
PrinceofWands
Lifer
SuRgEoN
Senior member
I lived in Oregon for over 20 yrs. I was born in central oregon, grew up in eastern oregon, went to school in southern oregon and wrestled for southern oregon university. Oregon is a great place. I have been to a lot of states and when it comes right down to it, Oregon will always be my favorite. PM if you need anything at all!!
DT4K
Diamond Member
Don't hang out around 6th and 7th avenue after dark. Not really dangerous if you are used to a big city, but that is what would be considered the "ghetto". Lots of drug dealers and homeless people. Seems like there was a lot of property crime, but not too much violence in Eugene. I've never really been scared of any areas though.
DT4K
Diamond Member
Well, I think the liberalism in Portland and Eugene lends itself to being more anti-business and anti-growth. The strong environmentalist attitude also contributes to making things more difficult for businesses. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there needs to be balance IMO. Of course that's just my opinion and others may disagree.
It's not like there aren't any jobs, it's just that Oregon seems to be lagging behind the rest of the country economically. Portland has a LOT more tech industry than Eugene. So there are a ton of people working tech jobs in portland, it's just that the unemployment level makes it very competitive right now.
University of Oregon is where I got my first BS degree. I think it's a great school. Good professors, solid academic reputation, and a gorgeous campus with some really cool historic buildings. If you visit, make sure you take a walk down 13th avenue. That's where you'll find the college bookstore, coffeeshops, cafes, a couple bars, etc.
Oregon State University is also a solid school and has a good school of engineering. But Corvallis is very different from Eugene. It's a much smaller town, pretty much surrounded by farmland, and probably has a lot less to do than Eugene. The more "hickish" nature of Corvallis gives UO students plenty of ammo to ridicule their enemies at OSU. There is quite a rivalry between the UO ducks and the OSU beavers.
I got my BS in Computer Science from SOU in 2001. But growing up in Eugene and going to U of O, I'll always be a duck.
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