east coaster moving west - maybe bend area, or kalispell, mt (closing, allergies)

[kdata]

interesting info. I had no clue bend was quite that big. I read reports going from high 50k to mid 60k range. I didn't realize it was pushing 90k people. Do I even want to ask what driving in the city is like? A ton of stop/go traffic, and congestion?

edit - I should clarify. If you had to drive from say the far west side to the east side of town during "rush hour times", how long would you say it would take?

as for people who said they'd take the job if my wife didn't take it, can I ask what field of work you're in? Like, what are your backgrounds that you cannot find work in. Do you have college degrees, or what type of jobs are you wanting?

[kdata]

St. Charles

seems the hospital has a number of jobs ranging from IT, admissions, food, to medical position openings

[kapetrich]

Originally Posted by kdata

interesting info. I had no clue bend was quite that big. I read reports going from high 50k to mid 60k range. I didn't realize it was pushing 90k people. Do I even want to ask what driving in the city is like? A ton of stop/go traffic, and congestion?

edit - I should clarify. If you had to drive from say the far west side to the east side of town during "rush hour times", how long would you say it would take?

as for people who said they'd take the job if my wife didn't take it, can I ask what field of work you're in? Like, what are your backgrounds that you cannot find work in. Do you have college degrees, or what type of jobs are you wanting?

I think Delta, as she said, didn't remember the exact number.

There is a sign outside of Bend that references 80,995. A photo of it can be found in Captbeavs3's post, along with a population discussion, in this thread: http://www.city-data.com/forum/orego...rant-bend.html

According to the 2010 national census, Bend's population is 76,639.
Reference: Bend city, Oregon Census 2010 Results

---

The rate of traffic is very relative. For me, coming from the east coast, Bend has ZERO traffic. To another person who's from a smaller community than Bend, they may find Bend to have horrible traffic. And of course, to person who grew up in the much smaller town of Bend, pre 90's, they will find todays "traffic" horrendous, relatively speak.

What I can tell you is that when people talk of "traffic" in town, this literally means there are other cars on the road or that there is a back up of 2-3 at a round about. This is in my experience anyway.

[delta07]

Originally Posted by kdata

interesting info. I had no clue bend was quite that big. I read reports going from high 50k to mid 60k range. I didn't realize it was pushing 90k people. Do I even want to ask what driving in the city is like? A ton of stop/go traffic, and congestion?

edit - I should clarify. If you had to drive from say the far west side to the east side of town during "rush hour times", how long would you say it would take?

as for people who said they'd take the job if my wife didn't take it, can I ask what field of work you're in? Like, what are your backgrounds that you cannot find work in. Do you have college degrees, or what type of jobs are you wanting?

Well, I am one of those people who can't find a job in Bend (a suitable one I'm willing to do, that is). I have two bachelor's degrees, one in Forestry and one in Elementary Education. It's hard to find work in either of those and I'm not willing to do daycare for minimum wage. My husband, luckily, is in health care (BSN) and was able to secure a good job prior to our move. Otherwise, we could have never made it here in Bend.

Originally Posted by kapetrich

I think Delta, as she said, didn't remember the exact number.

There is a sign outside of Bend that references 80,995. A photo of it can be found in Captbeavs3's post, along with a population discussion, in this thread: http://www.city-data.com/forum/orego...rant-bend.html

According to the 2010 national census, Bend's population is 76,639.
Reference: Bend city, Oregon Census 2010 Results

---

The rate of traffic is very relative. For me, coming from the east coast, Bend has ZERO traffic. To another person who's from a smaller community than Bend, they may find Bend to have horrible traffic. And of course, to person who grew up in the much smaller town of Bend, pre 90's, they will find todays "traffic" horrendous, relatively speak.

What I can tell you is that when people talk of "traffic" in town, this literally means there are other cars on the road or that there is a back up of 2-3 at a round about. This is in my experience anyway.

Kapetrich, I thought 90K was a bit high, so glad to see census numbers are much lower.

I agree regarding the traffic. In fact, traffic in Missoula was a lot worse than traffic in Bend. Even during peak traffic hours, it usually takes me right around 10 minutes to get from my house near the hospital over to the west side of town along Century Drive. I avoid 3rd Ave. because of all the lights, but I think the longest I've ever sat at a light is through 2 changes. It really isn't bad at all. And, if you ride a bike, it's even better!

[hamellr]

Most of Bend's traffic issues were fixed with the bypass around town to get the tourists through and down to Sun River or Sisters. It can still get bad during tourist season though. (personal experience as a frequent tourist, and having driven through there many times from various points south and east.)

[kdata]

so is tourist season the winter months for bend, or summer months, or? A video I watched on Kalispell said the summer was actually their peak tourist season because of glacier park. Rather crazy, seeing as how they're close to a ski destination. I actually expected winter to be more tourist filled.

[Bendite]

We have two main tourist seasons because we offer so many outdoor activities. Winter of course for the skiing and other snow related activities. The rest of the year people come here to play golf and to fish and we have a number of sports activities, in particular bike racing in one form or another. Then there are tourists who come here because Central Oregon is a beautiful place to hike, climb, and camp. There are music festivals, fall festivals, summer festivals, quilt shows, rodeos etc that all draw people to the area mostly from late spring through Labor Day.

My thoughts on traffic: I live on the far edge of NW Bend. To take my dog to day care (not the only place but the best place) I take her to the complete other side of town. It takes me 20 minutes unless I have to wait for a train. Traffic gets heavy early morning and late afternoon commute times but that's Bend heavy - the roundabouts are very good at moving traffic and only a couple of places get really jammed and might take a few minutes to get through

[Bendite]

Originally Posted by kdata

St. Charles

seems the hospital has a number of jobs ranging from IT, admissions, food, to medical position openings

It does have jobs but it is also having some financial issues and may have some layoffs. Also look at Bend Memorial Clinic

[kapetrich]

Originally Posted by Bendite

We have two main tourist seasons because we offer so many outdoor activities. Winter of course for the skiing and other snow related activities. The rest of the year people come here to play golf and to fish and we have a number of sports activities, in particular bike racing in one form or another. Then there are tourists who come here because Central Oregon is a beautiful place to hike, climb, and camp. There are music festivals, fall festivals, summer festivals, quilt shows, rodeos etc that all draw people to the area mostly from late spring through Labor Day.

This is exactly right.

To add: It does seem that the summer tourist season is heavier. Our winters last so long that tourists just seems to be around, but more of a trickle rather than a constant stream (save for major holidays/many people choose Sunriver since it's ~5mins closer to Mt. Bachelor). While the summer months seems like ever week of July/August tourists are all over the place.

You come to learn that May/June & September/October are the best months to see the least amount of tourists. Seems that way to me, anyway. This is particularly great because June & September are some of our most pleasant months for weather.

[mwruckman]

Kalispell Montana has really brutal winters since there is nothing between you and the Arctic and people do go to places like Minneapolis to get some relief from the cold.