Single mom looking to move closer to family (Eugene, Medford: 2009, employment)

[STEELRZ]

I am a single mom with a 6th grader looking to move closer to family in Tillamook but don't want the rain that they have . I have lived in Southern Cal for 20 yrs and love the weather but hate the expense.

Have been looking at cities that aren't TOO big in Oregon but want the schools to be good. Considering Eugene, Roseburg and Medford.

Any thoughts from anyone???

[Mr Eugenified]

Originally Posted by STEELRZ

I am a single mom with a 6th grader looking to move closer to family in Tillamook but don't want the rain that they have . I have lived in Southern Cal for 20 yrs and love the weather but hate the expense.

Have been looking at cities that aren't TOO big in Oregon but want the schools to be good. Considering Eugene, Roseburg and Medford.

Any thoughts from anyone???

In terms of rain, Eugene is much better than Tillamook. According to the stats I found, average rain in inches for each location is:

Eugene
Nov 8.4
Dec 8.3
Jan 7.7
Feb 6.4
Mar 5.8

Tillamook
Nov 13.7
Dec 13.9
Jan 13.0
Feb 10.8
Mar 9.9

So it seems like you are on the right path.

For me, the big selling point of Eugene is that there is a distinct culture built around liberal ideas and the major university located here (UO). Medford and Roseburg do not have that.

Eugene has its own very clear "style" versus many towns which are just cookie-cutter, strip-mall, Target-Kohls-Staples-Subway-McDonalds-Kmart clones. I see a lot of those towns when driving along the highway, and I have to wonder how the people feel about living in such a xeroxed version of suburbia. (On the other hand, Eugene does have these chain stores also. It's just that they do not dominate the landscape as much as they do in other towns).

[Olduvai2020]

I don't know if finding a job is a factor in your relocation planning, but all three areas you mentioned have fairly high unemployment rates. According to the Oregon Employment Department, September 2009 unemployment rates for these areas were as follows:

Eugene (Lane County) - 12.2%
Roseburg (Douglas County) - 16.1%
Medford (Jackson County) - 12.5%

Additionally, all three are pretty far from Tillamook (Eugene is the closest, a 3 hour drive). If you really hate the rain, this would probably rule out Eugene and Roseburg and leave Medford, which is about 6 hours away by car. Eugene has some great elementary schools, but I don't know about Roseburg or Medford.

Have you considered Corvallis? It's a nice college town with fairly low unemployment and closer to Tillamook than any of the other cities you mentioned. Lots of rain in the winter though. If you are looking for a drier climate in Oregon, you have to go east of the Cascades, and that part of the state is rather sparsely populated. There are reasons why extremely dry areas (including SoCal, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc.) are unsuitable for dense human habitation in the long-run.

[haggardhouseelf]

OK... I'm going to sound like a horrible person for saying this outloud... but I would recommend Eugene or Corvallis over Roseburg or Medford simply because Roseburg and Medford both feel really "rough" to us. In Corvallis and Eugene there seems to definitely be more focus on the arts and higher education. We love our kids schools in Eugene. You'll still have more rain and cold/grey weather than you have in socal... but not as much as more northern towns and especially not as much as they get on the coast from what I understand.