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Hello, my family and I are endind a 1 year tour of USA and are getting ready to settle down again. We are in between the 3 cities mentioned above (Portland, Anchorage, San Diego) and its proven very hard to decide where we want to live.
I'm a nurse, my husband a business admnintrator and we have 2 school aged children. To tell you the truth we love San Diego but I'm not sure we can afford to live there. With our (possible) income of around $150K we would have to live in a bad area with bad schools in a old house (please correct me if I'm wrong). (very depressing even with all the sunshine)
Or house budget is about $300K TOPS.
We think Oregon is gorgeous and more affordable but not sure about the weather.
The financial incentive (lower taxes, better pay, etc) of living in Alaska is what attracts us to Anchorage (I can tolerate snow much better than rain).
So Id really appreciate your pros and cons on these cities.
Thanks in advance!
This is a difficult one. On one hand you like san diego and on the other hand you are considering 8 months of cold weather in Anchorage. Portland seems like a middle ground.
Does it HAVE to be one of those three? If you like Oregon but not rain, you might enjoy somewhere in Eastern Oregon or Eastern Washington. The Tri-Cities of Washington are very nice if you can handle a desert climate. Cold(ish) winters, hot summers, but very low humidity and precipitation. The cost of living is also quite a bit lower. The area is close to the Oregon border. Also has good schools.
Here is a cost of living comparison between Portland and Kennewick (one of the Tri-Cities):
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Between San Deigo and Kennewick:
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And between Anchorage and Kennewick:
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Here are the Wikipedia pages for each of the cities that make up the Tri-Cities:
Anchorage, and Alaska in general, has a very high cost of living as everything has to be shipped in. Beautiful state though, and Anchorage has one of the more comfortable climates of Alaska. (Although if you, like myself, like having all four seasons, the colder winters of Fairbanks are made up for by the warmer summers, in comparison to Anchorage. Fairbanks has an even higher cost of living though).
Just a note about Anchorage: mid-winter is very dark, and summer is surprisingly rainy, though it varies a lot year to year. Wouldn't recommend it unless you're specifically attracted to Alaska. Higher pay doesn't make it worth it.
Somebody suggested Portland as a "middle ground". I strongly disagree. Portland is very unlike either Anchorage or San Diego. It is more like a rainy version of Oakland and Berkeley. Especially its politics, which are not at all like SD or AK. If you like San Diego sun, and are politically or culturally conservative, you might prefer Eastern Oregon or WA--like someone above said, the Tri cities, or Bend OR (warning: pricey) or even Spokane. On the other hand, if you are politically progressive, secular, and don't mind awful traffic on freeways, welcome to Portland. It's a great place, other than 9 months of rain and very dark winters.
Portland has traffic, but not anything near LA. Here's a link that rates metros across the country on traffic. Make sure your hit the Inrix Scorecard Country instead of the global it has selected by default.
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I hadn't thought about the tri cities. Looking forward to learning more about them.
