Oregon from Springfield MO (Portland, Eugene: sales, home, find a job)

[lex990]

Hello all.

We are kicking around the idea of possibly moving to Oregon from southwest Missouri. We are tired of the Midwestern lifestyle and are looking for a new beginning. We enjoy hunting fishing boating and all kinds of outdoor activities. I work in X-ray and cat scan and my wife works in HR. We love the beautiful coastline that I'm seen throughout Google image. My questions are: how is the price of groceries compared to other places that you have lived? As well as utilities, fuel, and income taxes from our paychecks. Right now our home in Missouri is about 1500 ft.² three bedroom two bath and we paid about 100,000 for it. Now I know my salary should be higher out there so I'm just wondering the areas to look at for maybe cheaper housing and good for kids. I am seeing lots of x-ray jobs listed along the little coastline towns.

thank you for any advice you shall give

[folkguitarist555]

I would say that one would need at least 275k to 300k plus even in the smaller rural areas in western Oregon to get a decent updated home with a little acreage imo. Western WA and Western OR are much more expensive then anywhere in MO, AR, TN, IN, KY and etc.....Property taxes are much higher also in OR.

[BruceM]

You can probably find online cost of living metrics for different areas of the US.
MO, and the mid west in general, is know for it's low cost of living.
We moved to Corvallis from FL and I really don't notice the cost of living being any higher here.
FL had no income tax but had a substantial sales tax (same as WA).
OR has no sales tax and has state income tax.
I know I save on utilities since I don't have to run AC during the summer months here. Our home is one of the rare ones on this block because the previous owners had AC added on but we very rarely use it.
Mild winters mean that we spend about $440 per winter on wood pellets to heat our home.
Food costs are pretty much the same as anywhere in the US. The delivery cost of food is about 5% of the total cost so being located closer to your source of food makes little difference.
Rent & housing is probably higher here than in MO as the previous poster said.
But, IMO, the quality of life is much better here (I lived in St Louis and NW Arkansas and my sister lives in Cape Giradeau).

[PNW-type-gal]

Cost of housing here will be more and likely substantially more.

The other thing to keep in mind about the coast is that in Oregon the coast is separated from the valleys (where the majority of the population lives) by a range of mountains - so that you either live ON the coast or inland an hour or two and drive over the mountains to get to the coast. Since the jobs tend to be where the people are, jobs on the coast are sparse. Retiree and tourist services make up most of the industries on the coast, although there are a few cities with a small fishing fleet and there is a bit of the timber industry left.

Also be prepared for cool summers and winters and a lot of rain and clouds and wind.

[Nell Plotts]

You need to verify that your MO professional certifications transfer to OR, beyond that it is simply a matter of finding an opening. The major health care facilities are in Portland metro, secondarily Eugene, Bend, Salem and Medford (in that order IMHO).

Positions for HR professionals are more often found in the Portland Metro area. They are rare as hen's teeth on the coast or rural OR. She should join SHRM, if she isn't a member already, bring her certifications up to date, then use their resources to find a job. Almost all HR jobs are found through networking and SHRM.