What's Life in Oregon Like? (Portland, Salem: sales, rent, insurance)

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by IowaRose

My husband and I are in our mid-40's and considering relocating to Western Oregon. All of this is dependent upon finding employment first. He is finishing up an associates degree in computer networks and security. He has work experience repairing computers and installing networks, but I told him if he ever wants to leave Iowa, a degree would be important.

I moved to Iowa from Michigan in my twenties, fresh out of college, and for a long, long, long, time have wanted to move out of the small town where we live. One of the things that seems so nice about Oregon is the scenery and wide variety of climates, depending on whether you are along the coast or further inland. We are outdoor type people and like hiking, camping, visiting state and national parks, and I like photographing nature and scenery.

One of the things I hate about Iowa is the humidity in the summer. The humidity makes even a mildly hot day seem that much hotter. I hibernate indoors where there is air conditioning for the better part of 3 months during the summer here, and I hate it. From what I have heard, Oregon summers might be less humid and cooler.

I keep hearing about how much it rains in Oregon, so how bad is it really? I grew up in the U.P. of Michigan, where it snows sometimes from Oct. through May, so a rainy winter season doesn't seem all that bad. At least you don't have to shovel it every day. Are there a lot of ice storms in Oregon in the winter?

We have also looked at New Mexico, but I like to garden and the lack of moisture there limits the things I could grow without having a huge water bill every month.

I have a degree in accounting and mostly I am a "jack-of-all trades" type of person. I have done some bookkeeping, general office work, and have also been a CAD draftsperson. Not a lot of job opportunities where we live, so it would be good to move somewhere with more.

We hope to plan a trip out to Oregon in the spring or late summer to have a look around. I look forward to hearing more about Oregon.

A sunny small town on the OR coast is Brookings. It's right across the CA border. I live just across the border in CA. It is probably too small for many job opportunities.

I wonder if you might like Eureka or Arcata, CA. You will have more rain than other places in CA, but never snow. The far north coast of CA is very wet. It's a beautiful area with the ocean and the giant redwoods. Lots of recreation and beauty. Eureka might have government jobs as it's the county seat, and Arcata has a state university, Humboldt State University. And your husband could continue his education there.

I used to live in WA just across the OR border from Hood River, OR on the Columbia River. It's beautiful, but the area gets a lot of snow and ice storms. Because it's wet, it turns into ice. Lots of black ice driving conditions. That was my experience of Portland, too. There might not be a whole lot of snow on the ground, but it's cold enough to be icy.

I also lived in Seattle and western WA all the way to Bellingham and Sumas on the Canadian border. The winters are long and there is a lot of snow and ice. The joke up there was that we had 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad sledding.

To get the least amount of that as possible, go farther south and stick as close to the coast as possible.

But, check out Eureka, CA. Here's the Craigslist site for that area:

https://humboldt.craigslist.org/

Here's the HSU job website:

Human Resources - Job Vacancies

Humboldt County jobs (county for Eureka and Arcata):

Humboldt County, California

City jobs:

https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/eurekaca

http://www.cityofarcata.org/departme...-opportunities

Some photos of Eureka and Arcata from Google images:

https://www.google.com/search?q=eure...w=1437&bih=749

https://www.google.com/search?q=eure...ch&q=arcata+ca

Good luck on your adventure!

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by Mini-apple-less

............ Oregon is about half and half left/right and Christian/atheist, with more of the left and atheist in the younger generation and in Portland.
…........

Wrong on both counts. Oregonians self-identify as:

Conservative 33.8%
Moderate 33.7%
Liberal 27.5%
Oregon: Liberal, Moderate or Conserevative? Or all three.

Even in Portland only 4% are atheists (8% agnostic):
Yes, Portland is America's most religiously unaffiliated metro. But who exactly are the 'nones'? | OregonLive.com

[Thom52]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Wrong on both counts. Oregonians self-identify as:

Conservative 33.8%
Moderate 33.7%
Liberal 27.5%
Oregon: Liberal, Moderate or Conserevative? Or all three.

Even in Portland only 4% are atheists (8% agnostic):
Yes, Portland is America's most religiously unaffiliated metro. But who exactly are the 'nones'? | OregonLive.com

This is one of the things I really like about Oregon. It has a balance of viewpoints.
You neighbors are likely to have a different viewpoint than you. You can only hope that yourself and your neighbors could just be polite and considerate and respect each other having a different viewpoint. And maybe, just maybe, those viewpoints could result in a neighborhood/state that didn't have to alienate each other by going to extremes and might keep each other a bit more honest and balanced.

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

[redguard57]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Wrong on both counts. Oregonians self-identify as:

Conservative 33.8%
Moderate 33.7%
Liberal 27.5%
Oregon: Liberal, Moderate or Conserevative? Or all three.

Even in Portland only 4% are atheists (8% agnostic):
Yes, Portland is America's most religiously unaffiliated metro. But who exactly are the 'nones'? | OregonLive.com

Self-identification is not very informative. I personally know people who are pretty darn liberal, but in their minds, are moderate.

Not everyone who identifies as "Conservative" in Oregon would be "Conservative" somewhere else. When I lived in in Texas I was a flaming liberal, mostly on the grounds that I did not call President Obama a Muslim Communist and accepted gay people for who they are. In Oregon I'm pretty firmly a moderate.

[IowaRose]

Thanks for all of the responses so far. It's great to hear that I would have a lot of opportunity for gardening, but not so great to hear about the lack of jobs. Still, it's better to hear the truth about a place rather than go there expecting things to be great and find out they are not.

We would not move unless one of us had a good paying job secured. There are a lot of low paying, mediocre jobs where we live now. We can get by, but it's just not an outstanding place to live. After almost 21 years in this small SE Iowa town, and almost 20 of them in the same house, I am ready to "get the heck out of Dodge" as they say. The list of reasons why I want to leave gets longer every day.

[smpliving]

Hi ... I'm living in Iowa now for the past 21 years and raised my kids here. If you can swing it I would recommend the move. I have a daughter in her mid-20s living in Portland now for 2-1/2 years. Her major complaint is that it's so expensive and pay is low (she got by for a year and a half without a car .. just her bike and using the bus). She is in accounting doing administrative type work but started out as a barista for a year in which she had a lot of experience while in college in Iowa, and had a job lined up before the move.

Lots of rain and cloudy days but she likes it. After growing up in Iowa, winters in Oregon are a piece of cake . She is an avid hiker and out every weekend, if not after work hours during the week. She doesn't have much money left over but hiking and camping is affordable, and she has met so many people with similar interests (transplants and natives). She also volunteers on weekends with the forest service. Plenty of events throughout the city metro to attend also. She mostly stays in her small neighborhood district in Portland where she can walk to everything or take the bus. Rents a room with others her age. If you can swing it financially, I doubt you'll regret the move.

[oregonchickfan]

Have you looked into jobs at the Facebook data center in Prineville or Google data center in The Dalles?

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

Portland and Eugene are software focused, Corvallis leans to hardware.

Corvallis is pretty limited. I'd be extremely hesitant to go there. The big company in town (HP) has largely pulled out and is a shell of its former self. I worked with a lot of people at OSU and now in Portland who used to work there and got laid out in round after round of downsizing.

In any event for the OP's needs it might work. A gig doing networking at OSU would pay reasonably well, have good benefits, and not likely to be subject to layoffs. They also need people who can do bookkeeping/etc.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by JasonF

Corvallis is pretty limited. I'd be extremely hesitant to go there. The big company in town (HP) has largely pulled out and is a shell of its former self. I worked with a lot of people at OSU and now in Portland who used to work there and got laid out in round after round of downsizing.

In any event for the OP's needs it might work. A gig doing networking at OSU would pay reasonably well, have good benefits, and not likely to be subject to layoffs. They also need people who can do bookkeeping/etc.

Yeah, the big game in town now is CH2M-Hill. They don't have much use for IT sorts. Most of their engineers are civil engineers, geologists and such.

[Mini-apple-less]

Originally Posted by redguard57

Self-identification is not very informative. I personally know people who are pretty darn liberal, but in their minds, are moderate.

Not everyone who identifies as "Conservative" in Oregon would be "Conservative" somewhere else. When I lived in in Texas I was a flaming liberal, mostly on the grounds that I did not call President Obama a Muslim Communist and accepted gay people for who they are. In Oregon I'm pretty firmly a moderate.

I find Oregonians tend to be more libertarian than anything else.