Salem, OR or Durham, NC (Portland, Keizer: travel, jobs, houses)

[southbysoutheast]

We are a young couple who have been working for a civil rights group in Montgomery, AL for several years. I will be starting law school in the fall and we can't wait to get out of Alabama, but we are still trying to decide between Salem, OR and Durham, NC. Durham, NC seems to be very highly rated in the media (Forbes, etc.), but despite it's seemingly perfect location Salem, OR is often portrayed as a slow paced, conservative town. We are desperately seeking culture, good public schools, and friendly urban or craftsman style neighborhoods after 5 years in "The Gump." Is Durham really a great place to live? Is Salem really that bad? We appreciate your help!

[Bendite]

I was born in Salem and have visited many times, but someone who lives there now will be better at answering your questions. I have a granddaughter who moved to Salem from Anchorage last year and she and her mother really like it and her school (she's in fifth grade and they live in the SW part of town where she can safely ride her bike and she has friends on her block in a nice neighborhood). When we visit Salem, we always note that there aren't really any excellent restaurants. On the other hand, when we have travelled in the South, we've been amazed at all of the terrible fried food, so maybe Salem has some great restaurants after all . There are some beautiful parks, they have an annual art fair and festival in July, there are two live community theaters, art galleries etc. It also helps to have an excellent university. Willamette U has a beautiful campus and certainly adds to the culture. Portland isn't that far a drive for more cultural doings. There are some neighborhoods with traditional Craftsman homes and new houses built in the Craftsman style. It sounds like moving from where you are now to either city would be a relief, but there is a lot of difference between the Pacific NW and the Southern states, so it's more than just comparing two cities.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by southbysoutheast

We are a young couple who have been working for a civil rights group in Montgomery, AL for several years. I will be starting law school in the fall and we can't wait to get out of Alabama, but we are still trying to decide between Salem, OR and Durham, NC. Durham, NC seems to be very highly rated in the media (Forbes, etc.), but despite it's seemingly perfect location Salem, OR is often portrayed as a slow paced, conservative town. We are desperately seeking culture, good public schools, and friendly urban or craftsman style neighborhoods after 5 years in "The Gump." Is Durham really a great place to live? Is Salem really that bad? We appreciate your help!

Salem is a slow paced conservative town. Having said that, it votes mostly democratic in elections. I think the conservatism tends to come from being fairly family oriented. We don't have a large public university here, so we don't get that "young liberalism" here. I think if you talked to people, we tend to get fairly moderate political views. We don't tend to have a lot of extremists either way.

We have three neighborhoods which have Craftsmans, Fairmount Hills, Bush Park and Englewood. If you google the neighborhoods you will get some information on them.

For good schools, meaning strong to exceptional ratings from the Oregon Department of Education you will want to stay south to get what you want.

Culture is relative. I came from Chicago area to Portland to Salem...so coming from a large metro area to Salem we are lacking in culture. How we do compared to other same sized cities?? That I don't know.

We do have the art fair, which is fantastic. We have several festivals in the summer, and our outlying small cities have constant events. Woodburn has the tulip festival now, which you would think would be dull, but my kids kill for the duck races there. There is an iris festival in Keizer soon, there are western days, Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel, and many events close by in Silverton, OR. If you want broadway, opera, symphony, and ballet I head to Portland (60 minutes to get downtown) for most of that. We do have the Elsinore theater here which also has some great local events and good children's productions.

As the other poster mentioned good restaurants are lacking here. Coming from Chicago and Portland that again, is a matter of perspective. Our urban area has been somewhat dumpy. When I moved here from Portland 8 years ago, it was a huge adjustment for me. BUT I am really excited about Salem's plans for the downtown area. I too love historic homes and downtowns. In 2001, Salem downtown got on the National Historic Register. This allowed grants monies for preservation. There are currently 18 projects happening in the downtown area, which are all really exciting.

If you asked me 8 years ago, I would have said yes, Salem is that bad. What is happening in the city is really exciting though. Fairmount Neighborhood is putting an application in to be on the National Historic Register as well.

Anyway...if you visit City of Salem, Oregon - Official City Website you can link to Salem 2020 vision for the downtown area. If will be a place in the works, but it will give you an idea of where the city is headed and what they think about invigorating the downtown area.

[Silverfall]

Forgot to mention, Fairmount and Bush Park are in McKinley, Leslie, and South High school districts. You can go to the Oregon Department of Education and look up information on that if you want.

[Barkingowl]

I wouldn't live in Durham, NC if you bought me a house.

[bobmulk]

Move to Durham. There's few jobs in Salem and I've been here 17 years. Once again I'm commuting to the Portland area. Much of what's here is government. Salem is a cultural and culinary wasteland.