Salem vs. Eugene (Portland: crime, motel, neighborhoods)

[okeon]

Which one is safer, less crime, better schools, better pay? Is the weather about the same?

[Brewer]

I think they are about the same size. Eugene is more of an "arts" community. Crime is less in Eugene, but job opportunities might be better in Salem due to all the state jobs there.

The weather is...

raining in both places!

[Eugguy]

Both are about the same size, but Eugene is built better and is a lot more aesthetic. Definitely more liberal and overall a much better place to live. The schools preform better to. The University makes for a lot of brilliant student teachers as well. Eugene is full of diversity and self idenity, and Salem lacks any except for governmental symbolism.

[okeon]

Thanks! Eugene is what we were leaning towards anyway.

[Sam Heller]

I might add, after living a year in Salem and travelling throughout the state, Eugene is the better of the two. I love Oregon, even in the Willamette Valley with the dark and wet falls and winters. I enjoyed Salem but found the population to be very backward in many ways. Very conservative. It possibly suffers by comparison to Portland and Eugene. The town suffers from a bad meth problem and a high influx of outside gang elements.

[Silverfall]

As a Salemite I need to weigh in here. Eugene and Salem have very different feels to the cities. Eugene is more liberal and with U of O there, has a university influence.

Salem is more conservative, and very family oriented. We are the capital so state jobs are the #1 employer. Both have their pluses and minuses, and it just depends on what kind of feel you are looking for.

If you did consider Salem, I would stick South or West for strong schools. Both Salem and Eugene have excellent and not so excellent schools. You really need to look at neighborhoods.

[bobmulk]

I live in Salem and Eugene is better. I'm saying this as an OSU grad, too. Salem is backward, although it's gradually improving. Eugene is a nicer city to live in, however, it's backward in its ultra-liberal leanings. Where Salem's constipation is ultra-conservatism, Eugene's constipation is ultra-liberalism.

[bigwhite]

My family and I visited Oregon last summer and fell in love with it. I had heard that Eugene was a really cool town and that Salem was a little trashy. I found the exact opposite to be true. We stayed at a motel in Eugene on 6th and van buren. I drove around the neighborhoods in the area and they were kind of tired . Then we spent a day in downtown Salem and the place seemed totaly bitchen. Was i just in a bad part of Eugene and a good part of Salem. We drove around Salem and thought the place was really cool. We never went east of I 5 so maybe that were the bad part is. Then again i live like 3 miles west of South Central Los Angeles maybe I'm just do'nt see it anymore

[Silverfall]

No bigwhite, downtown Salem has 18 revitalization projects going on right now. They are going to bring some seriously needed energy to our downtown. When I first moved here 9 years ago, I thought it was a bizarre city for a capital. The changes that are occuring are really good for the city. We've got some new businesses downtown, and we really need some good restaurants. Any chefs out there, that want to start a restaurant??

Salem has a lot of really great neighborhoods and a lot to offer. Both Salem and Eugene have good and bad areas. Coming from South Central LA, I would think most of our cities would look pretty good.

[elcapitan]

Originally Posted by bigwhite

My family and I visited Oregon last summer and fell in love with it. I had heard that Eugene was a really cool town and that Salem was a little trashy. I found the exact opposite to be true. We stayed at a motel in Eugene on 6th and van buren. I drove around the neighborhoods in the area and they were kind of tired . Then we spent a day in downtown Salem and the place seemed totaly bitchen. Was i just in a bad part of Eugene and a good part of Salem. We drove around Salem and thought the place was really cool. We never went east of I 5 so maybe that were the bad part is. Then again i live like 3 miles west of South Central Los Angeles maybe I'm just do'nt see it anymore

6th and Van Buren is where all the transient meth heads hang out when they are in Eugene. Not an accurate indicator of the rest of the people that live in the town. I hate that part of town because of all the burnouts walking around begging for handouts.