Oregon town for experienced teacher with family? (Portland, Eugene: car insurance, mortgage)

[UpNorth]

Hello Everyone Thanks for taking your time to read my post.

I've been researching/looking all over the US (for many years) to find a place a to relocate to.

I am leaning towards the lovely state of Oregon for several reasons...
*Most of Oregon is within a day's drive to my family in northern California (Humboldt Co. area). Right now it costs my family of 5 no less than $2000-$3000+ to fly from Alaska to the lower 48! I need to be able to take my children to visit their grandparents without “breaking the bank!” ☺
*I've lived in Anchorage for 10 years and I'm ready to live somewhere that is not greatly affected by seasonal darkness. (Right now the sun is rising at about 10:15am and it sets at about 3:45pm!) ugg.
*Many other reasons, but I'll move on...

I am an experienced elementary school teacher (currently I’ve been teaching for 4+ years). I'd like to relocate to a town/city where teachers are needed. I assume that the larger towns/cities would have more teaching positions available, but I wouldn't mind living in a smaller town as well. I don't think I would be truly happy living in a small town (less than 7000-8000) that's far removed from other larger towns. I could live in any sized town as long as it was near (within 30 minutes) of a larger town (30,000-40,000).

I've explored many school districts’ websites; however, most schools don't have (and therefore don't list/post) job openings mid-year. I'm also aware that Portland hosts the "Oregon's Professional Education Fair" once a year. I plan to attend this event either this spring or next. Many school districts are at this fair ready to interview, but I want to have a good idea of where in Oregon I want to live before I interview.

My husband can work from home; so we are only wondering about a teaching job for me.

As of right now I 'm not too concerned about Oregon's cost of living and/or housing costs. Alaska is a COSTLY place to live and raise a family. Aside from maybe Ashland, I think we could live moderately comfortable in most areas of Oregon.

I'm sure I'll think of more ideas and questions to mention later, but I think that's that for now.

Thanks again for trying to help! Sorry this post was so long!

Wishing you and your family and peaceful and happy Holiday Season!

[StealthRabbit]

I'd look to a being near a southern OR town with a College. Probably Roseburg (Winchester), K falls, or Grants Pass.

I would also consider being near Portland, but working in WA, as their school funding is better (+ no income tax, as AK). You can be to Portland airport in 10 minutes from Camas, WA or Evergreen (Vancouver) School district, Hockinson is 10 minutes further and considered better by the academic and behavioral demanding (all are good districts) . I like the $50 direct flights to Sacramento to 'dry out' or 'get sun'

I recently spent a weekend with a couple who retired, and THEN began teaching in DoD (military Base Schools) They have done several international assignments and USA bases. I would do that in a heartbeat, those kids are usually great to teach, and can be good for relationship building too. Our kids learned much from living as a minority in a couple foreign countries (+ canada during Stanley Cup... ;0 )

[Silverfall]

If you were a special ed teacher, I'd tell you to pick your spot. They are greatly needed here.

Otherwise, I think you will need to tell us some criteria for what kind of living you want and we can point you towards some areas.

I do agree that if being close to the grandparents is important and part of the point of this move, that you should consider southern Oregon in order to cut down on travel time.

[UpNorth]

Thanks for the responses

yes, if I were a special ed teacher I could definitely pick my spot around the country, but that's a challenging career in more ways than I can say. Teaching my 25 students each year and raising my 3 children takes all my energy for now.

As far as other criteria for what type of area I'd like live in... I truly am pretty flexible. I did look into Bend (because of the nice 4 season and access to outdoor activities), but I later heard that it's extremely difficult to get hired as a teacher in the Bend area. So I'm not holding my breath for a job in Bend.

I would describe my family as liberal, green, very friendly, and very happy. We would like to live in an area where we can visit farmers' markets, take part in cultural events like family-friendly outdoor concerts, play in the outdoors on the weekends (camping, hiking, rock climbing, skiing, fishing...), participate in community recycling, eat out at local restaurants (not big greasy chains). And we don't want to live too far away from movie theatres, supermarkets, and other modern conveniences. My husband and I also enjoy gardening. He would love to be able to have a nice veggie garden in our back yard.

I truly don't mind the rain (I grew up in Humboldt Co. where it rained a lot!). But like I said earlier, the 4 seasons of areas like Bend sound great too.

You must try to understand that my husband and I aren't looking for some sort of utopia. We're wise enough to know that no place will be perfect (with perfect weather, perfect neighbors, perfect taxes, perfect cost of living, perfect shopping and dining options...) We're simply hoping to settle down in a place where the weather and housing costs are better than Anchorage...

Thanks Silverfall and Janb for your thoughts!

[EnricoV]

Sounds like somewhere around the Eugene area would be a good fit for you. I've been impressed (being from Portland) at just how much there is to do in Eugene, culturally. And it has great access to the outdoors.

[Silverfall]

Why don't you look at Silverton Oregon. It is small but close to Salem. They have a lot of community festivals there.

[akor]

My husband & I relocated to Oregon last spring after 16+ years on the Kenai Peninsula. We moved for many of the same reasons you have stated, the need to be closer to family, travel to and from AK and the dreaded short winter days. We are happy we made the move and have found that Grants Pass as far exceeded our expectations. We too did not need to worry about employment as we both work from home. Our car insurance, groceries, utilities are much less than AK, AK is a costly place to live. That being said, I would not consider moving from AK to be a means for improving your financial situation or living standard. We have always felt amd still feel AK offers an overall higher standard of living. While many costs will be less you will be losing PFD's on a family of 5 and paying a 9% income tax to boot, those 2 items alone would be a $20,000+ hit to your budget. The $365,000 house we sold in AK would be $700,000 or more to replace here, although that is because of the value of land and if you are looking to live on a city lot vs land, house prices are more reasonable. The move itself is costly, $1.20 per pound to ship hosehold items, $1500 a piece to ship vehicles. Please understand I am not saying don't move, just be doing it for the right reasons and a full understanding of some of the trade offs involved. We loved AK and would not trade our years there for anything but we were ready to move on and are happy to now call Oregon our home.

[UpNorth]

thanks akor for you thoughts

It's great to hear from an Alaskan!

Luckily we're not planning to move for financial reasons... (More so to be closer to family, without actually moving back to CA). However, that being said, I've researched areas like Medford, Salem, Eugene, etc and all offer cheaper housing than Anchorage. (Thank goodness!) Anchorage is getting outrageous. We both have great paying jobs, but just because we can buy a house for $300K+ doesn't mean we want to. We just don't want so much of our take-home pay to go towards a mortgage (when it could be going towards college savings and/or retirement). Anyway...
Regarding the PFD, it was GREAT this year! And I certainly will miss that extra money each year. We've always seen it as extra money and saved our kids' PFD for our kids' college funds. And ours have gone towards travel expenses to leave AK to visit family... It will be nice to live within driving distance to friends & family. But I can't stay in Alaska for the possibility of extra money from the PFD. I will miss the no income tax in AK, but I compare OR to CA (where I'm from) and it seems like an ok happy-medium.

Like you, I too have truly enjoyed my years in AK. We have priceless memories and photos that we will treasure forever. I just want to be closer to my family in northern CA.

thanks again akor!

[akor]

Sounds like you are coming from exactly the same prospective as us, we also have choosen to live below our means and have always considered the PFD money a bonus. I think you will find Oregon has much to offer, excellent gardening possibilities. We also have friends from AK who moved to Medford several years ago and they couldn't be happier. Let me know if you have any further questions, especially when it comes time to actually pull off co-ordinating the big move. Best of luck....and have a great holiday...........

[Hawk J]

Howdy UpNorth & Family......................


Fer over 4 lustrums we have Loved living in the beautiful, forested mountains of sw OR. But for u & your Loving Family, going by your needs i wood suggest Grants Pass, Gold Hill, Rogue River. You would need to research these smaller towns. I've just gotten a good feeling about them when driving in the area. Grants Pass we git our groceries at, etc . Folks have always been friendly. I've never had any problems. I fish at Lost Creek Res & Lake Selmac, etc.


To the north i get a good feeling about Roseburg. I go to the VA hospital there once a year. I fish in the south Umpqua & Cowcreek. I like Canyonville, Riddle, & Myrtle creek too.


Best of Luck to y'all in your search. Have a Wonderful Evening....................