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I've recently taken interest in this thread as my wife has been looking at houses in Portland. We live in San Diego(been here for about 4 years), have no family here, as I'm originally from NY, she from Florida and most of our families live back in those two places. We do have friends here though.
Our situation is a little different as I'm a consultant who has spent the past few years traveling all over the place for work. NY, Miami, Midwest, Texas, London, San Fran, Los Angeles, etc. San diego does not pay well for what it costs to live. So you put up with the travel to make more money. So for us, whether I live in SD or Portland isn't that big a deal. San Diego Airport isn't exactly LAX so as long as I'm close to PDX, i'd be fine(within an hour).
As far as somebody who said live in Northern California, San Fran and Silicon Valley are more expensive than Los Angeles. San Fran is comparable to NYC in cost of living. California, in general, is an expensive overpriced place to live. Many schools are poor, many communities aren't that great. So you overpay for good communities and wind up living in some community where every house looks the same and every person is a bit stuck up. Not exactly filled with personality.
I love San Diego, but the truth is, it is a lot of old money. Not many great paying jobs here. So, if the houses cost 650K and companies don't pay much, you aren't ever buying a house. At least not in a decent area with good schools. Or you wind up in Temecula and drive 2 hours to work every day. If you're lucky. And who wants to live in Temecula? Kind of defeats the purpose of living in Southern California.
I don't know though as I lived in Seattle for a couple of years. And while I loved the outdoors, loved the city, there are certain pricey parts of Seattle and the gloomy weather 8 months a year is trying. That is one of the reasons I moved down to San Diego. More sun.
But the sad reality is do I really live in San Diego? I've spent months where I was only home Friday Night & Saturday. The rest of the time i was traveling for work and someplace else. Winter in Chicago. Summer humidity in Miami. So on and so forth. As others said, do you really enjoy a place living in some dump?
My wife and I have a 2 year old and we aren't in our twenties anymore. Living on the beach with a few roommates in my twenties was fun. Living in some transient dump just to be a few miles from the beach isn't fun anymore. Not when you have a child and wife and are gone every week. It also isn't fun that you really have to work as a consultant to barley make it in Southern California.
So for us, we live in San diego, but do you really enjoy it? If I took a local job, I'd get paid less and wind up in an even more crappy place. And I'd rather my son go to good schools and have a chance in life. I grew up in a poor community. I went to poor schools. Nobody gives you a pat on the back because you had a rough childhood.
Is Portland the answer? I don't know. I loved Seattle. I like how Portland is
a bit smaller than Seattle. I've spent time in Portland. Loved it. Love the green. The Eco friendly nature. The personality and culture of different neighborhoods. I love the outdoors. I'm an outdoors person.
The funny thing is when I lived in Seattle for a few years, I spent tons of time traveling, hiking, visiting everywhere in the pacific Northwest. Even with all the 'rain' and overcast skies. Summers were beautiful. Nothing like seeing Mt. Rainier on a sunny day. Almost like you were on a different planet. It was a magical place, but the overcast skies and no sun get a bit much. At least for me. I was not married to my wife back then, so it was a different time. She's never been up there and I've told her about the weather. She's a South Florida and San Diego girl. Never been in the cold. But South Florida has torrential downpours and terrible humidity in the summer.
Anyway this post is too long, but the thing is, I moved to San Diego in 2008 and I've barely visited anything. I did some things now and again, but nothing like when i was in Seattle. It seems I'm always barely making it in San diego. And then i had to find a traveling job just to make ends meet. The San diego sunshine just seems a bit fake. the weather is beautiful but half the time you can't afford to do anything because it costs so much to live here. And truthfully, the personality and culture is lacking. Most houses are beaten down shacks or they are overpriced concrete cookie cutter gated communities. That exists everywhere, but it seems to be the only thing in Southern California. there are parts of Southern California I love, but afte awhile it does seem vain. Nothing real. And the beaches are closed half the time due to pollutants. Or the open up a day later, claiming, "it's safe."
Who knows. Like I said, I spend more time away from home than at home, so for me, does it really matter? I'll take my wife to Portland, see what she thinks, and hopefully it's cloudy and misty so she gets a feel for what it is most of the time. Regardless though, We both love the west coast and wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world. I do like Hawaii..lol. She doesn't.
PDX has decent air service and is accessible by the MAX from many areas in Portland.
Your other choice would be Seattle. They finally finished light rail to SEA but I left that metro area before it was running so have no idea how well that might work for you. If you were thinking of Seattle metro don't opt for communities to the north of the city or those served by ferry - the commute to SEATAC is beastly (says I who did that for 10 years).
I wonder if mullenium ever moved to Portland and if not, where he and his family did move to. It's great when people return to let us know how things turned out for them.
I've recently taken interest in this thread as my wife has been looking at houses in Portland. We live in San Diego(been here for about 4 years), have no family here, as I'm originally from NY, she from Florida and most of our families live back in those two places. We do have friends here though.
Our situation is a little different as I'm a consultant who has spent the past few years traveling all over the place for work. NY, Miami, Midwest, Texas, London, San Fran, Los Angeles, etc. San diego does not pay well for what it costs to live. So you put up with the travel to make more money. So for us, whether I live in SD or Portland isn't that big a deal. San Diego Airport isn't exactly LAX so as long as I'm close to PDX, i'd be fine(within an hour).
As far as somebody who said live in Northern California, San Fran and Silicon Valley are more expensive than Los Angeles. San Fran is comparable to NYC in cost of living. California, in general, is an expensive overpriced place to live. Many schools are poor, many communities aren't that great. So you overpay for good communities and wind up living in some community where every house looks the same and every person is a bit stuck up. Not exactly filled with personality.
I love San Diego, but the truth is, it is a lot of old money. Not many great paying jobs here. So, if the houses cost 650K and companies don't pay much, you aren't ever buying a house. At least not in a decent area with good schools. Or you wind up in Temecula and drive 2 hours to work every day. If you're lucky. And who wants to live in Temecula? Kind of defeats the purpose of living in Southern California.
I don't know though as I lived in Seattle for a couple of years. And while I loved the outdoors, loved the city, there are certain pricey parts of Seattle and the gloomy weather 8 months a year is trying. That is one of the reasons I moved down to San Diego. More sun.
But the sad reality is do I really live in San Diego? I've spent months where I was only home Friday Night & Saturday. The rest of the time i was traveling for work and someplace else. Winter in Chicago. Summer humidity in Miami. So on and so forth. As others said, do you really enjoy a place living in some dump?
My wife and I have a 2 year old and we aren't in our twenties anymore. Living on the beach with a few roommates in my twenties was fun. Living in some transient dump just to be a few miles from the beach isn't fun anymore. Not when you have a child and wife and are gone every week. It also isn't fun that you really have to work as a consultant to barley make it in Southern California.
So for us, we live in San diego, but do you really enjoy it? If I took a local job, I'd get paid less and wind up in an even more crappy place. And I'd rather my son go to good schools and have a chance in life. I grew up in a poor community. I went to poor schools. Nobody gives you a pat on the back because you had a rough childhood.
Is Portland the answer? I don't know. I loved Seattle. I like how Portland is
a bit smaller than Seattle. I've spent time in Portland. Loved it. Love the green. The Eco friendly nature. The personality and culture of different neighborhoods. I love the outdoors. I'm an outdoors person.
The funny thing is when I lived in Seattle for a few years, I spent tons of time traveling, hiking, visiting everywhere in the pacific Northwest. Even with all the 'rain' and overcast skies. Summers were beautiful. Nothing like seeing Mt. Rainier on a sunny day. Almost like you were on a different planet. It was a magical place, but the overcast skies and no sun get a bit much. At least for me. I was not married to my wife back then, so it was a different time. She's never been up there and I've told her about the weather. She's a South Florida and San Diego girl. Never been in the cold. But South Florida has torrential downpours and terrible humidity in the summer.
Anyway this post is too long, but the thing is, I moved to San Diego in 2008 and I've barely visited anything. I did some things now and again, but nothing like when i was in Seattle. It seems I'm always barely making it in San diego. And then i had to find a traveling job just to make ends meet. The San diego sunshine just seems a bit fake. the weather is beautiful but half the time you can't afford to do anything because it costs so much to live here. And truthfully, the personality and culture is lacking. Most houses are beaten down shacks or they are overpriced concrete cookie cutter gated communities. That exists everywhere, but it seems to be the only thing in Southern California. there are parts of Southern California I love, but afte awhile it does seem vain. Nothing real. And the beaches are closed half the time due to pollutants. Or the open up a day later, claiming, "it's safe."
Who knows. Like I said, I spend more time away from home than at home, so for me, does it really matter? I'll take my wife to Portland, see what she thinks, and hopefully it's cloudy and misty so she gets a feel for what it is most of the time. Regardless though, We both love the west coast and wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world. I do like Hawaii..lol. She doesn't.
I'm a san diego native who got priced out when the housing peak happened. i love that city and would love to move back someday, but honestly that will probably never happen. To me, san diego is worlds different than LA or Northern california; I would not live in LA for anything.
i'm a newbie to portland, and i think some of the financial issues you mentioned are similar, but to a lesser extent here. like SD, the salaries are low and make it difficult to have the same quality of life that the "old money" people have. the lack of sun hasn't bothered me yet, but again, i'm a newbie. i like to think that having a positive attitude about wherever you are makes a difference.
i'm not sure what you mean by the "sunshine is fake." :shrug: if you haven't made an effort to get out and see stuff in san diego, i'm not sure how moving somewhere else will make a difference, because the main factor in getting out to see stuff is you deciding to do it. there are a lot of great and affordable things to see in san diego and surrounding areas. I grew up in a single income military family in the east county, so we didn't have a lot of $ to spend on entertainment/sightseeing.
i agree it sucks to work your butt off and make little $. would a non-travel job make a difference, perhaps? I think you're placing a disproportionate amount of blame on a city when there are many variables playing into your personal happiness. reading between the lines, i think your job is the issue, and when you get a job you like and feel valued at, the other issues may not matter so much.
I'm a san diego native who got priced out when the housing peak happened. i love that city and would love to move back someday, but honestly that will probably never happen. To me, san diego is worlds different than LA or Northern california; I would not live in LA for anything.
i'm a newbie to portland, and i think some of the financial issues you mentioned are similar, but to a lesser extent here. like SD, the salaries are low and make it difficult to have the same quality of life that the "old money" people have. the lack of sun hasn't bothered me yet, but again, i'm a newbie. i like to think that having a positive attitude about wherever you are makes a difference.
i'm not sure what you mean by the "sunshine is fake." :shrug: if you haven't made an effort to get out and see stuff in san diego, i'm not sure how moving somewhere else will make a difference, because the main factor in getting out to see stuff is you deciding to do it. there are a lot of great and affordable things to see in san diego and surrounding areas. I grew up in a single income military family in the east county, so we didn't have a lot of $ to spend on entertainment/sightseeing.
i agree it sucks to work your butt off and make little $. would a non-travel job make a difference, perhaps? I think you're placing a disproportionate amount of blame on a city when there are many variables playing into your personal happiness. reading between the lines, i think your job is the issue, and when you get a job you like and feel valued at, the other issues may not matter so much.
Excellent post and definetly food for thought. I would just stress the fact that if indeed the OP is troubled by the prospect of working his butt off for little money Portland may disappoint him.
The company I reccently left was consolidating departments and everyone was given more tasks but no raises to compensate for them. I never really minded the additional work but I did mind not being compensated for it.
I hear the same time and time again from people I know and even in the media. The exception, of course, is those who have professions that are in demand.
The job situation is definetly something anyone thinking of relocating to a new should look into.
It's not really about enjoying San Diego, I love the place and when I can, I try to explore as much as I can. The problem has been, I'm mostly gone 5-6 days a week for work. Spent time in the midwest, in San Fran, in Denver, in Atlanta, in NY, in London, etc. I enjoy a lot of what I do for work. Sometimes it gets annoying and politics suck, but thats anywhere.
The thing that bothers me is it is very expensive to live in SD. And now that more people are renting than not, landlords and property owners are jacking up prices. Housing is still ridiculous unless you live in a few places that don't exactly have good school systems.
I enjoyed living in Seattle because I got to explore and didn't work 100 hours a week. I made good money. I only lived in Seattle for two years but spent every weekend and extended weekends exploring the Pacific NW.
In San Diego, I've worked 100 hours a week or have traveled most of the time. If I took a local job, i'd get paid half of what I'm currently making. That is my issue with San Diego. The cost of living doesn't equal the pay. I work in an industry where there might be a lot of long hours. I'd rather be paid for my time, than have some excuse about 'sunshine' tax.
Every city has it's issues, but at the end of the day, I would like to have a few bucks saved, be able to buy a nice home in a nice area where the schools are good. If I spend half my money on rent/mortgage and maybe not even, it becomes a place you start to dislike, regardless of everything you love about it.
When I was single and had no kids, i didn't care. Probably still wouldn't. Now my mindset is finding a safe nice neighborhood for my family. Finding good school systems where the kids have a 99 percent chance of going to some good college. There are neighborhoods in Southern California where 60 percent of the kids drop out of school. That's not exactly a place you want your family to live or grow up in. I've been there done that myself. Like I said, there is no badge of honor for growing up in that environment and being lucky just to make it out.
And that's how I'm starting to see San Diego and Orange County and Los Angeles and most of Southern California. If you want your kids to go to good schools and you want to feel like you can walk outside at night, it becomes almost unaffordable.
Is Portland any better? I don't know. It is more affordable. And being I travel as a consultant for work, I'm not too concerned about local jobs or the local job market. The Fake sunshine comment is geared more to the fact that many people in Southern California can't pay their bills, live in slums because slumlords own them, and the rent still isn't that cheap. When it seems the norm is 3-4 people in apartments in many places, that's not exactly a place you want to live.
Yes, as a kid without many responsibilities nor a family, it can be fun. But when you have a family, you start to look at things differently. Cost of Living is a big factor. If I keep my current job, the COL in Portland is a lot cheaper than San diego.
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not really about the City
