Clean, walkable smaller cities (sale, real estate market, 2015)

[Traderat]

Hi all,
My wife and I are looking for a lifestyle change from Portland, Oregon. We started living in the Lents neighborhood in 2012 and have watched the city deteriorate even as we've done well in the real estate market: the 205 bike path go from having a few skeevy people to homeless tent cities, used heroin needles becoming more common, dog eating nasty litter off the street and not knowing if it's human feces as the City Council tries to make Portland more like San Francisco... the list goes on.
We are responsible dog owners who need a yard and like to walk out our front door twice a day for at least a mile each way, and are accustomed to having parks with off-leash areas within walking distance. We've visited family in places like the Denver suburbs where you have to cross a highway just to walk from your front door to a strip mall, and that kind of car culture bugs us. We want to live in a cheap lower-tier city or cheap pedestrian-friendly suburb of an interesting but clean city (not interesting like SF or Portland!). We're a frugal family who shop at Costco, Trader Joe's and Grocery Outlet: we don't go spend money on restaurants and local culture every night, but want to be able to use the car to have that option.


Weak preferences: not having 4-8 inches of snow on the sidewalks all winter like parts of the Midwest (makes those daily walks less pleasant), jobs on bus lines.
As to jobs in general, I am currently on Social Security disability and she's interested in changing careers to something exercise-related. We've done the math and can get by on one low-paying job if we pay cash for a house, which would be easy in a cheap real estate market. We're expecting to net $250k from the sale of this one, but I've looked at cities like Dayton, OH and Lexington, KY where move-in-ready houses can be found for $100k or less, so I'd rather invest part of the money than move to the most expensive place we can afford.
Suggestions?

[Adamson865]

I grew up just down from Lents (which has *never* been a great area) in the 82nd/Johnson Creek vicinity (I'll really date myself by saying back when Johnson Creek Blvd ended at 82nd!) so know of what you write.

Is staying in Oregon and/or the NW an option? I'd recommend Corvallis, Salem or Olympia.

[censusdata]

Public transit is generally better the larger the metro area. I spent half my childhood in Lexington and it's a nice place but buses there are just ok for getting around. In general Upper South and Lower Midwest would make sense based on affordability and less winter snow. Would you prefer a metro the same or smaller than where you're at now?

[kyle19125]

Check out Columbia SC which fits your housing dollar with safe, affordable neighborhoods with lots of green space, a pretty decent bus system due to the U of South Carolina's presence (also the state capital) and has a moderate four season climate with pretty mild winters. Coming from Oregon, South Carolina being a red state could be a concern however Columbia is quite progressive, generally well-educated (around 45%-50% of residents hold a Bachelors degree) and is consistently blue in terms of voting patterns.

[Katarina Witt]

Forget Denver; it's way too expensive. Maybe Colorado Springs. Not as much snow as you might think.

[TallVegan]

Salt Lake City sounds like it might be a great option for you. It’s definitely cheaper and smaller than Portland. Many parts of the city are very walkable and there is light rail which makes getting around the city easy. The job market is great and it shouldn’t be too difficult to find employment quickly.

[Citykid3785]

What's your definition of a small City? I ask because most cities greater that 15k people have at least an area that is walkable to most amenities if you were to live in that area.

Is metro twin cities walkable? No, but many small portions of the city are, and they tend to be expensive. But there are areas of northfield, MN, a college town with less than 30k people that has some totally walkable areas. I know you said not upper Midwest, I'm just giving an example of an instance where a small college town could actually be more walkable than a large city. But I don't want to suggest those if by small City you mean 1M+ people

[Traderat]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

What's your definition of a small City? I ask because most cities greater that 15k people have at least an area that is walkable to most amenities if you were to live in that area.

The smallest city I've lived in was Eugene, OR (156,000) and I found that a satisfactory size. I'm only ruling out places too small to find jobs or have the stores I'm used to stretching my money at: Costco, Trader Joe's, and a low-price grocer like WinCo.

Originally Posted by TallVegan

Salt Lake City sounds like it might be a great option for you. It’s definitely cheaper and smaller than Portland. Many parts of the city are very walkable and there is light rail which makes getting around the city easy. The job market is great and it shouldn’t be too difficult to find employment quickly.

Thanks, though while SLC is cheaper than Portland, there are even cheaper cities that seem more attractive (though I don't know their job markets).

Originally Posted by KatarinaWitt

Forget Denver; it's way too expensive.

I mentioned Denver as an example of what I hate: very expensive, isolated sub-developments, unpredictable weather.

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Check out Columbia SC which fits your housing dollar with safe, affordable neighborhoods with lots of green space, a pretty decent bus system due to the U of South Carolina's presence (also the state capital) and has a moderate four season climate with pretty mild winters,

Thanks, I'll do that. Moving to a more conservative city would not be a downside: Portland has only started getting unlivable since 2015 or so, as it tries to emulate even-more-progressive San Francisco, without the employers. I'm tired of teaching a large breed puppy not to tug on the leash being a matter of life and death, because used heroin syringes and other biohazards of the homeless are appearing all over nice neighborhoods like Woodstock, and the Mayor (current and last) and City Council do nothing to control them. That makes me fear for my family's safety more than the official crime rate!

Originally Posted by censusdata

Would you prefer a metro the same or smaller than where you're at now?

Smaller, down to around 150,000 I guess.

Originally Posted by Adamson520

I grew up just down from Lents (which has *never* been a great area) in the 82nd/Johnson Creek vicinity (I'll really date myself by saying back when Johnson Creek Blvd ended at 82nd!) so know of what you write.

Is staying in Oregon and/or the NW an option? I'd recommend Corvallis, Salem or Olympia.

Nice to meet you! I know Lents has never been a great area. That whole corridor of SE neighborhoods near 82nd and the 205 bike path have a reputation as too poor and less safe, "Felony Flats", an area of working-class homeowners and white criminals: not part of Portlandia, even in an older generation before the Portlandia stereotype.


Those are places we could afford, but they're more expensive and look like there's less to do than cities way out east.

[ckhthankgod]

There are other cities in the Midwest and Interior Northeast that would work, but weather or at least not being sure about snow removal may be an issue.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Traderat

I mentioned Denver as an example of what I hate: very expensive, isolated sub-developments, unpredictable weather.

I wouldn't go that far, particularly about "isolated sub-developments". Denver suburbs are pretty compact, 1/4 acre is considered a huge yard, 1/2 acre is pretty much unheard of except in a few small areas. The unpredictability of the weather makes it kind of fun! It has never snowed in Denver in July or August.