The Right Place In OR (Eugene: apartment, crime rate, Home Depot)

[ibm5150pc]

I am a young guy in my mid 20's looking to move out of a small town in Southwest Montana, The has about 8000 people and is a one horse/pump town pretty much, the weather also sucks with long long cold winters, I was looking at OR for a more mild winter and some more sunny days. I am looking for a town that has a good choice of unskilled retail/sales jobs. I also would like a town of maybe 50,000 people or more with stores like Target Best Buy Wal-mart Home Depot ect. One major item has to be cost of living it needs to be as low as possible with cheap housing and rents. Also I want a place that is low in crime and safe. No gangs and ect.

Is there a place for me in OR?

[SandHills]

Originally Posted by ibm5150pc

I am a young guy in my mid 20's looking to move out of a small town in Southwest Montana, The has about 8000 people and is a one horse/pump town pretty much, the weather also sucks with long long cold winters, I was looking at OR for a more mild winter and some more sunny days.

My guess is that you are hailing from Anaconda. :-)

Originally Posted by ibm5150pc

I am looking for a town that has a good choice of unskilled retail/sales jobs. I also would like a town of maybe 50,000 people or more with stores like Target Best Buy Wal-mart Home Depot ect.

Here you go, young man: --->//www.city-data.com/city/Oregon.html<--- Research away. :-) All of the listed cities over 50K have stores like you are seeking. Be well aware though: employment is a tough, tough proposition here now. It will almost certainly take much time to secure employment here should you decide to move without landing a job first.

Originally Posted by ibm5150pc

One major item has to be cost of living it needs to be as low as possible with cheap housing and rents. Also I want a place that is low in crime and safe. No gangs and ect.

Is there a place for me in OR?

Tough one. Have never in 20+ years found "cheap housing & rents" in Oregon, though the outlying areas closer to the larger cities have more reasonable rents, naturally, though they are still rather high comparatively to most places. Even SW Montana isn't the least expensive place to live either & you're bound to find rents about the same as you are used to in some places here if you search.

That's where my personal situation is better in a way. As a brain-injured, disabled veteran living on a small, fixed monthly pension, I qualify for various public housing assistance. Even with that, the soonest I can hope for personally affordable housing to become available is 6 to 12 months for areas outlying the larger cities. In Eugene though, for example, the wait is more like 4 to 4 1/2 years (literally). Good thing I am seeking an apartment in a smaller community.

Many if not most of the larger cities here have a higher-than-average crime rate compared to a national average, though it is generally less severe types of offenses. Crimes like petty theft are quite common; serious personal assaults & murders- not so much... & am personally unaware of any of these cities of 50,000+ souls without at least some gang influences these days.

You've a lot of homework to do, guy. Doing as much of your own work will make it more worthwhile. Wishing you the best with your decision.
.

[Steve Pickering]

All the towns over 50,000 have a waiting list of unskilled labor. All also have heir share of crime and gangs. This ain’t Montana and the Latino, black, and white gangs are all in the cities (50,000 plus). Never make a move without a job carved in stone.

[Minervah]

For housing, take a look at Craig's List and Oregon Live on the Internet. Try to find local newspapers that have classifeds. I don't know if you can find "cheap" in Oregon and it depends upon what you consider cheap. This is not a state where cheap is an easy thing to do.

You can probably do something like GOOGLE Walmart-Oregon for example to see if any are hiring and where they are located. Then you can check out whatever town the opportunity is in.

If you can set your sights higher than retail at Walmart or Target you will be better off. The competition for jobs at places like these is very high. Do you have any special skills that would set you apart of the heavy competition for these types of retail jobs? The other thing you have to consider is if you are fortunate enough to secure a job at one of these places, will you be able to earn enough to pay for you living expenses?

I believe that most of these places are hiring only part time employees which means no health benefits, low salary and the chance of being laid off at any time.

This website is a good place to start your research. Check out similar inquires here.

[ibm5150pc]

Thanks for all the input, I have moved my search on to other places. It dose not sound like OR is the right place for me....

And Yes Sandhill I am hailing from Anaconda,MT... Sadly