Moving to Oregon! Where should I call home?! (Ashland: people)

[oldtrader]

You keep mentioning job opportunity. Corvallis has the type of school you sound like you are looking for, and it has only a 6% unemployment rate which is better than the state rate, or the national rate.

[Kimballette]

Originally Posted by Dreamcatcher8706

I appreciate any feedback that is given but I'm not looking for elitist responses.

What does this mean? You do realize when you pose questions and ask for feedback on an anonymous internet forum, you can't dictate the responses you'll receive? If they don't satisfy you, please ignore them.

[Nell Plotts]

Although Oregon State (Corvallis) has the academic programs that fit you best housing is tough to find and relatively expensive.

There is no heaven on earth, you need to focus on finding a job because all of the activities you desire are within an hour's drive.

[jjpop]

Low-priced rent? Cross Corvallis off the list. Notoriously high rent, lots of "student" housing, and low vacancy rates. Also the unemployment rate is low because there are a lot of underemployed people in service industries that just take what they can get.

Although I understand a new WalMart is opening, so there may be additional jobs if you don't mind that kind of work.

[Nell Plotts]

+1

Originally Posted by jjpop

Low-priced rent? Cross Corvallis off the list. Notoriously high rent, lots of "student" housing, and low vacancy rates. Also the unemployment rate is low because there are a lot of underemployed people in service industries that just take what they can get.

Although I understand a new WalMart is opening, so there may be additional jobs if you don't mind that kind of work.

Yep.

The low unemployment rate gives a very bad impression of what Corvallis is actually like. Good jobs are essentially impossible to find. HP has mostly left, CH2M Hill still has a few hundred people, teaching jobs are getting fewer as enrollment shrinks. It's not that Corvallis is some amazing land of opportunity; it's that opportunities are so few that people move out when they get laid off. If you're an engineer at HP and they slash your job, it makes absolutely no sense to stay in Corvallis, paying exorbitant rent with zero prospects of landing another good job.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by JasonF

Yep.

The low unemployment rate gives a very bad impression of what Corvallis is actually like. Good jobs are essentially impossible to find. HP has mostly left, CH2M Hill still has a few hundred people, teaching jobs are getting fewer as enrollment shrinks. It's not that Corvallis is some amazing land of opportunity; it's that opportunities are so few that people move out when they get laid off. If you're an engineer at HP and they slash your job, it makes absolutely no sense to stay in Corvallis, paying exorbitant rent with zero prospects of landing another good job.

Yes. My family and I would have stayed in 2008 had I been able to find another job after being laid off. What happens is you wait around for 6 months looking for a job every day, gradually expand your job search radius to Salem and Eugene, then eventually realize that you have to move in order to get a job without a 2-hour daily commute.

Of course, I may very well have been able to get a job at KMart or Home Depot (it was new back then), but I preferred to work in my field so I didn't apply there.

[PermanentlyLost]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

Corvallis. I went to college there and worked there about 20 years ago. It's a small town full of really intelligent people that has not lost its rural roots.

I agree , I love Corvallis and it is my favorite town, I just wish I could afford to live there.

[Minervah]

Adding to the working in Corvallis and living elsewhere. A friend teaches at OSHU and has been for years. She and her sister wanted to buy a home together some years ago due to the ever increasing rent costs. She earns a good living as did her sister working for the State in Salem. But housing prices in Corvallis were still too much so they settled on a nice house in Albany. As much as they love Corvallis, it just wasn't worth the high price they had to pay to live there.

I think the OP may want to look towards Salem or Albany. Salem may have more job opportunity and I think would still be near the things she wants to be near. $600-$700 rent and job opportunities are just not going to be for the taking in Corvallis. I think Salem would match her needs more than the others job wise.

[kcejones]

What about Ashland? I'm thinking about moving there. I'm from California, so the cost of living is definitely going to be cheaper. And it's closer to home. What do you Oregonians think? Do you hate people from California? I've heard that...