Ashland VS. Bend (Portland, Medford, Klamath Falls: home, job market, theater)

[gray horse]

I'm self-employed in IT so no job needed. Pretty much a homebody that enjoys having access to a some good coffee shops, restaurants and nice grocery, Costco, etc. Need to fly to SF about 4-5 times a year.

Moving from Portland area, It's just too damp and cold for me here.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Nell Plotts]

If you don't like cold then scratch Bend off your list. Bend, in the winter, has a dry cold with snow. Bend's airport is in Redmond.

Ashland has a moderate climate. Your Life - WEATHER & CLIMATE - Ashland Oregon Chamber of Commerce Costco and airport are both in Medford.

Both airports have flights to SFO. One would think that Medford's would be cheaper but to nail that down would take some research. All the flights to SJC involve one stop, frankly you could drive from Ashland to the SV in about the same time.

[kapetrich]

Bend has more variety within the interests you listed. Coffee shops (5 roasters off the top of my head with a ton of other cofee shops), restaurants, nice groceries and Costco-like stores (target, trader joes, whole foods, etc)

Bend is colder than Ashland. Ashland is more "high brow" than Bend. Bend is considerable larger than Ashland. Bend is drier than Ashland.

We'll need more questions or criteria to help you out further.

[delta07]

You might check out this thread. //www.city-data.com/forum/orego...teristics.html

It's older, but still has a lot of useful information, with great comparisons between the 2 towns. Since you live in Portland, why not take some time to visit each town and do some comparing yourself. Of course, if you need a job, you may really want to research the job market in both places, which are not great. Ashland probably has an advantage though being on the I-5 corridor and closer to a few other cities, like Medford.

[Tall Traveler]

I would go with Ashland as it's about 6 degrees warmer year-round. Bend is drier but Ashland isn't anything as damp as Portland. Might also look at Medford as it's larger and has more than Ashland.

[gray horse]

Maybe Bend and Ashland folks, tell me what you love about your town and the downsides.

Thank you!

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by gray horse

Moving from Portland area, It's just too damp and cold for me here.

If you are looking for a warmer climate Bend may not fit because while it is drier it is also colder than Portland during the winter.

Ashland has less than half the average rainfall of Portland. Bend is roughly half again. Bend is colder and has fewer sunny days according to Sperlings.

Ashland has a cute and quaint downtown with a bunch of restaurants and coffee shops. I've got family that think it has better restaurants than Bend.

Best Ashland Restaurants

Bend's downtown is also cute and quaint with a bunch of restaurants and coffee shops.

Bend Restaurants

When I fly to SF from Bend about half the time I wish I had taken the car instead. Just too many delays these days so I've moved to driving as the default. Ashland is a shorter drive which would give it the win for travel in my book.

[redguard57]

Ashland is a significantly smaller town, with all that smaller towns entail.

Southern Oregon is culturally different than Central Oregon. The most conservative people you'll find in OR are in the south - that tea party guy that ran against Rep. Walden in the primaries was from Klamath Falls. However, Ashland is the island of liberalism down there.

Ashland has a great Shakespeare festival in the summer, and despite it's smaller size, you'll find a much better music / art / cultural scene there. Bend gets some pretty good bands to play the amphitheater during the summer, most of them swing by there while they're in Portland. Other than that, Bend's local cultural offerings are very slim - Ie: not much good theater or music. Surprising to me that it doesn't have more. Ashland is much better at that despite being almost 1/4 the size of Bend. Bend does have a kinda cool film festival in the early fall.

Ashland is home to Southern Oregon University - about 6000 students on top of a town population of 21000, so there's more of a "younger" culture. Bend is better if you're older and want to live the "active outdoor" lifestyle.

If you want good coffee - Bend has 5 roasters as someone mentioned. Three of them are really good.

However, if you want good coffee shops to work online or hang out at - Bend's coffee shops are not great for that, particularly compared to Portland. In Bend every coffee shop closes at 5 or 6pm at the latest except for Starbucks. I'm not sure how Ashland's coffee shops are.

I think both have your standard costco, trader joe's, etc... If Ashland doesn't have it, Medford 20 minutes away would.

Flights to SFO will be similar - from Bend you need to drive to Redmond; from Ashland you need to drive to Medford. Similarly sized & equipped airports.

From what I can see on Craigslist, it looks like rents in Ashland are about 10% cheaper than Bend.