From Boulder to Oregon - where to aim? (Portland, Eugene: to rent, co-ops)

[dr.garbanzo]

My wife and I have lived in Boulder, CO for 7 years now, but it's getting to be too busy and too expensive. We are considering a move to Oregon, and could use some help coming up with a list of towns/neighborhoods that best fit our needs.

We have previously lived in Estes Park CO, London, and Budapest, and would like something closer in size to Boulder (100-200k). It would be nice to be within a few hours of the coast, but not essential. Willamette Valley would be our first choice, followed by the coast, with anything east of the mountains lower on our list but definitely still an option. We love our sunny Colorado weather, but we can handle gloomy winters and heavy snow just fine.

We love to walk and hike, so local trails and/or safe neighborhood walking are a must.

Local public transportation is important.

We keep to ourselves, and we don't care about nightlife or being close to downtown.

We love to cook and value quality food, so it would be great to have stores like Sprouts, Trader Joe's, or Whole Foods relatively close by (up to a 1hr drive).

We're liberal but local politics isn't so important.

For jobs, I have experience in ops management and quality management, and my wife works in accounting. Current household income is $85K but we're happy to be flexible with jobs would be comfortable living on less.

We want to rent for now, limit is around $1300/mo. A 2br would be nice, but we would also be happy in a 1br.

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks to anyone who reads this and can offer some advice!

[gray horse]

Originally Posted by dr.garbanzo

My wife and I have lived in Boulder, CO for 7 years now, but it's getting to be too busy and too expensive. We are considering a move to Oregon, and could use some help coming up with a list of towns/neighborhoods that best fit our needs.

We have previously lived in Estes Park CO, London, and Budapest, and would like something closer in size to Boulder (100-200k). It would be nice to be within a few hours of the coast, but not essential. Willamette Valley would be our first choice, followed by the coast, with anything east of the mountains lower on our list but definitely still an option. We love our sunny Colorado weather, but we can handle gloomy winters and heavy snow just fine.

We love to walk and hike, so local trails and/or safe neighborhood walking are a must.

Local public transportation is important.

We keep to ourselves, and we don't care about nightlife or being close to downtown.

We love to cook and value quality food, so it would be great to have stores like Sprouts, Trader Joe's, or Whole Foods relatively close by (up to a 1hr drive).

We're liberal but local politics isn't so important.

For jobs, I have experience in ops management and quality management, and my wife works in accounting. Current household income is $85K but we're happy to be flexible with jobs would be comfortable living on less.

We want to rent for now, limit is around $1300/mo. A 2br would be nice, but we would also be happy in a 1br.

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks to anyone who reads this and can offer some advice!

Start with the job search and that will narrow down where you can live.

[PNW-type-gal]

Whole Foods - Portland metro (several), Eugene, Bend
New Seasons (local version of WF) - Portland metro (several)
Trader Joe's - Portland metro (several), Bend, Corvallis, Eugene, Medford, Salem
Natural Grocers - Portland metro (several), Bend, Corvallis, Eugene, Medford, Salem

Sprouts doesn't have an stores in Oregon nor does Aldi.

Several cities have co-ops of various sizes or local variants - Ashland, OR has a QFC (I think the only other QFCs in Oregon are in the Portland area - an upscale grocery owned by Kroger), a Shop N Kart, the Ashland Co-op - they don't have the big chains but they do have local equivalents and other Oregon cities have similar stores.

Most of the Fred Meyer stores (Kroger) have a natural foods section - the one local to me is in the middle of a huge remodel and the "naturals" section is nearly triple the previous size and the organics section in produce and meat has greatly expanded. Safeway, Food For Less, Albertsons and other chain groceries also have small natural foods sections.

WEST of the Cascades, in the Willamette and Rogue Valleys, the farmer's markets run from late winter to late fall, some run longer or have indoor winter markets. In Medford/ Ashland, our markets open up the first week of March and close end of November.

Public transportation is spotty. The Portland area has light rail, streetcars, buses. The Willamette Valley has an Amtrak with multiple daily trips from Eugene to Seattle with multiple stops along the way. There is also a single daily Amtrak from Los Angeles to Vancouver, British Columbia.

I am not familiar with the bus routes in Salem or Eugene, but I suspect others can fill that in. In Medford and Ashland the buses are extremely limited routes with short service hours.

The larger the city, the more jobs. The Portland metro area is, by far, our largest city, with more than half the state's population. The next largest metro area is less than 1/5 Portland's size (Salem) and it starts dropping off fast after that.

[dr.garbanzo]

Awesome, thanks for the tips about food options. There are some names there that I wouldn't have known to look for, and it's great to hear about local farmer's markets.

As for jobs, I'm more concerned about finding the right place. It's those 16 hours a day when I'm not at work that are the most important to me

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by dr.garbanzo

As for jobs, I'm more concerned about finding the right place. It's those 16 hours a day when I'm not at work that are the most important to me

I have always believed in working to live, rather than living to work (ie: I have never wanted my job to be the most important thing in my life) but available jobs and breadth of employment diversity (number and types of companies) drop off sharply as you leave the Portland metro area. Use one of the on-line job search sites and see what you can find that looks interesting, and I will bet that the jobs that look most interesting will be somewhere within and hour or two of Portland.

[Bees46]

Eugene. It's the right size, meets all your needs for food and outdoor activities and has good public transportation for a city its size. Salem might work too.

[boulder2015]

Originally Posted by dr.garbanzo

Awesome, thanks for the tips about food options. There are some names there that I wouldn't have known to look for, and it's great to hear about local farmer's markets.

As for jobs, I'm more concerned about finding the right place. It's those 16 hours a day when I'm not at work that are the most important to me

Hear you on that, but OR is not the kind of place where you can deprioritize jobs in a home search unless you are rich or retired. But i really think corvallis/albany (close to 100k between them) or eugene are the only places that really fit what you are looking for. They should have some work in your fields, lots of outdoor options nearby, and are liberal areas. Salem has its pluses, as well, but is more conservative. Also, just to be clear, albany is more conservative than corvallis, but they provide the combined services that a 100k city would have. For example, albany has a target and corv doesnt. Corv has all the health food options youd need. Also typically has one of the states strongest economies.

If i were you, id focus on corvallis, then eugene, then salem. After those, a fourth option that meets most of your needs doesnt really exist. Medford/ashland area would come closest, then bend. Both are far from coast.

[dr.garbanzo]

Been looking at Eugene, it sounds like our kind of place. I work at a university now, which could help with the job search. We'll check out Corvallis and Salem too.

I have no expectations of finding the perfect job right away. When we moved to Boulder from Budapest it took me two months to land a job as a groundskeeper that paid just enough to get by. Six months later I found a better job with a bigger employer, and within a year I was managing 90 people and earning a comfortable salary. Patience, persistence, and flexibility all pay off in the end.

As for my wife, while she has a background in accounting, she's even more flexible than I am.

We don't plan to move for another year or two - I need to finish paying off that PhD that I'm not using before we make any big changes. In the meantime, we'll take some trips to OR and poke around. Probably during the winter so we can really see the state in all its glory

[boulder2015]

A few other points:

1. The coast has nothing that fits. Largest towns are around 30k with very little work in your fields. You can MAYBE get away with a "home first, job second" philosophy in the Willamette (and even that is marginal)... your odds get much worse on the coast.

2. Heavy snow barely exists in most of oregon other than high elevation.

3. Corvallis has walkability and amazing bus system which is FREE. Yes, free. However, if you are planning to live without a car, you will miss out on the best nature aspects. Some people go carless, but rent for the day when they want to go to coast or Cascades.

[boulder2015]

Originally Posted by dr.garbanzo

Been looking at Eugene, it sounds like our kind of place. I work at a university now, which could help with the job search. We'll check out Corvallis and Salem too.

I have no expectations of finding the perfect job right away. When we moved to Boulder from Budapest it took me two months to land a job as a groundskeeper that paid just enough to get by. Six months later I found a better job with a bigger employer, and within a year I was managing 90 people and earning a comfortable salary. Patience, persistence, and flexibility all pay off in the end.

As for my wife, while she has a background in accounting, she's even more flexible than I am.

We don't plan to move for another year or two - I need to finish paying off that PhD that I'm not using before we make any big changes. In the meantime, we'll take some trips to OR and poke around. Probably during the winter so we can really see the state in all its glory

Corv also has a university, as does salem (willamette univ).

Also, while i appreciate your gumption, most of OR is NOT comparable, to Boulder/Denver, which have unemployment rates typically around 1-2 percent. It is a state that was delayed in its development for decades by a lack of quality roads, is squashed between economic powerhouses of WA and CA, has no large ocean ports, bad national school rankings, very few corporate headquarters, a history of long term unemployment crises, many regions that are dependent on turbulent resource extraction market fluctuations, among many other issues. Also lots of nepotism, which is mostly just oregonians taking care of their own, as historically no one else has.

Portland and the state have a hot hand going right now, but that can change in a heartbeat, and any longterm oregonian knows this. I5 is littered with the souls of folks who moved there with similar attitudes to yours, and found their physical forms returning home with their tails betwen their economic legs. I have known many personally. Dont be a statistic. Job first, then home.

Any oregonian on this board will agree with me, and likely chime in as they see this thread