Are Washington & Oregon really that different? (Portland, Salem: sales, credit)

[WestGuest]

Yes I know WA has no income tax and OR no sales tax. I looked all through both for a nice summer place on acreage and finally found some in Skamokawa WA - 40 miles West of Longview. I can see Oregon across the river.


Aside from the aforementioned , what are the real differences? WA has a somewhat better economy. Seattle and Portland are both expensive and have too much traffic. Next to the Cathlamet - Skamokawa area - I found Coos Bay nice, scenic and affordable.


Wouldnt the Western halves of Oregon and Washington have more in common with themselves than Eastern WA and Oregon?



Is there any cultural difference?

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by WestGuest

Yes I know WA has no income tax and OR no sales tax. I looked all through both for a nice summer place on acreage and finally found some in Skamokawa WA - 40 miles West of Longview. I can see Oregon across the river.

Aside from the aforementioned , what are the real differences? WA has a somewhat better economy. Seattle and Portland are both expensive and have too much traffic. Next to the Cathlamet - Skamokawa area - I found Coos Bay nice, scenic and affordable.

Wouldnt the Western halves of Oregon and Washington have more in common with themselves than Eastern WA and Oregon?

Is there any cultural difference?

I guess it depends on the level of granularity one is considering as well as types of differences. Most agree that Portland, as a city, is uniquely different (keepin' it weird) from other Oregon cities in terms of the overall cultural. Compare it just to Salem right next door and they are different. A friend of mine who grew up in Salem chose to raise his family in Portland because Salem is too sleepy for him even those his parents are there. But if you compare the weather they basically the same. Politics varies a lot also outside the larger cities. Then, in many of the smaller towns there are significant economic differences with some that have depressed economies due to lack of old industries on the decline (timber, fishing). Weather is quite a bit different east to west side of the cascades. So the criteria and granularity really changes the answer. Even within the greater Portland area, there can be stark differences - suburbs vs. downtown, etc...

Derek

[leastprime]

Yes, very different.
Western (Urban) Washington is very different from Western (Urban and Valley) Oregon.
Eastern parts of these states are very different than their west of the Cascades parts.
East of Cascades Wa is also very different from eastern Or.

If you named one thing, the other would be different in the other state.
try it.

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by WestGuest

Yes I know WA has no income tax and OR no sales tax. I looked all through both for a nice summer place on acreage and finally found some in Skamokawa WA - 40 miles West of Longview. I can see Oregon across the river.


Aside from the aforementioned , what are the real differences? WA has a somewhat better economy. Seattle and Portland are both expensive and have too much traffic. Next to the Cathlamet - Skamokawa area - I found Coos Bay nice, scenic and affordable.


Wouldnt the Western halves of Oregon and Washington have more in common with themselves than Eastern WA and Oregon?


Is there any cultural difference?

A native Californian here. I've visited Oregon and Washington, and they culturally seemed very similar to Northern California. Portland and Seattle feel just like Sacramento and San Francisco, culturally. I would even say that culturally, the Seattle suburbs remind me of some inland Southern California suburbs.

The Western U.S., unfortunately, has the least native identity, least native cultural variation within the region as opposed to the South, Northeast, and Midwest. Most of the cultural variation within the Western U.S. is ethnic and socioeconomic, not regional.

[pnwguy2]

Originally Posted by leastprime

Yes, very different.
Western (Urban) Washington is very different from Western (Urban and Valley) Oregon.
Eastern parts of these states are very different than their west of the Cascades parts.
East of Cascades Wa is also very different from eastern Or.

If you named one thing, the other would be different in the other state.
try it.

To expand on that, there are many similarities and many differences. But to the OP's question, the answer is generally No.

One of the biggest differences is where the population lives in each State. While both are focused on the west side, Washington has multiple populated markets on the East side, (Spokane, Tri-Cities, Yakima, Wenatchee), while Oregon really has only one (Bend).

The other difference, IMO, is Washington has more major employers than Oregon. Thus, a population that has almost doubled Oregon's, and perhaps creating a much larger metro area comparison when looking at Seattle vs. Portland. While both metros continue to grow, the growth in the Seattle/Tacoma msa has been explosive. The Seattle skyline is now huge, Portland is somewhat stagnant.

This is not to say one is better than the other. Some prefer less population density, some prefer more of an urban setting.

And, agreed, the Oregon Coast is about 5X better than the Washington Coast!

[texasdiver]

I've spent most of my life living in either OR or WA so have thought about this question some. Yes, they are quite a bit more different than they appear.

1. Washington is a military state, Oregon is not. Washington has a major Army base, two major Air Force bases, and a whole bunch of Navy bases. That makes WA 6th in the Nation in terms of active duty military with about 70,000 active duty personnel and another 90,000 military dependents. Oregon basically has none of that and hasn't had an active duty military base since WW2. That gives WA a more conservative flavor in some ways.

2. Western Washington's cities are saltwater maritime port cities with major ports and maritime industries in Tacoma, Seattle, and Bellingham. Portland has some of that on the Columbia but it doesn't really feel like a maritime city at all compared to Seattle where you see ships and maritime industries everywhere. Oregon's saltwater ports are tiny and insignificant by comparison (Newport, Astoria, Coos Bay etc.)

3. Oregon has far nicer beaches and beach towns. Much of the outer coast of Western WA is inaccessible or Indian reservation lands and the shorelines of Puget Sound are mostly (95% or more) in private hands. You can't own the beach in OR but you can in WA and the public shoreline access points in Puget Sound are pretty few and far between.

4. WA has higher and more spectacular mountains. Aside from a half dozen or so volcanoes, most of Oregon's cascades are pretty low. There is nothing in OR like Washington's North Cascades which looks more like the Alps.

5. WA is the gateway to Alaska and has been since the Klondike Gold Rush days so that gives it a different flavor from OR. Most of the Alaska fishing industry is based out of Seattle, for example.

6. WA has actual cities in the eastern half of the state, due mainly to the greater access to water with the Columbia and other rivers. OR is dry and arid and has no real cities east of Bend (which is in the western half of the state). WA has Spokane and the Tri-Cities and all the central WA agricultural zone from Yakima to Chelan which doesn't really exist in OR.

[pnwguy2]

Agreed and I missed the military difference. Spot on there. Credit the late great Senator Henry Jackson for a lot of that. A democratic hawk, something that rarely exists today.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

Agreed and I missed the military difference. Spot on there. Credit the late great Senator Henry Jackson for a lot of that. A democratic hawk, something that rarely exists today.

Yes, I noticed that as well with lots of friends in the military. For the west coast, Oregon is like a big black hole when it comes to military bases and overall presence compared with CA and WA. In fact, of states with least military presence, I would think Oregon is close the top. I'm not sure why. But its an interesting difference.

Derek

[leastprime]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Yes, I noticed that as well with lots of friends in the military. For the west coast, Oregon is like a big black hole when it comes to military bases and overall presence compared with CA and WA. In fact, of states with least military presence, I would think Oregon is close the top. I'm not sure why. But its an interesting difference.

Derek

Puget Sound is huge and deep. Near a the Border.
Depoe Bay is small and shallow. Middle of nowhere. Oregon's Bays and estuaries are only good for clams. The Navy is not going to put a PT Boat Floatilla on the Oregon Coast. The most advanced military facility was at Camp Adair and Mt Hebo Radar Station (SAGE) and they were closed down after just a few months of operation.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Depoe Bay is not the only bay on the Oregon coast.


It does have a small Coast Guard station BTW:
(nice little photo to see how small it actually is)
https://www.pacificarea.uscg.mil/Por...-15-151551-157



Here is some Oregon info to educate the lesser informed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Bays_of_Oregon

For the west coast, Oregon is like a big black hole when it comes to military bases and overall presence compared with CA and WA.

And, I am sure most Oregonians prefer it that way!