Moving to Portland or Seattle later this summer (Beaverton, Hillsboro: transplants, house)

[nondescriptivenickname]

I’m looking to move sometime in August. I’ve done some research and am trying to come to my decision. I’ve come to the experts for opinions. ☺

My situation:
- Late 20s, single, no kids
- I work in computer infrastructure, primarily with storage and OS/virtualization (Microsoft) and make in the neighborhood of 80-100k/year at my current job (I end up with various amounts of bonus pay yearly)
- I do have a Master’s Degree (IS)
- I’ll be coming into town on a fresh 6 month contract with my employer, so I have at least that long to telecommute and then find something new, maybe longer.
- I currently live in SLC
- I have a small amount of family in Portland, none in Seattle.

What I’m looking for:
- Job market where in 6 months I won’t find myself becoming unemployed for an extremely lengthy period or taking a 50% pay cut to salvage work.
- Larger city in a more walkable neighborhood
- Dog friendly
- Milder winter and summer (I am sick of super smoggy sub zero winters with hazy 105 degree summers)
- Friendly people where it won’t be near impossible to get a new circle of friends.

As I see it, Seattle would probably take the lead for future work due to the size of the city and tech industry presence. Some quick research seems to indicate that there is growth in Portland, but there is also a pretty big backlash considering a relatively small tech presence.

It seems I might have more walkable neighborhood choices in Seattle, but either would be fine, and both are dog friendly cities. Prices look a bit higher for the more popular neighborhoods of Seattle and as stated above, for at least 6 months, I’m already employed with a fixed income regardless.

Temps look close, as does weather. Portland might be a bit less cloudy and rainy, but if I were against either, neither city would be acceptable choices.

People could be a deciding factor. I’ve done research on the “Seattle Freeze” and similar with Portland, reading people writing on it existing or not and that it might really be more of a East coast/West coast mentality thing. Having some family in Portland has me thinking Portland has the lead here as it gives me at least an “in” to make some friends.

So, what say you? Am I missing anything big or characterizing either city inaccurately? I've been given some recommendations on neighborhoods by people I know in Portland, which mostly boil down to the Pearl District, Downtown, 21st and 23rd, Hawthorne District, and Alberta/Mississippi. Any other good walkable areas that would make sense for my demographic?

Right now I’m leaning toward Portland just because it might be easier to assimilate and housing seems a tad more affordable, so I’ll just post this in the Portland forum for now. It might also be worth mentioning, over the years I've probably spent around a month or two in and around Portland, and a week in Seattle (various times of year for both), so I'm not going in having never spent time in either.

[topaz420]

From what I understand the tech sector of Portland area is actually Beaverton/Hillsboro areas, so you'd probably be faced with the choice of either living in the tech sector outside of Portland proper, or commuting

[Nell Plotts]

The OP would be commuting in Seattle as well. There are tech jobs in downtown Portland. Which would be better? No telling.

I don't think there is a significant difference in the 'culture' of Portland and Seattle metro areas. I happen to hate driving in Seattle and am of the opinion that public transit isn't as practical in Seattle as Portland (I have lived in both communities).

Do a job search and when a finalist for a position determine if you would be happy with the community and the employer.

[nondescriptivenickname]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

The OP would be commuting in Seattle as well. There are tech jobs in downtown Portland. Which would be better? No telling.

I don't think there is a significant difference in the 'culture' of Portland and Seattle metro areas. I happen to hate driving in Seattle and am of the opinion that public transit isn't as practical in Seattle as Portland (I have lived in both communities).

Do a job search and when a finalist for a position determine if you would be happy with the community and the employer.

Interesting. I'd assume that there are jobs downtown in either case, but it sounds like perhaps the majority of jobs in the tech industry may require a commute both in Portland and Seattle. It's a bit of a bummer really, but I'm not sure to what extent that matters, since we're moving into a hypothetical that may be hard to predict. Given the advise I've just received, I suppose an additional piece of information should probably be given from me.

Basically, I'd be moving under a contract which would be designed to create a pretty large incentive to stay with the company I currently work for through the beginning of next year, and I already feel some loyalty to my manager for allowing this in the first place so I feel it safe to state that it will be a given that I wouldn't pick a location based on an existing job offer (the contract also creates a disincentive for my employer to let me go before that time).

That said, I am open to looking at large overall disparities between the job markets, and things like an average commute time difference being much larger in one city over the other, especially if that statistic is industry specific.

If I were moving based on a job offer, in a way I'd have an easier choice in front of me, but I found what I was able to put together to be pretty damn nice in it's own way, so I won't sweat it. Thanks for the advice so far.

[Nell Plotts]

Microsoft is located in Redmond, WA on the other side of Lake Washington from Seattle. Seattle metro traffic is severely impacted by the presence of waterways and often truly awful throughout their metro area.

Because MS is located in Redmond most of their employees seek housing east of Lake Washington. For that reason it is easier to recruit tech employees if the employer is located around Redmond.

Portland metro software tech jobs are more disbursed, hardware tech (read Intel) is concentrated to the west of Portland around Hillsboro (Siltronic has a plant in NW Portland but doesn't have much visibility).

If you need to drive to work from/through Portland's core area to Hillsboro or use I-217 traffic will be heavy for several miles. Our commutes are constrained by bridges and the Tualitan Hills. However if you can use our light rail, the MAX, it is a breeze.

In Portland the general advice is to live on the same side of the river (Willamette or Columbia) as your job. The commute from NE & SE sections of the city to downtown isn't horrendous, although the parking will be.

You can control your commute in either city by living in the vicinity of your job.

[nondescriptivenickname]

Thanks, Nell, but again, for at least 6 months (maybe longer) my job is telecommute and while I'm fine looking at future prospects in both cities, I'd prefer not to have the whole thread turn into that alone. I think it can be summed up by saying that sadly, I agree it looks like in general the types of neighborhoods that I'd most like to live in are not the best for at least my line of work, but I might find a one-off hiring nearby when the time comes, or I might have a 30 minute+ commute, perhaps much worse in Seattle.

Since there isn't a whole lot else being said, I'm going to assume that my general points weren't far off base, and I'm going to delve more into neighborhood research on those which match my requirements in both Portland and possibly Seattle.

Thanks again for the advice.

[nondescriptivenickname]

Just an update: I've been in Portland for a bit over 9 months. Moved to the alphabet district (around Couch park) and generally enjoy it. The people in the building are friendly, I got a dog and love taking lots of walks around the neighborhood, and the weather has been, if anything, hotter and drier than to my tastes (though I guess it's just one of those years).

Job-wise, it's been a non-issue. Still telecommuting for the same company, probably will be for a while, but I have gotten a lot of pings on linkedin and the like with people interested; I'm simply not looking at the moment. Next step for me is to look at purchasing a house. I've really liked living in NW Portland, but I'm starting to dislike how aggressive homeless people can be in the park and other more public areas, and most people I've met live in SW, more around Multnomah, or NE, so I end up having to drive a lot anyway to see friends.

Overall, I like it here, and will probably just move to a different area of the city in the upcoming moths. I wish other people luck in their moving adventures.

[BaseLineRoad]

I'm always interested to hear how everything works out for transplants. Thanks for the update!

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by nondescriptivenickname

Just an update: I've been in Portland for a bit over 9 months. Moved to the alphabet district (around Couch park) and generally enjoy it. The people in the building are friendly, I got a dog and love taking lots of walks around the neighborhood, and the weather has been, if anything, hotter and drier than to my tastes (though I guess it's just one of those years).

Job-wise, it's been a non-issue. Still telecommuting for the same company, probably will be for a while, but I have gotten a lot of pings on linkedin and the like with people interested; I'm simply not looking at the moment. Next step for me is to look at purchasing a house. I've really liked living in NW Portland, but I'm starting to dislike how aggressive homeless people can be in the park and other more public areas, and most people I've met live in SW, more around Multnomah, or NE, so I end up having to drive a lot anyway to see friends.

Overall, I like it here, and will probably just move to a different area of the city in the upcoming moths. I wish other people luck in their moving adventures.

I was just reading your original post and was getting ready to suggest Seattle for you. Wrong, I was. It's nice to hear that Portland is working out for you. Good luck with house hunting.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by nondescriptivenickname

Just an update: I've been in Portland for a bit over 9 months. Moved to the alphabet district (around Couch park) and generally enjoy it. The people in the building are friendly, I got a dog and love taking lots of walks around the neighborhood, and the weather has been, if anything, hotter and drier than to my tastes (though I guess it's just one of those years).

Job-wise, it's been a non-issue. Still telecommuting for the same company, probably will be for a while, but I have gotten a lot of pings on linkedin and the like with people interested; I'm simply not looking at the moment. Next step for me is to look at purchasing a house. I've really liked living in NW Portland, but I'm starting to dislike how aggressive homeless people can be in the park and other more public areas, and most people I've met live in SW, more around Multnomah, or NE, so I end up having to drive a lot anyway to see friends.

Overall, I like it here, and will probably just move to a different area of the city in the upcoming moths. I wish other people luck in their moving adventures.

Northwest Portland is always a good first move for transplants. From there you get to learn what you really like and don't like and can go from there. Hope things keep working out for you here, it sounds like things are going good so far.