Thinking of relocating...Oregon or Arizona? (Portland: sales, transfer, buy)

[harrishawke]

Bella Swan had to make this same decision...

[psichick]

Originally Posted by harrishawke

Bella Swan had to make this same decision...

OMG, LMAO! Well, she did end up in St. Helens.

[Luckystrike1]

Originally Posted by AndyAMG

Hands down Arizona.

I moved from Portland Oregon to Tucson, Arizona last year.

It's absolutely perfect from November to May. It gets hot in May and stays 90+ all the way to November, but every year is variable. My family loves the monsoon season, giant thunderstorms with crazy lightning storms. It's awesome to sit on your porch and watch the rain poor of the roof. It goes from 100 degrees to 80 degrees and it feels fantastic and it smells fantastic. I wear you can see the plants turn from yellow to green and hour after a good storm.

You can buy a good newer house with a pool for under 200k in Arizona, that's not possible in Oregon.

I paid 5k a year for taxes in Oregon, a similar priced home in Tucson is much bigger and I pay less than 3k a year in taxes.

Job, depends on your industry. I can't really give you advice on jobs if I don't know your industry. Just look on Craigslist for your industry for all of the cities you are interested. Generally, Oregon's job market is much better. Phoenix's job market is better than Tucson.

Scenery, I feel that Arizona actually has very impressive scenery compared to Portland. Mount Hood is beautiful, but with out Oregon looks like Vermont or North Carolina. Washington has the big granite peaks with glaciers, Oregon has mainly stratovolcanos and lower rolling hills. But the gorge is amazing.. well it was, until a Rusky kid burned it down. I was so depressed about how bad it looks. I had some hope it wasn't too bad, but its bad.

I was just in Oregon last week visiting family and I don't really miss it mainly because of the weather and the traffic. I do miss the beach, but I can go to San Diego or LA or Ensenada or Puerto Penasco for a long weekend and I think man this is way better than the Oregon coast. You can actually go in the water without your skin turning red.

THIS! I just finished a 2-wk road-trip there, and it's an awesome state all-around. We were shocked at how much lower the COL is, and while Phoenix in particular has lots of traffic at least the traffic MOVES. Sedona was the only place that was so crowded with tourists, with nowhere to park, that we just kept going.

I would love to move to AZ if I could only get my Oregonian spouse on board with it.

[NW4me]

I plan to live in Oregon, and visit S Arizona (in the winter) and Colorado (in the summer).

[West2South]

If you're politically Progressive move to Portland and pay for your political sentiments.

If you're not a radical Progressive, move to Arizona. Scottsdale is spectacular and extremely affordable for being a world class tourist and vacation destination. Prescott has amazing weather and property values. I was never bothered by politics in Arizona, I am now in Portland and the political climate is dire. I have a homeless encampment behind my million dollar home full of dirty adult diapers, pee bottles, syringes and passed out bodies. and the police will not do a thing about it. Our mayor supports radical politics and will not protect or defend people unless they are radicals like him. Hatred is tangible in the streets. if you aren't constantly virtue signaling and making sure everyone knows that you hate our President, you will be at best shunned at worst assaulted in the streets. I am not exaggerating, all of this is true. But some people seem to like this, so it all depends on your preferences.

Portland is best for transients drug addicts, SJWs and criminals. If you live here you will be supporting them quite substantially both monetarily and socially, so take that into account, along with the ever increasing cost of housing to people who pay their own way before deciding. Also, consider the color of your skin, because that is a major issue here in Portland. White is out, even though the vast majority of people are white but they wear BLM t-shirts and put signs on their lawns to make sure everyone knows they hate themselves.

[oregon911]

Most people don't realize that roughly 2/3 of Oregon is actually desert area. Not all of Oregon is green and rainy.

[oregon911]

Originally Posted by West2South

Portland is best for transients drug addicts, SJWs and criminals.

Is that why you moved here? Why do trump cultists always move to liberal cities and then whine all day about why other people where they moved aren't part of their hateful cult?

[oregon911]

Originally Posted by DKM

Driving in Tucson is heaven compared to Portland.

Driving ANYWHERE is heaven compared to Portland.

[psichick]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

Neither of these things is true for all of Oregon. Most of the coast, the Willamette Valley and, to a lesser extent, the Rogue Valley, are damp and cool in the winter. But the precip amounts vary between 90" all the way down to 18", so not all of Western Oregon is extremely wet. The precip falls mainly in the winter, so some form of irrigation has to be used for landscaping and crops through almost all of Oregon.

The OP had specified Portland/Vancouver, Salem, or Astoria, so I was commenting on that; not the entire state of Oregon. What I stated is true for the first two; not sure about Astoria; just know it's typically colder/wetter than Portland.

[MDCB]

Some good points made - I think it would be more helpful to compare states vs. cities/areas.

I have lived in Tucson - 3 years about 5 years ago and currently live in Portland.
I am not well versed in Phoenix but know it fairly well.

Phoenix/Tucson/AZ vs. Portland/OR

- Portland is a much bigger city with a more diverse economy than Tucson in my opinion - so perhaps job opportunities may be a bit better in Portland (I am not sure about that though - but current unemployment rate lower in Portland). Phoenix is much bigger in size and population than Portland.
Tucson in comparison to these two big cities is mostly a college town.

- I find the scenery in both places to be stunning! But I prefer OR. (I think WA tops OR in scenery)
OR: The coast line is incredible, the mountains, the water/waterfalls, trails, volcanoes, etc. Crater lake, Mt. Hood, the eastern desert etc.
AZ: the impressive Sonoran desert is beautiful, monsoons, saguaros, wineries (believe it or not)area all wonderful in Tucson. But northern AZ including Sedona, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon (I know this is in Utah) really shines! Beautiful places. Though I mention waterfalls in OR, the most beautiful and unique waterfall experience I had was Havasu Falls in AZ!

- Climate - I don't have much to add other than what has already been mentioned. Incredibly hot and dry in the summers (at least 5 months) in Phoenix and Tucson and damp, cloudy and grey in Portland (again at leat 5 months). I would definitely call the weather in general in Portland to be much more MILD than Phoenix/Tucson

- Affordability/Housing/COL - Arizona hands down is a cheaper place to live and has cheaper housing options.


Overall, I think you are comparing very large states and vastly different areas. For example, Tucson and Phoenix are very different. Portland and Astoria are even more different.
One is a coastal state and the other is not.
Another topic that I will not comment on is the culture in these areas too - political, diversity, etc.

Hope that helps.

Noticed that the OP posted 4 months ago - wonder if he/she has moved by now?