Young Professional Living in NYC Looking to Move to Portland (Burns: where to stay, sales)

[Plasticbags]

Hi there,

Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance for your response.

I am 26 year old, single, male; currently living in NYC working for a large investment bank doing Fixed Income trading. (sounds like a tinder bio, but it's not).

I have been in NYC for 2 years now and I love the city and everything it has to offer. Job opportunities are plentiful, diversity of people is huge and there is a lot of entertainment.

However this comes with a cost, for 1 the city is ridiculously expensive as you already guessed it. Sure, there are jobs and good paying ones, but with my rent, utilities and expenses I almost break even at the end of the month. For example I pay for a 1 bedroom apartment, where I get 0 sunlight, pay $2,700 a month, that does not include utilities that can be as high as $200.

So without boring you too much about my life, my main questions are:

1. What are the best areas for young professional adults to live in Portland? (25 - 35).

2. I have read people talking about not finding jobs or seeing a lack of them in Portland. How difficult was finding a job or do you see job growth in Portland?

3. Is there a good night scene to meet people? After all I am single and this will one way or another be important at one point.

4. I booked a flight to go next month, but I haven't decided where to stay. Do you recommend staying in downtown? I honestly prefer staying somewhere less touristic to get the real taste of what it is like living in Portland. Its like if I came to visit NYC and only went to Times Square or other touristic places. Any suggestions on this?

Again, thanks a lot in advance. I have never asked anything on any forum before so hopefully everything was well asked on my end.

Regards

[texasdiver]

Portland doesn't really have any overly-touristed neighborhoods like New York's Times Square, San Francisco's Fisherman's Terminal, or Seattle's Pike Place Market. There are individual businesses to avoid like Voodoo Donuts. But not whole neighborhoods.

I was once young and single and living in Portland just like you but that was a generation ago. I'd say your go-to neighborhoods would be:

The NW Portland area centered around Nw 21st and NW 23rd Avenues.
The Pearl District (north of Burnside, east of I-405).
Inner NE and SE (the large area across the river from downtown and east of say Cesar Chavez (39th Ave) and between say Broadway to the north and Powell to the South. Broadway, Glisan, Burnside, Belmont, Hawthorne, and Division Streets have the most interesting street life and collections of shops and restaurants.

There are at least a dozen more interesting cool neighborhoods full of 20-30 something professionals. But those three areas are most central and probably where you'd want to start, assuming you want an urban walkable sort of lifestyle and dense concentrations of young people like you have in NYC.

Of course plenty of young professional types also choose to live in more outlying suruban areas where they can afford to buy houses and live a car-centric lifestyle. Entirely depends on the lifestyle you are looking for.

If I was single and 26 and looking to experience Portland, I'd look for an AirB&B in NW Portland or the Pearl. Second choice would be somewhere in inner-SE Portland (west of 39th Ave).

[Nell Plotts]

There are lots to neighborhoods that would meet the needs of a young single person. First, you need to find a job that fits your professional goals.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

There are lots to neighborhoods that would meet the needs of a young single person. First, you need to find a job that fits your professional goals.

That's going to be your toughest issue. Because there's not a lot of call for bond traders in Portland. At least not that I'm aware of.

On the other hand, I just had dinner this past weekend with one of my wife's colleagues and her husband who works at Fisher Investments in Camas WA (right across the river from Portland). Apparently they are currently doing a lot of expansion and hiring. He said their HR people are doing lots of trolling on LinkedIn to try to find people to poach from other firms. From your brief background it sounds like you would be a viable candidate. So if you are serious about moving to Portland to work in investment banking, Fisher Investments would be one place to investigate for sure. It would be an easy 20-25 min commute from many of the cooler young neighborhoods in SE and NE Portland because 95% of the commuter traffic is going the other direction. Or you could just live in Camas and walk/bike to work.

[Nell Plotts]

Excellent lead. Unlike many Portland metro employers, this firm has a number of offices which would give you the opportunity for promotion. They may be recruiting for the high cost of living communities in California so be aware.

The only reason for choosing to live in an east side neighborhood is to avoid using a bridge to cross the Willamette River. However, you will pay Oregon income tax if you live in Oregon even if you work in the State of Washington. Were I you I would look at my earnings as 'investable', do you want to invest it in a commute, rent, and taxes or something that might grow in value. Camas rentals are much cheaper than trendy Portland. Washington has no income tax

There is a reason why Fischer Investments has chosen Camas as it's headquarters. Every orthopedic surgeon I have met in Portland Metro lives in Clark County, WA.

[Plasticbags]

Hey!!

Thanks a lot for your responses Nell and Texasdiver, I would definitely search in Linkedin and Fisher Investments website to see if there are any opportunities available. I agree, the job security is the determining factor if I will end up in Oregon of course.

About living in Camas is certainly a possibility; I have heard Oregon has one of the highest income taxes in the USA. So I could imagine the money you could save from living in Camas while shopping with no sales tax in Oregon. I assume thats what a lot of people do.

Thanks a lot again, this was really helpful.

Cheers

[nestvine]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

However, you will pay Oregon income tax if you live in Oregon even if you work in the State of Washington. Were I you I would look at my earnings as 'investable', do you want to invest it in a commute, rent, and taxes or something that might grow in value. Camas rentals are much cheaper than trendy Portland. Washington has no income tax

There is a reason why Fischer Investments has chosen Camas as it's headquarters. Every orthopedic surgeon I have met in Portland Metro lives in Clark County, WA.

I always struggle with the income tax in Oregon. I currently live in Camas and work remote and make a decent living, but would much rather live in the city. It is worth the income tax? This is a question I constantly ask myself.

[cornsnicker3]

Originally Posted by nestvine

I always struggle with the income tax in Oregon. I currently live in Camas and work remote and make a decent living, but would much rather live in the city. It is worth the income tax? This is a question I constantly ask myself.

Consider some other ulterior benefits such as no ad valorem taxes on cars, cheaper registration (and for 2 years), cheaper gas taxes, easier access to the no sales tax you currently have, federal taxes being deductible on state taxes, Oregon 529 deduction, and state level itemizing if you applicable. All said and done, it more than likely will cost you a tad more depending on your income and spending habits. I think if you want to live in the city, taxes should be a somewhat minor reason to stay away.

[texasdiver]

We live in Camas. But then I work in Camas, my wife works in Vancouver, and our kids go to school in Camas. So living in Portland would be ridiculous for us.

If you are trying to minimize taxes then it is really going to come down to your total income as to whether it is worth the bother.

If you make 50K per year then the tax advantages of living and working in WA are going to be minimal compared to OR because the sales tax and higher auto taxes/fees are going to eat up whatever you save by not paying OR income taxes.

If you make 250K per year then your tax savings from living and WORKING in WA are going to be considerable. But only if you are living and working in WA. If you are working in OR then you pay OR income tax regardless of where you actually live.

Personally I'd live wherever I worked. Work in OR? Live in OR. Work in WA? Live in WA. Anything else is a recipe for commuter hell. Although the commute to Portland for work is much worse than the commute from Portland to jobs in Vancouver/Camas because most of the traffic is going that way.

[Plasticbags]

You know... I had a similar issue when I moved to NYC. Not in regards to taxes but the cost of living in Brooklyn vs Manhattan., so I decided to live in Brooklyn in the beginning so I could save more money.

I realized in the end that my 2 hour daily commute, friends living far away, events and networking opportunities I missed were not worth it. Sure, I am now paying more money but I now enjoy being part of the city, going to events and meeting people. Also the 8 minute commute to work is something hard to give up.

Speaking of ad valorem taxes on cars... I meant to ask, I don't really have intentions of owning a car after living in NYC where the subway takes you from point a to point b which is all I need. Could I rely on public transportation in Portland?