Honest Opinion of Portland (real estate, apartment, low crime)

[HeadWest]

My wife and I are planning to relocate to the NW. Right now we're in the process of job hunting both in Portland and Seattle. We're looking for social science oriented jobs so research, etc. Anyway we had a chance to visit seattle and form an opinion, but portland seems a little harder to access.

Please keep in mind that we are coming from Kansas City (we lived in Providence, RI before that), which is as many may know one of the highest crime cities in the country. This is what is confusing us. We felt 100% safe in Seattle and the crime there is significantly lower than in K.C. But when I read some comments people act as though Portland is a scene out of 'Escape from New York' or something but when I've run the crime numbers they are lower in many ways than Seattle and certainly lower than where we've lived in the past.

I guess we're just trying to get the best view of the city from people who live there.

Are people nice? or combative?

What's the organics situation?

Can my wife commute to work and back on bus without being concerned about being raped or robbed? (frankly she can't in the city we currently live in)

How is the food?

Are there social activities?

basically all that. Just trying to understand, sorry if any of the questions are too blunt.

[roneb]

I've been guilty of knocking Portland - too big, too much traffic, etc. But I'm coming from a small town mentality. That's why I'm interested in moving. If I had to choose a large city in the U.S., Portland would definitely be it.

Coming from where you're at, Portland is probably ideal. People are generally nice, though suburban areas don't feel as "genuine" to me as my experiences in the upper midwest. Organics will be no problem. Lots of progressive food store chains, farmers market, etc. Buses and light rail have the occassional incoherent homeless person, but I've never felt unsafe and my daughter takes public transit to her high school downtown. Restaurants are good, though on our family budget we don't get out often (ever?).

One thing to be aware of. The fall/winter/spring is very gray and wet. Other posts will say this is overblown and not really that bad, but if you thrive in the sun you will notice it.

Hope this helps.

[oldtintype]

You have to read these boards with a grain of salt. There are many on here who come only to say negative things--true or otherwise. Portland is not a dangerous place. There are some "bad" neighborhoods just like anywhere else, but that's not the norm. It's a very safe place. It's smaller than Seattle, so a little less hectic, but still has a great food, art, music scene, lots to do, great outdoors activities and is the green capital of the US. Organics are huge. The New York Times has done some great articles on the food scene in Portland recently that you should google.

I live downtown, am female and take public transport everywhere. Other than a few obnoxious idiots (i.e. loud or rude people), public transport is fine. I feel completely safe here. I walk all over and have never had a problem.

[little peg]

Originally Posted by HeadWest

My wife and I are planning to relocate to the NW. Right now we're in the process of job hunting both in Portland and Seattle. We're looking for social science oriented jobs so research, etc. Anyway we had a chance to visit seattle and form an opinion, but portland seems a little harder to access.

Please keep in mind that we are coming from Kansas City (we lived in Providence, RI before that), which is as many may know one of the highest crime cities in the country. This is what is confusing us. We felt 100% safe in Seattle and the crime there is significantly lower than in K.C. But when I read some comments people act as though Portland is a scene out of 'Escape from New York' or something but when I've run the crime numbers they are lower in many ways than Seattle and certainly lower than where we've lived in the past.

I guess we're just trying to get the best view of the city from people who live there.

Are people nice? or combative?

What's the organics situation?

Can my wife commute to work and back on bus without being concerned about being raped or robbed? (frankly she can't in the city we currently live in)

How is the food?

Are there social activities?

basically all that. Just trying to understand, sorry if any of the questions are too blunt.

the deal breaker for me after a lifetime was the increasing cost of living with most employment salary not keeping up with the pace, also too much over governing, just too much change for me. Crime, with more people moving in that of course will increase, stay out of SE Portland. good luck

[oldtintype]

Stay out of SE Portland? Isn't that a stretch? Apart from Lents and some OUTER SE neighborhoods SE is mostly great or fine. There are some higher than average statistics for car break ins in Belmont and Hawthorne but SE is a big place. Sellwood is bad? Ladd's Addition? Mt. Tabor? It's the commentary writing off entire parts of the city for no valid reason that confuses people coming to this board.

[HeadWest]

I appreciate the replies! Some I'm getting the vibe that gentrification is putting pressure on the city...? speaking of neighborhoods... we're looking for probably a 1br or 2br apartment and the 800 range... does that seem realistic for safety sake? noise-sake? for two bus-riding people's sake?

thank you again. I am appreciating the responses.

[argo69]

You will have no problem finding a 1-bedroom for $800 in a decent part of town. You would have to live farther out to find a decent 2-bedroom though.

As others have noted, you always have to keep in mind where someone else is coming from when they post comments. For someone moving to Portland from LA/NYC/SF the housing costs are "a bargain" and "cheap", but for people moving from the vast numbers of smaller scale cities in the U.S., the prices will seem "too high". The weather in Portland will be extremely gloomy for someone used to 300 clear days a year but "mild" for someone from Chicago or Boston. It's all relative...

I think on average the people of Portland are some of the nicest anywhere...I get the feeling that many people genuinely feel they are living in one of the best places!

[old_boy]

My wife and I moved to Portland from Kansas City last March. For us, Portland feels much safer than KC. We live in Southwest Portland and our neighborhood feels extremely safe. We have friends who live in Sellwood-Moreland and the Mt. Tabor area in Southeast and they feel extremely safe. My sister-in-law moved out here (also from KC) and found a one-bedroom apartment in a very safe area on the west side for about $600 per month. She's on a frequent bus line that connects to a transit center so she can get about anywhere fairly efficiently... which is good since she doesn't own a car. We paid a lot more for our house here than we did for our house in Kansas City, but that's partly because we were living in a lower-priced part of KC. There you have more control over how much you need to spend... here, the real estate in general is quite a bit higher across the board so you have less control. People say it costs less on the east side than on the west side, but we didn't find that to be true based on the type of house and neighborhood we were looking for. There is crime in Portland, but there is far less violent crime than in KC. We also thought Seattle was a cool city, but Portland, for us, is a lot more livable and easier to settle in to. People have been very friendly for the most part. Frankly, we think Portland is an amazingly cool place... an interesting city where sustainability is a genuine focus, surrounded by some of the most spectacular natural environments we've ever seen... we've become avid hikers and love the mountains, streams, forests and coast. We've not felt any regret with our decision to move here.

[RxMarcus]

OP,

Here is the best advice I can give. Listen to what oldintype has to say and read this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200...ortlandusa.usa (broken link)

Both will give you a pretty accurate view of Portland, which is kind of like two cities in one. On one hand you have the more progressive types that want Portland to be a larger, more metropolitian city with excellent transit options. The other city is the bohemian one, that wants thrift shops galore and still dresses in 1990's grunge. This is a surprisingly strong element of the city, and I have never experienced a similar vibe in any other city.

But most everything that you have heard regarding the public transit, the beauty, the accessibility/walkability, the excellent restaurants, the Japanese and Rose Gardens (beautiful...seriously!!), etc (which is why you should listen to oldintype).

Edit: I am no Portland expert and have only visited the city once, about a month ago, for 5 days. I feel as though I got a pretty good handle on the city (and it wasa very busy 5 days), but you may take my opinions with a grain of salt.

[Leisesturm]

Yes, definitely what Oldintype (and Dr. Welby) said. There is crime and there is crime. I wouldn't have figured Providence, RI for a high crime city but neither would I have figured St. Louis, MO for a high crime city, but it is, parts of it anyway. And thats the crux, isn't it? My parents live in Cape Coral, FL. It sometimes gets lumped in with Ft. Myers in the crime statistics. I've been to Cape Coral and it is an amazingly lovely and peaceful place if you like that kind of thing, but lets be truthful, the same can't be said of downtown Ft. Myers(!) but they probably share a Zip Code. The vast majority of violent crimes are perpetrated against people that are in a particular lifestyle or in abusive domestic arrangements. In most places in this country people are safe in their homes. Its when you are not safe, even in your home that you need to think that you are in a really, really bad city (or bad part of it). NYC used to be a very, very dangerous place. In certain neighborhoods, violent crime was a possibility even for average citizens not involved in drugs or abusive relationships indoors or out. After several years away, I have returned to NYC and find it much, much safer. The mentality is still there that it is terribly dangerous to be out after 9:00pm but I have found myself out much later than that and make it in ok everytime (knock wood). Still, I want to get out. Portland has high rape statistics but 90% will be date and domestic rapes. Not that that is a good thing but taken as a whole and against the rest of the country the West Coast in general and the PNW in particular have some of the mellowest people going. Isolated cities in the Northeast have better crime stats but you would have to deal with snowfall past your eyeballs in the winter. Isolated parts of cities in the Southeast will also have very low crime but you will be dealing with brutal summers and a definite 'Red State' mentality. All in all, my money is on Portland for you and your wife. Good luck.