Thinking of moving to Portland, a few questions

[Drfiresign]

I'm also looking to move from albuquerque to portland come may. I grew up in santa fe and am nearly done with my 5th year at UNM and can't wait to get out of this state. I'm so tired of its drunken buffoonery with the DUI's and the fact that my neighborhood has turned into the Bronx as of late. Everything shuts down at nearly dusk and I'm not really a huge fan of any of the bars around town, I'm also not much of a party goer, but I love to go to concerts. I also love to see movies, but with only one independent theatre here [mod edit - 10 post to link off site] I'm usually SOL. Big fan of the outdoors, one reason I want to see Portland, and I love riding my bike (I don't like cars) and Albuquerque is a tough city to do that in. Not the outdoors part, the bike bit.

Also wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of finding a job in Portland related to tv/film/design etc. I'm hoping at working my way towards becoming a film editor and anywhere that I can begin that path in Portland would be incredibly helpful!

[seain dublin]

The problem with Portland is too many people want to live there and there aren't enough jobs.

We lived there for two years and liked it enough.

People are very courteous but a hard place to really get know people, I think OP's wife would have a tough time getting a bartending job.

Your an outsider and people tend to hang on to jobs like that in Portland.

I also think you're too harsh on Albuquerque...no culture????...it is southwestern culture...but there is culture.

How about Santa Fe?

Neither the OP or his wife have any careers that are going to find them work in Portland. If one of you maybe were an RN or something in the medical field, but you really would need a lot of money behind you to live off of.

[carpenterant]

Drfiresign - film/tv/design will be a very, very tough market to crack.

As far as Portland's outdoors - Portland is a very green city, as in there are a lot of trees and city parks. We have a wonderful and huge forested park right in the middle of town for jogging and hiking. But for real wilderness you have to drive far, far out of town. Portland is surrounded by miles of sprawling suburbs and then by miles of farmland. So if by outdoors you mean living in a walkable/bikeridable city, yes, Portland is that. But if you hope to get out into the wilderness frequently that requires a lot more effort and a car.