Which is better to live in, Salem OR or Vancouver WA? (Roseburg: shop, car)

[NW4me]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

We have a serious doc shortage here. I knew VA is recruiting though as we have been chatting with some of the potential new docs.

Silverfall, by "here" do you mean the VA in Salem, or all of Salem, or the whole Willamette Valley?

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by NW4me

Silverfall, by "here" do you mean the VA in Salem, or all of Salem, or the whole Willamette Valley?

All of Salem metro. Kaiser Permanente is recruiting like crazy too. We are growing so fast that health services can't keep up. I don't work in Albany or Corvallis so I can't speak to whether or not they are short on health care providers.

[NW4me]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

All of Salem metro. Kaiser Permanente is recruiting like crazy too. We are growing so fast that health services can't keep up. I don't work in Albany or Corvallis so I can't speak to whether or not they are short on health care providers.

Interesting... I didn't know Salem was growing rapidly. Overflow from Portland?

[DKM]

Originally Posted by NW4me

Interesting... I didn't know Salem was growing rapidly. Overflow from Portland?

Salem itself is a pretty decent place to live and it doesn't surprise me at all that its growing. Some people like it being "normal" compared to Portland.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by NW4me

Interesting... I didn't know Salem was growing rapidly. Overflow from Portland?

We are getting Portland, Seattle and CA (mostly Bay area) escapees. They are tired of big city, traffic, etc but want a city that has decent amenities. Salem has a solid hospital, good restaurants, good coffee shops, 8 breweries, 25 vineyards, 1300+ acres of city park, 65 miles of walking trails, etc so it meets the needs of daily lifestyles.

So it is a combination of Salem improving and making a strong effort to have a good downtown and people trying to escape larger metros. Salem is growing (projected) by 2% a year whereas Vancouver, WA is growing (projected) by about 1% a year.

Not everyone wants to live in a large metro.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by NW4me

Interesting... I didn't know Salem was growing rapidly. Overflow from Portland?

A lot of Portland residents are having to flee the homeless takeover.
Encountered more off that yesterday.

No easy solution, for a complex (and growing) problem. Some US cities are trying to do it right, some countries have done it right! https://www.usich.gov/communities-th...-homelessness/

Salem has some homeless too, but has not 'embraced' them as Portland does (so... makes it easier for them to be accepted and find resources in Portland.)

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I had a lot of friends that lived in Salem and commuted back and forth to Portland for work.
It's a hour away so it's doable.

Nowadays, just about all of them either moved back to Portland or found employment around Salem.

The reason being is all the "Portland Escapees" increased I5 traffic so much that commute time can more than double during peak hours.

It is simply amazing how many people have moved to Oregon in the last 10 years.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

I had a lot of friends that lived in Salem and commuted back and forth to Portland for work.
It's a hour away so it's doable.

Nowadays, just about all of them either moved back to Portland or found employment around Salem.

The reason being is all the "Portland Escapees" increased I5 traffic so much that commute time can more than double during peak hours.

It is simply amazing how many people have moved to Oregon in the last 10 years.

Yeah traffic is nuts for commuters. It isn't worth it cost wise. I find that people do that too. They think they can handle commuting and they can't. I would never do that commute on a regular basis. Ugh.

[StealthRabbit]

I had (3) coworkers in Camas, WA who commuted daily from Salem and (3) did so from Corvallis to Camas, WA.

Everyone has their own reasons. But with the tax and r=transportation costs and risks of driving... I always suggest a bikeable commute. Walking is even better (less risk, no fenders (rain-gear) required.


I spent a lot of time commuting to Singapore and Japan for 30 yrs, sometimes 2 - 3x / month.

But when traffic / driving is concerned... I prefer to work nights, and commute when traffic is light.

Daylight hours are for farming (or outdoor fun), not for driving or working in an office / school / factory / library... (any place equipped with lighting).

I was SO happy when I could commute to Asia in the dark (17 hr direct flight, depart USA 10PM and arrive Asia at 7am (2 days later) and go directly to work).

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

I had (3) coworkers in Camas, WA who commuted daily from Salem and (3) did so from Corvallis to Camas, WA.

Everyone has their own reasons. But with the tax and r=transportation costs and risks of driving... I always suggest a bikeable commute. Walking is even better (less risk, no fenders (rain-gear) required.


I spent a lot of time commuting to Singapore and Japan for 30 yrs, sometimes 2 - 3x / month.

But when traffic / driving is concerned... I prefer to work nights, and commute when traffic is light.

Daylight hours are for farming (or outdoor fun), not for driving or working in an office / school / factory / library... (any place equipped with lighting).

I was SO happy when I could commute to Asia in the dark (17 hr direct flight, depart USA 10PM and arrive Asia at 7am (2 days later) and go directly to work).

When you poke around you hear about some truly insane commutes around here. For example, I have an acquaintance who lives in the rural hills outside Eugene and commutes to the Freightliner factory in north Portland 4-times a week for long shifts. His dad had a lot of rural land and built houses for each of his kids on their compound so it's basically a family and lifestyle thing and so he just sucks up the commute rather than moving his family to the Portland area.

But that's nothing unique to the Portland area. When I lived and worked in Seattle I had one co-worker who commuted from Bellingham and another from Port Orchard. When we lived in Waco TX we had some neighbors who commuted to Austin and others who commuted to Dallas in the other direction. When I lived and worked in Washington DC I had co-workers who commuted in from West Virginia. Some of the most insane commutes these days are in the Bay Area which makes Portland seem traffic-free by comparison.

That said, most people end up with these sorts of commutes by circumstance. I see no reason to design your life like this on purpose from the start when you are moving to a new area. There are plenty of nice places to live all throughout the greater Portland area. There's no reason not to live closer to your work. There is nothing more soul-sucking than a long car commute. Much worse than say a commuter train commute like they have from CT to NYC where you can sit there in your nice comfortable train car and read/work on your laptop or iPad or socialize in the bar car.