Possibly moving to Albany / Corvallis from Reno (Portland, Eugene: affordable apartments, rent) - Salem - Oregon (OR) - City-Data Forum

RenoViking · 02-02-2018, 08:44 PM

So, we need to fix one of the worst decisions we have ever made, and get away from this hell hole. Wisconsin, and Oregon are at the top of the list to escape to, and since Oregon is closer, we are leaning a little more towards there. We have lived in Portland, and Vancouver, so we know about the weather, and are looking forward to being in that climate again honestly (seriously long story why we moved, mainly concerning my wifes health). I am a bit hesitant though for a few reasons, and I hope I can get some info from someone here.

1. Schools. We lived in Portland when the public school system took a serious dive. I remember hearing that it was equated to a 3rd world country at one point. What worries me is that Nevadas public schools are rated #40 in the U.S., and Oregon scores lower. I have an 11 year old that has a mild learning disability, and the public school system here sucks, and failed us miserably (nothing really changed since I was a kid either). I don't really want to move to an area where he will have just as many problems in school.

2. Cost of living, affordable apartments, etc. We don't want to go back to Portland, Vancouver, because of how expensive everything is now, and I'm worried things will remain out of control.

3. Blue collar job market. I have no real discernible skills, just a hard worker, and about 30 years of working in warehouses, and just about every aspect of warehousing that goes along with it.

4. Healthcare. My wife loves Kaiser, and I know there are Kaiser clinics near Salem. How are they up there, and does anyone know how well they handle severe diabetic patients, with several complications of diabetes.

mamh · 02-02-2018, 10:11 PM

The Kaiser clinics and hospitals are the best for any kind of medical issue one has..Not sure if they go as far south as Eugene but from Salem north they are all over the place..Give Salem a good look , Winco foods always signs up for warehouse workers..Good luck with you search.

karlsch · 02-02-2018, 11:55 PM

There are some large distribution centers in that general area. If I remember correctly:

Lowes in Lebanon.

True Value Hardware in Springfield.

Do It Best Hardware in Woodburn.

Out of the area, Walmart in Hermiston.

Silverfall · 02-03-2018, 11:06 AM

Salem has the FedEx, Home Depot, Frito Lay, and soon to come Amazon Distribution Center (being built as we speak). There is a Winco distribution center closer to Woodburn as well. We have lots of warehouse workplaces here.

My kids go to Sprague HS and I've been generally happy with the teachers. They were in Schirle, Crossler, and Sprague. I've only had a couple of dud teachers in that time. Most were good to exceptional. So Salem Keizer has struggled to hire special ed teachers so they decided to pay for teachers within the district to get their special ed degrees to fill out massive void. Those teachers started this fall. So our district struggles with special ed services like many parts of the country because there aren't enough special ed teachers to go around.

So, we will have more in about a year and a half.

Hawk J · 02-03-2018, 11:08 AM

My friend was working at Cabela's in Springfield, Oregon.....

https://www.yelp.com/biz/cabelas-springfield-3

NW4me · 02-03-2018, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RenoViking

So, we need to fix one of the worst decisions we have ever made, and get away from this hell hole. Wisconsin, and Oregon are at the top of the list to escape to, and since Oregon is closer, we are leaning a little more towards there. We have lived in Portland, and Vancouver, so we know about the weather, and are looking forward to being in that climate again honestly (seriously long story why we moved, mainly concerning my wifes health). I am a bit hesitant though for a few reasons, and I hope I can get some info from someone here.

1. Schools. We lived in Portland when the public school system took a serious dive. I remember hearing that it was equated to a 3rd world country at one point. What worries me is that Nevadas public schools are rated #40 in the U.S., and Oregon scores lower. I have an 11 year old that has a mild learning disability, and the public school system here sucks, and failed us miserably (nothing really changed since I was a kid either). I don't really want to move to an area where he will have just as many problems in school.

2. Cost of living, affordable apartments, etc. We don't want to go back to Portland, Vancouver, because of how expensive everything is now, and I'm worried things will remain out of control.

3. Blue collar job market. I have no real discernible skills, just a hard worker, and about 30 years of working in warehouses, and just about every aspect of warehousing that goes along with it.

4. Healthcare. My wife loves Kaiser, and I know there are Kaiser clinics near Salem. How are they up there, and does anyone know how well they handle severe diabetic patients, with several complications of diabetes.

Just curious, what was so awful about Reno? Mainly the school system, or other things too?

RenoViking · 02-03-2018, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW4me

Just curious, what was so awful about Reno? Mainly the school system, or other things too?

Reno is one of those places that either you love it, or hate it (you can probably guess which camp I belong in). It is also a bit of a "boom or bust" town, and we are in the middle of a boom. I was raised here, and moved to Seattle when I was 20 in '92. After spending many years in the PNW, I realized that I really miss trees, and water. The problem with Reno, is that it's high desert, so barren landscape is common all around. It takes about an hour drive in any direction to get to a decent lake with trees around, including Lake Tahoe, but the roads are so crowded up there it isn't much fun either. Property value and rent has skyrocketed in the area due to Tesla moving in town (landlords served "no fault" eviction notices to tenants to get them out and double rent). Schools are crap for the most part, some areas are better than others, but still suck. Just about every social program is on a 2 to 4 year waiting list because of the amount of people in the system. Healthcare is a bit lacking as well. What is here is ok, but for the difficult cases they send you to Sacramento, or Vegas.

FullArmor · 02-06-2018, 06:28 PM

While I personally dislike living in Salem, I would recommend it over Albany or Corvallis. Yes, the Lowe's distribution center is close to Albany, but the pay is awful. Home Depot distribution center here pays almost $2 more an hour to start. If you want to drive for FedEx Ground it's not difficult to get in and the better contractors pay $650+ a week (long hours). Food Services Of America is in Woodburn and pays around $18 an hour to start if you don't mind overnights. Best pay for that type of work you'll find IMO. There are more options for blue-collar work with better pay here. My personal outlook against Salem is a bit skewed because I moved here from Hillsboro, which I love, miss and plan on moving back to. Salem just doesn't stack up, but the cost of living is much higher.

I hope this helps, and wish you the best of luck with your decision.

Silverfall · 02-06-2018, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FullArmor

My personal outlook against Salem is a bit skewed because I moved here from Hillsboro, which I love, miss and plan on moving back to. Salem just doesn't stack up, but the cost of living is much higher.

I hope this helps, and wish you the best of luck with your decision.

I used to live in the West Hills of Portland, gosh 20 years ago now. I used to think Hillsboro had such potential that wasn't being used well. We lived out in Tanasbourne before we moved to a house in the West Hills. We used to ride our bikes out to The Roadhouse, which was in the middle of nowhere at that time, for burgers and beer.

Every time I go up there now, I'm always amazed at how that city has turned itself around. I sold some condos in Orenco Station when it first went in and thought they did a nice job with that developed area. Intel totally changed the dynamic of Hillsboro and really pulled that city up from where it used to be 20 years ago.

RenoViking · 02-07-2018, 10:53 AM

I used to work in Hillsboro, and lived in NE Portland. That was 11 years ago, and traffic was horrendous then, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like now. Also, too close to Portland for my taste, I can't do big city anymore.

Nobody has chimed in about schools though (looking at middle, and/or high schools). Good, bad or *meh*? The ranking for public schools in Oregon rank in the low 40's. I know its a generalized system, and certain areas bring the score down. So there are decent schools, and not so decent.