Portland, OR

[Norco]

Oregon is THE state for outdoor enthusiasts, bar none. I've lived in the state for almost my whole life, from Eugene, to Corvallis, to Beaverton. The great thing is if you live near the Willamette Valley area, everything is a short trip away. Ocean, mountains, (be it skiing or biking/hiking), lakes for fishing, etc.

What people who live in CA or WA don't tell you is that a lot of residents from their states are snapping up our real estate, especially our resort town in central Oregon (Sunriver). People find that its "easier" to live in Oregon. You have clean air, clean water, less traffic, less people in general.

Its true that Oregon doesn't have the flash that some cities possess (night clubs in LA/Vegas, for example). But the state itself is a great place to raise a family. And we do have hot chicks, just perhaps not in the quantity some other cities possess. Here's a tidbit for you, Oregon is the only state to have more than one Miss Teen USA winners, in fact it has 3.

 

[alFR]

We visited both Seattle and Portland last summer. I liked both, but if I had to choose one to live in I'd go for Portland as I do a lot of outdoor stuff. Depends what you want, I guess.

 

[LumbermanSVO]

I was born and raised in Seattle. I've lived in Central Illinois, Tampa Bay and now Colorado Springs. Both Seattle, and Portland are absolutely beautiful places to be, if you can stand the wet hippie smell. If you like to go see any kind of live music you will be happy in both cities. You should be able to go catch a good show any night of the week. My biggest problem with Seattle was the cost of buying a house.

 

[NAG]

I like Portland over Seattle because there is more outdoors stuff to do and it isn't one huge city (Seattle basically spans the entire coast of the sound). Thats why I moved here.

Oh, and little note about raising kids here, the Oregon public schools suck compared to Washington.

 

[Roger1]

I've been to Oregon once. Landed at Portland, stayed at Eugene, Corvallis, and up on some mountain somewhere. They have those in Oregon, you know . LOVED it. Would love to live there. Came home, and was in a funk for weeks, because the wife didn't want to move out there.

Sigh. Guess I'll stay in Michigan (it's not a bad state either).

 

[Don't panic]

i have to side with the portlandites.

great place.
and i've been back there recently and there are a couple of areas in town that have gotten very lively.

it has to be one of the more liveable places in the states.

if you like basketball and outdoors its a plus.
if you are very conservative, mmm... not so much

 

[TEG]

Portland is only fun if your are over 21. There is an extensive transit network including light rail, busses, and a gondola (mistakenly named a tram). A very cool paid parking system (you buy a sticker for a period of time, then can park and move as many times as you want before the time runs out). Also, Oregon has no sales tax, it has a modest income tax, and if for any reason the state revenue is 2% more than budgeted, everyone gets their share back in what is called a kicker check. Portland proper is very liberal, however most of the rest of the state is very conservative (just like Seattle/Washington).

If you want to live in the city, your best bet in downtown. North Portland is slowly becoming gentrified, but otherwise it is a very poor neighborhood. North East and South East are a lot of older homes, commonly associated with high crime rates. North West is highly industrialized, and South West is high wealth.

To the west is an area called the Sillicon Forest which has a lot of Sillicon Valley companies, plus Intel. To the east is the Columbia Gorge where several companies have moved to balance the traffic, including two that make UAVs.

Vancouver, WA also has a lot of high tech companies, like Keocera. A bonus is that Washington has no income tax, and most people shop in Oregon.

Just remember that Portland is the 24th largest city in the US, but only has a major basketball team (that is scorned by most of the city), if you are into other sports, you may have to deal with non-major sports teams, or root for Seattle.

TEG

 

[kymac]

Portland is a really nice city. I grew up in seattle and lived in portland for the last eight years. portland is easier to get around, you have the ocean an hour away, the mountains an hour away its a really nice location. downtown is also really nice, clean, easy to get around, the max train (lightrail) is free throughout downtown. you have the pearl district with neat little shops and restaurants in an artsy part of town, pioneer square where theres lots of celebration and festivals, and twenty third street is also really popular with little restaurants and shops. portland has a lot of stereotypes and they're all made by people who have never ever been to portland. funny huh? yea it rains sometimes, big deal, its not as much as people assume. the summers are amazing here. everyone (for the most part) is really friendly. and you dont have to pay sales tax or pump your own gas [: i miss seattle sometimes, although i dont know how much i knew of it (i moved in fifth grade), but portland is a much more livable city i think. plus seattle is only two hours away.

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

Just remember that Portland is the 24th largest city in the US, but only has a major basketball team (that is scorned by most of the city)...

Scorned by most of the city? Not any more. The Blazers are the talk of the town, what with the thirteen-game winning streak in December, a possible playoff berth this year, and the probable return of Greg Oden next year. The Rose Garden has sold out many times this year and the average attendance for Blazers games this season is over 19,000. We've come a long way from the "Jail Blazers" era.

 

[TEG]

Scorned by most of the city? Not any more. The Blazers are the talk of the town, what with the thirteen-game winning streak in December, a possible playoff berth this year, and the probable return of Greg Oden next year. The Rose Garden has sold out many times this year and the average attendance for Blazers games this season is over 19,000. We've come a long way from the "Jail Blazers" era.

The only flaw in your logic is that most of the city never cared about Blazers in the first place and don't pay attention to "good news". Not to mention the Blazers 'perma-ban' status from national broadcasts. Last thing I heard about the Blazers was in December about Greg Oden. Nothing since, and all I get is Portland TV (except the CW because it is licensed to Salem, not Portland).

TEG

 

[NAG]

Yeah, I wasn't really paying attention to the Blazers.

I'll just add that the public transit is really great (mostly because there is no parking argh!)