Possibly moving to Portland area.

Any advice from you long term Oregon residents would be great. I work for a GC down in California and they have opened an office in Portland. I have the option to go there if I want, with a small pay adjustment. My wife works from home so we can live anywhere I can find good work. I am a superintendent so I wont being doing actual physical work, but is the winter pretty bad?
I have been looking a little outside of Portland at Lake Oswego and West Linn. Commute times don't look too bad, from 15-30 minutes each way. I would prefer to be more West of Portland with land but with 2 small kids the schools in LO and West Linn are so much better. Any feedback on living in those areas?
I have been a big off road dirt bike rider for ever and Tilamook has great riding. Mt Hood is close by for some snow fun. My kid is into soccer and I know Portland is a good area for soccer.

What are the drawbacks? Homeless? Traffic getting bad? Politics? Seems like a nice place to live since I like outdoors. Not sure about the rain since I am born and raised in CA with not a lot of rain days.

 

It’s awesome here for outdoor interests.
The weather can be rough. We’ve had one of the wettest springs on record. Everything is really green, but it has meant more grey days. That can be a tough adjustment if you’re used to a lot of sunshine.
Housing is pricey and competitive. And it’ll likely be more expensive in LO and west linn. Will be interesting to see what happens to that with current interest rates.
Those are nice areas. Probably some good schools in Beaverton too.
Traffic can be real rough depending on your route and timing. Those areas to downtown will likely be 30 minutes or more.

 

Thanks for the replay. I will check out the Beaverton area as well. Thinking of taking the family up for a long weekend to see how we like the area. The weather is definitely my biggest concern. What I read is the rain usually early in the morning and then it clears up. Is that true, or is it a long wet winter with no sunshine? We would have a decent amount of equity from our home here to put down if we do make the move.

 

Before you make that move be aware... Portland (and Seattle) have changed for the worst.
edit: I've lived in both Beaverton and Seattle... they both get wet but the scenery is worth it.

 

I have family in Medford and Portland.

My cousin decided to drive up to Portland during the protests to show his solidarity, or something.

They smashed all of the windows in his Ranger, slashed his tires, and stole both of his downhill bikes.

My wife’s family used to own a Chinese restaurant in Portland. They closed down after homeless would just come in and sit down and refuse to leave and someone would smash their windows every few weeks.

Like San Francisco, which is 35 minutes from where I live, it’s gone downhill precipitously over the last few years and it seems to be getting worse.

It you just mean the Portland area, it’s actually pretty nice. Wet, but not cold like Seattle and British Columbia. Just avoid the city, unless you don’t have a choice. Then get a really crappy car and prepare to have it broken into all the time.

 

Appreciate all the info guys, thanks. Yes I meant Portland area, not actual downtown Portland. I currently live in San Bruno, 20 minutes from SF and I might go into SF once a year. I might have to do some jobs in Portland since I work for a big GC, but I doubt I would ever go there with the family. Going in for work I would be in my company truck, so its insured and covered just like when I have had to work in SF.

I am aware of the Portland issues and have no interest in getting into politics. Wish they would clean up SF and Portland.

 

I've lived in Portland for 11 years now (with a brief change of climate in Santa Fe for a year) and yes some of what people have said in here is true but it's not the whole truth. I've never had my car broken into, home invaded or crackhead rob me at knife point. I have had a bike stolen (I left the garage open one morning), found needles on the street and had to deal with waking up homeless to clear out from in front of my office but I feel like you'll likely deal with that in any urban area. I certainly have a love/dislike relationship with Portland but it is a pretty amazing place and my neighborhood is filled with community minded folks that look out for each other.

Shoot me a PM if want more neighborhood/area info, I've lived in several different parts of town.

 

Depending on which part of town you are in Portland is great. There are areas that are less than desirable.

I just moved out of SE Portland (to SW) where I DID have 3 different vehicles broken into and my wife’s vehicle stolen.

 

I currently live in a historic district about 5 miles North and East of Downtown and back in the neighborhood I grew up in. I keep my office Downtown and go to the office everyday and that included during the entire 2020 "lockdown" period. I lived in West Linn for 12 years and my kids went through the schools there. Living in West Linn or alternatively the neighboring burg of Lake Oswego, your kids will experience very little of the perils of a city that went from the medium sized town I grew up into the 25th largest MSA with a population of 2.5 million and the problems that come with that. Yes. Traffic is a real issue and there are some very specific bottlenecks, but West Linn and Lake Oswego residents have choices, options and outlets for routes when conditions are worse than typical. Beaverton, Hillsboro and Vancouver residents have less arterials to choose from to traverse the megalopolis. With that that said, there are zones in Hillsboro and Beaverton that I would be happy to live in. Do not live in Vancouver if you work in Portland. Where I5 crosses into the state of WA is one of the worst traffic bottlenecks on the West Coast. Soccer? Oh dam to they lover soccer and lacrosse here. I've seen Californians move here and find the living easy in comparison and never leave. I've seen Californians move here, experience extreme culture shock and leave after a short stint. I've found that it all depends on the transition for the wife and how she reacts to a new city and being separated from her support system. I have no guidance on how you will react and respond to environmental factors. April though the 3rd week of October here is very darn nice. People that make a plan to get a break from it survive the other 5 months better than the ones that don't. And then there's the winter sports people who thrive on it. What is true is that the common areas along main interstate from the airport into town is under continuous attack from graffiti. It gets painted over and it snaps back immediately. You will at some point drive down a road or turn a corner and witness dilapidated RVs, tents and garbage. It's a bummer to witness and although it gets cleared up, it's temporary and moves to another patch of land only to return. It doesn't seem to really be getting any better. You will experience no more of it living in suburban Portland than living in suburban California. If possible, I'd recommend you visit with your spouse without the distraction of children. Good luck to you.

 

TSF is cool but Jones Creek up by Camas is closer and has even better riding (albeit less mileage). There’s about 25 miles of one way singletrack that is very nicely maintained by a club.

This just isn’t true. We frequently don’t see the sun for days, sometimes a week or two at a time in winter. It doesn’t clear up every afternoon. We’ll get a sunny afternoon or day here and there in the winter but it’s not a daily occurrence.

The silver lining is that if it’s grey and wet in town that usually means snow on the mountain. I LOVE winter here but I’d probably have a very different opinion if I wasn’t a skier getting up to the mountain 2-3 days per week.

We also get to enjoy one of the longest ski seasons in the country. This is from yesterday:

I’m sorry but parking his truck downtown during the protests was just a dumb idea and isn’t really a fair representation of the city.

 

The fact that they let that happen, and keep happening, is a fair representation of Portland… and SF.

 

Nope. It is not a fair representation of a city with 2.5 million people in it, that would be a gross over simplification and a very narrow view on the city as a whole. Policies and laws aside, Portland or any place for that matter is not defined by just one thing or even a hundred things.

 

if you are coming from the Bay Area then yea it’s going to be bad. There will be less daylight (since you will be further north), it will be colder than you are used to, and it rains a lot. Imagine days and days of rain. You don’t even want to go outside. Once you get used to living without the rain and then you come back to it, it’s awful.

Income taxes- probably about the same between Oregon and California.

Cost of living- probably slightly cheaper in Oregon (but not by much)

Job market and job opportunities- Bay Area way better

Politics- not too different than California

Outdoor / nature- about equal. Everyone thinks California is a big city, but you can drive 30 minutes and be alone in the mountains.

Unless you enjoy the rain or just want to try something else, I’m not seeing how such a move pencils out.

 

It’s a Tacoma forum, so:

National forests and parks, snow sports, surf sports, high and alkaline deserts, waterfalls, mighty rivers, volcanoes.

Portland has top tier food, and is not the shithole that people (mostly those who don’t even reside here == low cred.) make it out to be; though it has major issues (mostly non-resident violent cops, and a broken form of city government).
— 24 year resident

 

Portlands like the main bad thing about oregon