Questions about Portland

DH and I are considering moving and are considering Portland as a possible city to move to, and we'd love to hear what you guys think about the city, the surrounding areas and the people who live there. Any general or specific opinions are welcome.

We'd like to know if the people are genuine and if they are open to friendships. Are they welcoming to outsiders, more than just on a surface level? We'd also like to know about the business culture (are people direct, or passive/aggressive, or something else entirely?). What do you think of the cost of living? Also, we'd like to know if Portland is as rainy/cloudy as Seattle or if it gets a lot of sun, and we'd like to know what the seasons are like. And anything else you think we should know :)

Thanks in advance!

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Originally Posted by Flur

DH and I are considering moving and are considering Portland as a possible city to move to, and we'd love to hear what you guys think about the city, the surrounding areas and the people who live there. Any general or specific opinions are welcome.

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I love, love, loooove Portland! I've lived here about 10 years now and I wouldn't live anywhere else. (I've lived in/spent significant time in San Diego, LA, San Fran, Seattle, Cincy, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta). I'm a city girl and like living close in. I work just east of downtown and live 4 miles directly north, so I can ride to work every day.

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Originally Posted by Flur

We'd like to know if the people are genuine and if they are open to friendships. Are they welcoming to outsiders, more than just on a surface level? We'd also like to know about the business culture (are people direct, or passive/aggressive, or something else entirely?). What do you think of the cost of living? Also, we'd like to know if Portland is as rainy/cloudy as Seattle or if it gets a lot of sun, and we'd like to know what the seasons are like. And anything else you think we should know :)

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People here are very open and accepting, I've found. Most people I know here are not from here, so you'll be in good company. Business culture is a little small-town-ish. It can be hard to find a job here if you're not already here. We only have a handful of mega-employers (and only 1 Fortune 500 company based in all of Oregon), so it is a lot of small and medium sized businesses. Cost of living is average? Less than CA and Seattle, more than Boise. Really can depend on whether you live close in (higher cost) or in the burbs. If you live in the OR burbs, there is decent mass transit to get around, so that can make a nice trade off.

I seem to remember reading that, technically, Portland gets like 100 more days of sun than Seattle, but I think 5 mins of sun must count ;). Summer is nice, not humid, only a few days >90. Winter is usually not too cold, with only a few days of snow and ice (but still lots of rain). Spring is rain every day. Fall is usually nice with the rain coming in at the end.

Other things you should know - very green here. It's beautiful. We have great parks - Forest Park being one of my favs. Obviously, bikes are big here. No sales tax! Downsides - lots of homeless teens here, not sure why. Portland schools are pretty hit and miss, so if you have kids, Vancouver (WA, a suburb of Portland) might be an option to consider. High property and income taxes (see no sales tax, above :) )

Anyone else care to extoll the virtues of Portland?

Oh, I love Portland. I love visiting that city and it is a place where I would love to stay for an extended period, say a few weeks or even months.

I have found people to be quite friendly, and I love the cycling culture. I also love the microbrews :cool: although my favourite is from Bend (Deschutes - but they have a nice pub in the Pearl now...). Nice spots for running, too, and it's true that Forest Park is gorgeous.

I've spent only a few days there so far (perhaps a week total) and I felt just like home (in Vancouver, BC). If you are used to a place like, say, Florida, it might not be your thing. But coming from the East originally I love the PNW climate: no scorching heat in the summer, lots of green, and generally only gentle rain, only rare storms, which I find provide sort of a laid-back climate. (And great backdrop for a beer at the pub with a few friends.... of course!) No hard colds in the winter, but if you want to go skiing it's not too far away.

And there is Powell's, possibly the world's biggest independent bookstore. Need I say more?

Grog's right. We have the beer. Portland has the books. There are gorgeous mountains to be ridden in between.

Life is tough.

Cost of living: overall is cheaper in PDX than Seattle or SF. Property taxes range from insane to reasonable (we pay $2500 a year for a newer house on 0.2 acres). Income tax rate is 9%. No sales tax. As of yesterday, gas was about $4 per gallon in the area. Housing in PDX is reasonable compared to areas like Seattle and definitely compared to the Bay Area or So. Cal.

Rent is so-so. A three bedroom unit will cost you a bit ($1300+). The apartment companies have realized those are money makers and many of them won't quote you a price for rent until you are ready to sign a lease. Not sure about smaller places.

If you are looking to buy, McMansions with 0.14 square foot yards are common on the west side, as are townhouses. The north end is undergoing a renaissance (or massive gentrification, depending on your point of view). There are nice places to be had on the inner east side, but plan on spending some money.

Public transportation system: rocks. You can currently take light rail from the extreme west to the extreme east of the metro area for $2.05. Also from downtown to North Portland and the Airport. They are finishing up the tracks to run along I-205 on the East side. Should be done in a year or so. Lots of buses and most major lines run every 15 minutes. All of the above are accessible for bikes and the operators are very accustomed to it.

Bicycle Friendliness: Portland wins awards for bicycle friendliness and rightfully so. There has been a concerted effort to make cycling a viable option in Portland. Bikes are pretty common, particularly in the inner city. There are a few multi-use paths that become bicycle freeways during commuting hours. I'm not a huge fan of them because I prefer riding on the street, but I know this makes bike commuting viable for a lot of option. Drivers are pretty tolerant of cyclists most of the time but there is always the odd jerk. I've been riding bikes in the area since 1984 and I've never had a major run-in with a motorist.

The area is not particularly flat. Not super hilly but not really flat unless you go to the extreme west end. If you are thinking of living on the west or south side and have a fixie, I'd recommend against it.

Also, Portland has a velodrome with walls banked at 44 degrees. It's a kick in the pants.

Weather: Portland is similar to Seattle. However, it gets more rain per year (46 inches per year for PDX vs. 36 for seattle) but has fewer cloudy days because the marine influence isn't as severe. The reduced marine influence also means more hot days compared to seattle (at least a couple of 100+ days per year in PDX, temps over 85 to 90 are very rare in seattle). Humidity is typically in the 30-60% range. Thunderstorms are uncommon and tornadoes are exceedingly rare. You'll hear about a small funnel cloud from time to time in the valley but that's about it.

The rainy season officially runs from Oct. 1 to May 1. The rains generally start in the second week of October or so and when the rainy season starts/ends, it happens kind of sudden like (within a matter of days). 30 days straight with rain happens about every other year. 30 days straight without rain in the summer happens every few years.

Once in a while the arctic highs come screaming down the gorge in winter and you get several straight days of cold (20-30 degrees, not MN cold) windy days. Also, you get the occasional warm winter storm that can dump a couple of inches of rain in a day or so. Usually one or two a year. If these happen in that order (like in 1996), things get very messy.

People: I grew up in PDX (and am moving back this weekend) so I'm probably a little biased about the people. With that disclaimer, I'll say they tend to be pretty friendly.

People in business are pretty direct. Not quite in-your-face, but definitely not passive aggressive. The west end of town has a large IT sector. For some reason, Portland has a lot of knife manufacturers. Gerber, Leatherman, Columbia River Knife and Tool and Bench Made are all in the Portland area. Also, there is the garment industry. Nike, Columbia, Addidas. There are a few other companies of note. FLIR (IR cameras, etc), Nautilus, Chris King (headsets) and several larger civil engineering firms (CH2M Hill, David Evans and Associates) are in the area.

Schools: The Oregon Community college system is well-developed. There are several around the Portland area. Also, three larger private colleges (Lewis and Clark, Reed and University of Portland) and one public university downtown (Portland State). As mentioned above, public school system is hit or miss. You get what you get.

Good coffee and beer is a way of life. You can't swing a cat in Portland without hitting a decent coffee shop or pub. McMenamin's is a big local outfit with pubs scattered throughout the area. They range from strip mall pubs to a couple of restored establishments that have hotels, spas, etc. Good food and outstanding beer.

Traffic is so-so. People in the area seem to think it's awful, but since I've lived in the Bay Area and Seattle, they don't quite realize how good they have it.

We just moved here from NC in March and I have to agree with everything BiaK has said. Prior to NC, I lived in FL, PA, MA, ME, MI and WI, so I've seen a lot of the eastern half of this country. I was born in MN, but left there way too young to make a valid comparison to that state.

Of all the places I've lived, I would have to say that Portland is by far the most laid back and easily the friendliest. The people are open and genuine and so far, both my husband and I have been very impressed.

The cost of living is tough. Everyone here says "it's not bad" but then everyone here is comparing it to CA or Seattle. Compared to the rest of the country (outside of Boston or NYC, of course) it's not cheap. Coming here from NC was a bit of an adjustment for us. Gas is more expensive, income tax is tough...lucky for us, we bought in Washington County (the west side of Portland) and the property taxes are reasonable. Housing is considerably more expensive here than where we came from as well, but to be fair, Greensboro NC was pretty much dirt cheap and saw NO housing bubble to burst...so we knew it would be tough.

The natural parts of this state are spectacular. The wilderness, the farms, the coast...all absolutely beautiful. Even the city is gorgeous...and Mt Hood (and Mt St Helens, Mt Adams and Mt Ranier) on a clear day is truly breathtaking!

We have been living and working is what has been dubbed "silicon forest". I work for a semiconductor company, my husband works for a computer software company, and Intel has a HUGE presence here. There are many, many hi-tech companies here and this was part of the draw for us. We are both engineers...and the opportunities for employment are many in our field. On the flip side, I have a good friend here who is a teacher. She spent 4 years unemployed actively seeking work after she completed her master's. I think there is an overabundance of highly educated people here and this makes competition for jobs in some fields really tough (like teaching). She did stick it out for 4 years of barely scraping by because she loves living here so much. I feel like there is something very unique about this area (perhaps it's the whole PNW, I'm not sure)...but people seem to either love it here, or they hate it. If they hate it, they leave. There doesn't seem to be a lot of people who are unhappy here, stuck and constantly whining. I think that's refreshing.

The weather is interesting. Currently, it's gorgeous...cool temps, dry air... strong sun. Even if it breaks 100 during the day (we've seen this once this summer), it still drops off to the 50-60 range at night (unlike NC or FL...or even Boston in the summer). It rained til June this year and it was abnormally cold, so you have to be prepared for rain. Living west of the city, we saw many sun breaks each day this spring, but it also rained each day as well. Constant change. We have not lived through an entire winter yet, so I can't help you with that...but we are anticipating a lot of grey. My guess is that there won't be a whole lot of those crisp clear cold winter days that just invigorate one (if any at all!). I'm going to miss those, I think.

Anyway, so far, we really, really like this area. We are very happy that we chose to relocate here.

I think that if you do a search in this sub-forum on Portland, you should find the threads where I was asking for advice about moving here last Dec and Jan. A lot of locals posted some helpful information for me as well.

You know, you can make general statements about weather, jobs, housing, but people?
There are all kinds of people in Portland. My cousin is a Parole Officer for sex offenders there and believe me, they have plenty of creeps and lowlifes there just like anywhere else.
I have met lots of different kinds of folk in Portland, both good and bad.

Portland is both hotter and colder than Seattle, depending on the day. If you need lots of sunshine, you might not like Portland; although they have more sunny days than we do.


Boy in Kilt put it all pretty well actually

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

There are all kinds of people in Portland.

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Indeed...there absolutely are! And I do think that you can make general statements about the population of an area or city.

The variety of people was definitely one of the draws for us! We came from a place were if you didn't fit into one particular mold, you did fit in at all. It made it very hard to make friends and after 3.5 years there, the only people we were really close with were those we knew before we moved there or those who lived elsewhere in the state. There were neighborhoods & communities that could have jumped directly out of the 'Stepford Wives'. Honestly, it was freaky and as much as I tried to ignore it when we lived there, I couldn't.

Portland tends to be more accepting and significantly more diverse. There are stereotypes, but maybe because there is such incredible variety of people here...they don't seem as 'damaging' as they do in other areas (if that makes any sense)? One of the more popular bumper stickers here says "keep Portland weird" and I think many people here actually take pride in that.

Honestly, if you like homogenaity in your life, Portland is probably not for you! ;)

Thanks to everyone who responded. Portland sounds like a city where we'd be really happy. Now we just have to get the job thing sorted and we'll be ready to go!

Hi Flur and anyone else considering relocating to Portland, Oregon. My home is largely empty (unfurnished) as a consequence of recent divorce. If you and your significant other are looking for a room(s) to rent temporarily until you find something more suitable or long term, then please let me know. I am in South East Portland (close to SE 60th and Foster) and car-free.