Looking for a new place to call home

Hi Forum. I am fresh out of a graduate degree program in business and I am looking to relocate for better job opportunities. Before you tell me to stay put, I don%26#39;t have much of a network where I am and the ones I know have not been able to help. So I thought, why not try to live in city I am interested in and look for one there?

My list includes %26amp; this post will be triple posted on all 3 location forums (sorry):

Portland

Denver

Las Vegas

I know, all are very different. But what I am looking for is a place w/o the heat + humidity that comes with the SE, a very good recreational scene - hiking/camping/fishing, a good job market, fairly nice down-to-earth people %26amp; reasonable cost of liviing? Thanks for any and all insight.

I have been to Colorado for skiiing but I couldn%26#39;t really get an accurate impression of Denver (I was in and out). I have been to Vegas but most of my time was spent at the jack tables %26amp; I was there in March - 80 sunny - which is not necessarily accurate either.

Looking for a new place to call home

Hi Wildcat!

I grew up in Portland and worked there for several years before getting a job offer in Las Vegas. I haven%26#39;t lived in Portland for a while so I can%26#39;t comment on the current job situation but if I could find a job in PDX doing what I do with the same benfits and salary I%26#39;d relocate to Oregon in a second.

Oregon has so much more to offer in the way of recreational activities, especially the ones you mentioned. Portland is close enough to those things that you can do long weekends or just day treips. Not so here in Las Vegas. Everything is a good 3 to 6 hour drive away. And unless you%26#39;re heading to Southern California you%26#39;ll still be in the desert, but at a higher elevation.

And don%26#39;t even get me started on the weather! I%26#39;ll take Oregon rain and grey skies any day of the week. This past weekend the high was around 50 and the lows were anywhere from 32 to 36. We get some snow in January here on the valley floor. The windy season is is March and April...and it blows very, very hard!! Summer starts around mid-April and lasts until mid-October. The hottest months are July and August. While we only get about a week or two straight of the 115 to 120 days there%26#39;s usually not a breeze to be had. My husband works graveyard and there were times where the temperature was still over 100 degrees at 2 am.

Also keep in mind that July and August is our monsoon season (honest, that%26#39;s what we call it). We get an average of 4 inches of rain a year and we get the bulk of it during those two months. And it is very, very humid.

We also get terrible, terrible floods. The ground here is very hard and doesn%26#39;t absorb the rain like in other places.

Job market is pretty good. Our housing market has just started to stablize. For years it was a sellers market, but now it%26#39;s more of a buyer%26#39;s market. I beleive the average price of a single family home is around $350,000.

Las Vegas Is also one of the fastest growing cities in the country. A few weeks ago the news reported that 8 people per HOUR move to the Las Vegas area. Our schools, roads and other public services have not been able to keep up with the growth.

And I apologize for this comment, but it%26#39;s just my opinion, don%26#39;t mean to offend anyone but, the people in Oregon are very friendly. Far more friendlier than the people here in Las Vegas.

Ok, there%26#39;s my $2%26#39;s worth!

Tahiti

Looking for a new place to call home

We moved to Portland after living in NYC for 0ver 30 years, and in Florida for 1 year.

Portland plus side:

No weather extremes, hurricanes , months of terrible cold or terrible heat and humidity.

Yes, rain is an extreme but you can still get around in it and we haven%26#39;t had to shovel it or hide in the cellar from it ...lol.

People:

Nice, friendly, helpful, cheerful, funny, some real smarties but they don%26#39;t stand out from the rest, everyone sort of downplays their income/work choice/wardrobe....unlike the NE..

Easy to get around, easy to meet people, easy to find a neighborhood or place that suits your style/tastes.

Soooo much to do / movies, museums, outdoorsy stuff, natural beauty.

Summers...you forget winter. The Best summers I can remember.

Negative Portland :

Rain

Grey rain.

Cold rain.

You forget summer.

Crime.

Homeless, bums, drugs and not a lot of action from city/state govt.

Police - in my opinion, way too many killings of unarmed citizens..

Not sure about income and pay scale here, but you don%26#39;t need a car and there seem to be quite a lot of younger people working and living in the city..

Hope this helps...

( I like Las Vegas for a vacation, but would never want to live there, same with Colorado )....

Good input from tahitigrl. As I was reading your wishes my first reaction was what she said, but not sure I would have posted that cause i have only been there twice. so not good source.

I suggest you add Seattle.

Now Denver i have been to several times. My work took me there. Have often said if I ever had to leave Oregon/Wash Colo would be my choice. though think I would look beyond Denver to Colo Sprgs Boulder, etc. This was back in days when i worked.

I am retired so no help with job market.

I think the winter weather there could bother some. Not a lot to do east of Denver. Good stuff to do all directions from portland

Portland has many pluses. I wonder, too, why you did not include Seattle? I%26#39;d inquire there, also. It%26#39;s larger, very NW, and has its own unique qualities.

Always have heard that Seattle and Washington in general has a better job market than Portland/ Oregon....

This is my experience, though everyone is different....Of course I came out of college in Spring 2001, not a good time. Bounced from temp job to temp job around Oregon until finally in 2005 I found a fairly well paying job that morphed into full time -doing work that I enjoy/value.

I%26#39;ve lived in oregon my whole life, lets face it, it%26#39;s tough to find a good job in Portland, though I suppose it is tough anywheres these days.

(now i%26#39;m opining-but i still don%26#39;t think the US economy is great as everyone would have you think)

sorry I meant to say permanent- not full time(!)

hee hee

Portland meets your requirements overall, but we would need more specifics on your profession to help you on the job market.

I live about 80 miles south of Portland but did move up to Portland shortly after college and just loved it. I would say Seattle has more job ops but it also is very expensive to live there and has horrendous traffic problems.

As a younger person, I%26#39;ll assume you are in your mid-twenties, you would love the vibrancy of living near downtown Portland. Save suburban living for when you have kids if that is in your plans. There are so many fun places to eat, drink, walk and run right in the greater city area. There are too many places to hike like around Mt. Hood, the Columbia River Gorge, The coast range and coast headlands and Portland has its own urban forest.

Portland and I am guessing all big cities have issues with drugs and homelessness but it seems more visible in Portland especially as you are crossing one of the larger bridges that spans the Willamette River. All of the social service agencies seem to be clustered in one area. Hey, Portlanders, is Baloney Joe%26#39;s still around?

Portland has grown quite a bit since I moved south some 16 years ago and housing is pretty expensive but nothing like SF Bay Area or southern Cal.

People are friendly in the northwest - just see what things people say to each other on this forum.

As far as heat and humidity, we have warm summers but no detectable humidity and it is usually very comfortable especially under a tree. Late Fall, winter and early spring it can be gray for long stretches and 40-45 degrees. We treasure every blue sky day. Rain isn%26#39;t as bad as you might think unless you live on the coast and then it really is unbearable (Astoria would be a good example) It snows down to the valley floor but not much and not often. There is skiing within an hour and a-half to two hours from Portland up at Mt. Hood.