Seattle and Portland DUers, please give me some information on what it's like living out there.

I'm thinking of going out there for grad or law school, and staying there afterwards, so I'd like some information.

Cost of living? How much would a 2/2 townhome or a 3/2 house (both bought, not rented) split with a roommate or two run me in monthly payments? Gas prices? Food costs?

Climate? It's 40s-30s right now -- how much colder does it get? What's it like in the summer? Mind you, anything would be better than a Florida summer.

Traffic is supposedly horrendous...would I do well to trade in my station wagon for something with better mpg?

What's the social/cultural scene like? Museums, clubs, indie coffeeshops, aquariums, bands, etc...?

How's the job market? I'm going to have degrees in History and Creative Writing when I graduate -- what sort of jobs can I expect to pull down in the area? (Assuming I go to grad school, not law school.)

x( Fucking Portland. x(

;)

But seriously, I hate the climate here, and California's too expensive for me anytime soon. Maybe if I can write a historical film script or two...

Portland is great though. You'd love it.

edit: Though neither Seattle nor pdx is any cheaper than most of California.

the cost of living here is insane. where we are (North Seattle), you can rent a 2 bedroom apt. for about $1200-1400/month. http://seattle.craigslist.org/apa/

Gas is about $3.30/gallon right now (i think, i take the bus to work and haven't filled my tank in about a month). Food prices are pretty high (we moved here from TX, and our grocery bill nearly doubled each month).

That said, if you can afford it, Seattle is a wonderful place to live. Fantastic food, great nightlife, the Seattle Art Museum just did a massive renovation, the symphony is supposed to be quite good (and famous for being able to attend in jeans)...we mostly do kid-related activities, which abound here. For example, the art museum does a free First Thursday, and MrsCoffee takes the kids. Public transportation here is first-rate, i know a surprising number of people who live in the city and have sold their cars. We should, but we're still nervous about having two little ones with no car. We'll sell it before 2009, i've promised myself.

i'd be happy to share a 2-bedroom place for 1400, over 2 it's less than I'm paying for a studio by myself. Of course, the location rocks beyond belief.

A decent area two-bedroom will run 1000-1100 here, and a good one will run the same as out there.

And Tampa gas runs 3.05-3.15, so the difference isn't too bad.

2 bdr apt.s here in San Diego (University City area) go for at least 1600 sometimes more depending on the complex)

Let's see here. Seattle's expensive. Very, very expensive. We're outranked by San Francisco, LA, New York and probably DC, but not by much. Gas prices -- we're up over $3 for unleaded again. Food prices rise steadily. The last time I went out for a martini, it was $8, which I understand is a bargain compared to New York City.

If you'd like to check prices on townhomes or houses, please go to www.windermere.com. We own a three-bedroom house thirty miles east of Seattle. Our payments are $1700 a month, for instance. This is also considered a bargain.

Fall and winter? We're primarily in the 40's. Spring and summer will bring temperatures in the seventies and eighties, but we have had heat waves. With the humidity, everything around here stops when the temps rise over ninety. We've also experienced true cold, which happens a couple of weeks a winter -- temps below thirty degrees and snow. I might also mention that we're becoming prone to what's euphemistically called a "windstorm," but what's actually a hurricane. We had a week-long power outage last December as a result. If you don't like rain, don't move here, or you'll be miserable.

Traffic is horrible. We have the third worst traffic in the United States. For an area so environmentally conscious, it's amazing to me that more employers do not permit tele-commuting. My husband commutes one hour each way to the office, and this is typical. Traffic is so bad that it governs what we do during our personal time as well -- we don't go into Seattle on a regular basis, because we'll get stuck on the bridge (520) or sit in backups.

The social/cultural scene is very good. At the same time, after you've paid for the roof over your head, gas in the tank and food, you've not much money to enjoy it.

Sorry to be such a bummer, but we're bulging at the seams. You may want to look to Portland or the Portland suburbs for a more affordable alternative.

Julie

Wherever I can get a good, cheap education.

It costs about half as much as the University of Minnesota.

Stop passing your excess on to Portland. We have our own problems, and surely don't want our congestion to become as bad as Seattle's. People here already commute for nearly as long as some in Seattle. You may or may not know that native Oregonians have longtime, well-documented dislike of others coming here and driving up the cost of living and altering our way of life. Most of those have been Californians, but increasingly are from other places. Can you blame us for not wanting the blight that has afflicted California and threatens Seattle? Neighborhoods are being stripped of their character. Historical buildings are being torn down to build lofts. Expensive condos have driven out affordable downtown housing. Locals are bitter.

As climate change makes other states increasingly uninhabitable, it would be a good thing for residents of the Pacific Northwest to routinely discourage migration here. Our water is only going so far.

I apologize for my comments. I wanted to be even more discouraging, but frankly, I was afraid of name-calling.

In the meantime, I don't want Portland to turn into a mini-Seattle. We enjoy visiting. It's a nice place full of great people. The water? Hell, yeah.

Julie

I want to get out of a state I absolutely fucking HATE, and you essentially say, "No, don't come here, you should live in a miserable fucking state like Florida, cook in 85-95 degree weather 7-8 months out of the year, be surrounded by Republican jackasses and crazy people, and suffer all sorts of shit rather than going somewhere you'd actually like?"

You're a real prize, and I'm sure Portland is proud to have you as a citizen. :sarcasm:

No.

And Portland isn't the only place in the U.S. that you might be happy living. There are less populated places just begging for more people to move in -- places with plenty of space, moderate cost of living, good schools, relatively nice climates, etc.

But you ought to know that many local Oregonians are resentful of the enormous influx of people from other places who are changing the singular character of our beloved Pacific Northwest. For decades, Oregonians have urged visitors to enjoy their visit, but then go somewhere else. This protective attitude didn't start with me.

It isn't our fault that you live in a state you hate. I would hate Florida, too. Just please be sensitive to the feelings of people who have lived all their lives in a place that is being destroyed by too many people arriving.

I'm sure that Portland is plenty happy for me to be pointing out the reality, as it is the prevailing sentiment among locals. Sorry, but if you lived in a place that you loved that was being ruined, you might get uppity, too.

A few years ago (and now), Portland had a salary increase equal to the COL increase, so it was a wash.

Seattle had a smaller salary increase, but a greater COL increase, so it was a more expensive place to live.

Here's a few:

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html

http://www.bestplaces.net/col/

http://www.salaryexpert.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=COLCalculator.USCOL

I did for ten years, and it was no more "inconvenient" than having one's car refuse to start or cruising a neighborhood looking in vain for a parking space.

The public transit system, both light rail and buses, is really fantastic: frequent service 7 days a week, constantly expanding, and set up with thought given to good connections between lines. (i.e. It's everything the Twin Cities system isn't.)

When I first sold my car, people thought I was crazy, but during the subsequent ten years, five of my friends gave up driving and found that they could live just fine.

People complain about traffic in Portland, but like traffic gripers everywhere, they act as if they're not part of the problem.

I avoided traffic entirely by not driving. :-)

It's a little bit rude to recommend a place where you USED to live, where the locals are trying to limit the influx.

(everyone I was close to either moved away or died).

I miss Tri-Met acutely, as well as the view from my rooftop: Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helen's, on a clear day, a little bit of Mt. Rainer.

...but things are not what they once were. The town is changing. Fond memories are just that.

Rents in Portland have increased significantly in recent years. Way back in the late 80's, dh was able to buy a house in SE Portland for $55k. That same house sold for $480k a few years back. Given the general increase in house costs, the rental market has ticked up wards. Probably still cheaper than Seattle, though.

Gas prices run about $3.10 a gallon right now. However, we have TriMet, which is our regional transportation system. You can do without a car as long as you live near a bus line or near a Max (light rail) station. You can ride public transportation for free in the downtown core (with the exception of parts of NW Portland - I think north of Burnside is the cutoff). If you go to PSU, then public transportation will serve you well. Many lines run every 15 minutes.

Food prices are reasonable. There are tons of grocery stores here, plus lots of little seasonal farmers markets.

Portland is generally mild weather-wise. We may get a good dumping of snow every couple of years or so that paralyzes the city for a day or two. But the conditions have to be just right for it to snow. It has been about 10 years since we've had enough snow in town to really go cross-country skiing around the city. So mild is the best term for Portland.

This is about as cold as it gets for this time of year, though it'll be a bit colder in January. We'll have more rain than freezing temperatures. You'll see some damned nice days in February and it'll still rain through much of the spring. Summers are pretty mild- 70s to mid 80s with maybe a 3 day streak of 100+ days. Typically we have a long summer, except for this year. Usually it is nice through much of September.

I drive a station wagon and live in the West Hills. It sucks for me, because I have to travel down and then back up, so my mileage generally sucks. When I lived in SE Pdx, I didn't bother having a car. Traffic is only bad if you stick to the freeways. You can generally get around much of the traffic if you know the roads, but that'd take you a bit.

If I had to work downtown and live west or east of Pdx, I'd opt for Max. Some employers give a subsidized rate. There may be a student rate as well. Fares are the same - you can buy a ticket for Max and then hop on the bus until the fare has expired.

There is much to do in Portland. Check out Willamette Week. http://wweek.com/ We have an Art Museum (Portland Art Museum) downtown as well as most of the standards. There are tons of coffee shops - big chains but lots and lots of local ones. Beer is big here too.

Powells City of Books cannot be overlooked. :)

Job market is fairly good for my particular degree but I have no idea what it is like for your degrees. Mine is technical and the starting salaries are quite good.

Our housing market hasn't taken a serious dive yet, so the general job market is still fine.

Just wonderin'.

So I've only been here for 20 years. Dh was born here.