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If you want to attract the most people north of Seattle, the biggest market is in Burlington-Mount Vernon, and Bellingham. Bellingham really strives to stay local, with a very "Green" vibe to everything. Poeple shop local, go downtown, grab goods. It's an artsy kind of city.
Mount Vernon and Burlington help the average shopper, being a mecca for shopping. People come from all around to shop at the big chain stores here, and Canadian's often drive to Burlington, even though further from the border, because shopping is better here.
Have you looked into Merlin, Oregon? It is a very small town just a few minutes from Grants Pass which has everything you could need. You can hit the highway out to Brookings if you want the coast. All of that area has lots of properties. Look up the multiple listing service to find places for sale there.
One town that could be up your alley is Bend, OR. I know someone mentioned it in an earlier post, but Bend is a pretty special place. It is on the other side of the mountains (being central oregon), so it is a long drive to the coast. However, it is unlike any place in Oregon. Being on the other side of the mountains, they get 300 days of sunshine, plenty of snow, and not very much rain. Considered the high desert, it is very scenic, allows for a lot of outdoor activities, and a small town feeling. Several years ago, before the recession hit, it was one of the most expensive small towns to live in, but the prices have dropped significantly and is much more affordable now. It all depends on what you value most. Although it is nice and peaceful, it is also far away from major cities. Portland is the closest, and that is a 3.5 hour drive (without any snow). Hope this helps!
I would be cautious about swinging from one extreme to another. Small towns in the PNW are not like small towns on the East Coast. Many New Yorkers find even Portland's level of urbanity to be marginal. Small towns aren't just low-population versions of the bigger cities; there's an entirely different mindset and culture there.
Also realize that Washington and Oregon have a number of different climates and landscapes. A lot of people imagine that all the PNW looks like this:
In actual fact, about 70% of Washington and Oregon looks like this:
So there is the 25% or so of WA/OR that is West of the Cascades and is green and rainy with little if any snow in winter. The coast is a climate zone unto itself...almost another state unto itself. It has no real seasons and is a retirement belt that is cut off from the rest of western Oregon by the Coast Range. So driving from the major population centers in the valley to the coast and back means going over the mountains. That's one of the reasons that the coast itself feels so isolated.
While the majority of territory lies east of the Cascades, it supports a minority of the population. Yet the Sagebrush Empire has much to recommend it. Walla walla, WA and Bend, OR are both wonderful places. I would stick to the college towns. That's a fairly safe way to keep one foot in the world of culture and civility while struggling to control the thousands of deer, pocket gophers, rabbits and slugs that are dining on your veggie and herb plots (add moles and billions of snails for Brookings).
Finally -- and most importantly -- we see a lot of "Big Rock Candy Mountain" posts here -- people whose relocation priorities are 1% reality-based and 99% fantasy-based. Here's an excerpt from a reply to one a few years back. Think about what it's saying.
Oregon and California attract a lot of daydreamers. They have this bucolic movie that plays in their heads of a place where life is simpler, closer to nature and the onslaught of the 21st century has been stalled. As they begin editing their mental movie script, they start to look for a picturesque set. Oregon and California seem like they might fit the bill. By the time they arrive at the CD forums, they are so in love with the movie in their minds that they react negatively to locals who try and bring them down to earth and show them that the reality of Oregon doesn't match up very well with the expectations they've created in their mental movie. A lot of these dreamer posts start with the proposition of finding the "Oregon version" of Boulder, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, San Luis Obispo, Berkeley or [insert your personal spoiled-dream locale here]. It doesn't exist. Oregon is different. You have to accept it for what it is and not try and impose your preconceived notions of what you would like it to be before you even set foot here. That's a sure recipe for disappointment.
Here's an excerpt from a reply to one a few years back. Think about what it's saying.
Oregon and California attract a lot of daydreamers. They have this bucolic movie that plays in their heads of a place where life is simpler, closer to nature and the onslaught of the 21st century has been stalled. As they begin editing their mental movie script, they start to look for a picturesque set. Oregon and California seem like they might fit the bill. By the time they arrive at the CD forums, they are so in love with the movie in their minds that they react negatively to locals who try and bring them down to earth and show them that the reality of Oregon doesn't match up very well with the expectations they've created in their mental movie. A lot of these dreamer posts start with the proposition of finding the "Oregon version" of Boulder, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, San Luis Obispo, Berkeley or [insert your personal spoiled-dream locale here]. It doesn't exist. Oregon is different. You have to accept it for what it is and not try and impose your preconceived notions of what you would like it to be before you even set foot here. That's a sure recipe for disappointment.
There are actually places, like my house, where the 21st century, and even parts of the 20th century, are held at bay. It's not a place you can move to, but it's a place you can create, if you are willing to put in 20 or 30 years. I have to live without cell service, broadcast TV or even much in the way of radio stations. The satellite dish and DSL are my links to the outside world. The UPS says I have had 9 power outages in the last 2 weeks, which is why I have a good UPS.
In return, I have a dark sky site. I have seen comets lighting up a third of the sky that people closer to cities never even saw. A paved road runs past my house, but except for morning and evening traffic going to work, nobody drives on it. The neighbor sometimes herds 50 or 60 head of cattle down the road for a mile on a Saturday and never has trouble with traffic. It's pretty picturesque, with snow capped mountains, dense timber, a creek in the back yard, and a silence so profound that birds are often the loudest thing you hear.
I'm not the only one here who lives in a little piece of heaven, but the thing we all had in common was that we had a clear vision of how we wanted to live, and a clear plan to pay for it. Our plan does not depend on other people. There are good people and bad people wherever you go in this world.
Cities give me hives, and hot weather is really unpleasant, but I could be happy lots of places in the PNW, from the west slope of the Rockies in Montana to Vancouver BC to Northern California. I was once charmed by a cabin in Northern Idaho, and might have moved there except my place is just as nice.
Once you have found what you are looking for, have the good sense to know it. Nowhere is perfect, but neither are you.
About Whidbey Island: lived there for awhile and loved it, but it's best for folks who 1) don't want/need to leave the island often as the ferry system is having serious and continued problems 2) are healthy and don't require much medical care--yes, Coupeville has a hospital but it has had some serious issues the past couple of years. Whidbey has also become more expensive to live there over the past 15 years and the crime rate has sharply increased (as in many places).
Hello I am am looking to move out of California although my family and I love it here it is truly expensive to live here the cost of living is extremely high. I am trying to do some research in Oregon and Washington but i do not know where to start because I am not familiar with the cities. I currently have a business in Embroidery and Silk screen and would like to know if it would be a possibility to continue and start this business in either state if I moved there. I guess I am looking for the opportunity to have my business and have a great place to live with great schools for my children not to far from a big town or city. I also rather stay away from too much snow. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to narrow down locations in either state to accommodate what I am looking for?
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marer
Hello I am am looking to move out of California although my family and I love it here it is truly expensive to live here the cost of living is extremely high. I am trying to do some research in Oregon and Washington but i do not know where to start because I am not familiar with the cities. I currently have a business in Embroidery and Silk screen and would like to know if it would be a possibility to continue and start this business in either state if I moved there. I guess I am looking for the opportunity to have my business and have a great place to live with great schools for my children not to far from a big town or city. I also rather stay away from too much snow. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to narrow down locations in either state to accommodate what I am looking for?
I would START be finding a different forum.
ID for business friendly, that is where 300+ WA and OR businesses and farms must flee every yr. (more snow, but not a lot in many areas). Too many new voter approved and taxed regulations in OR and WA (purposed to become JUST like CA... CARB and all)
WA for schools (Oregon is not known for well funded schools)
If you MUST be near a big city.. you can live 5 minutes across a bridge and it seems miles / a State away.
Age of kids?
If young... and you MUST have Oregon... Corbett, Boring, Sandy, Happy Valley OR is my choice.
Also areas near Corvallis or Eugene (less snow = more fog / winter socked in)
Basically, a small college town can be a good choice.
McMinnville, Newburg, Forest Grove...
If you need a store front.... ouch (Rents)
Try to work from home with NO employees... Our kids became employees by age 12 (earned income), had 4-H & farm income before that. They were able to save for college ($20k+) but in WA State... FREE FT college instead of wasting time in High School (since 1990) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Start
Cheap college, business friendly (no income tax) = WY = more snow, but not much... just more WIND!
There are actually places, like my house, where the 21st century, and even parts of the 20th century, are held at bay. It's not a place you can move to, but it's a place you can create, if you are willing to put in 20 or 30 years. I have to live without cell service, broadcast TV or even much in the way of radio stations. The satellite dish and DSL are my links to the outside world. The UPS says I have had 9 power outages in the last 2 weeks, which is why I have a good UPS.
Yikes, that sucks. I have never had a power outage in five years. I do get power surges often, especially during storms. I can often hear my surge protectors clicking and buzzing during storms, but I have never had the power go out.
On the other hand my Charter Spectrum internet goes down on average of about one time a month. Usually just for maintenance type stuff, but during one recent storm it was down for about 12 hours.
Hello I am am looking to move out of California although my family and I love it here it is truly expensive to live here the cost of living is extremely high. I am trying to do some research in Oregon and Washington but i do not know where to start because I am not familiar with the cities. I currently have a business in Embroidery and Silk screen and would like to know if it would be a possibility to continue and start this business in either state if I moved there. I guess I am looking for the opportunity to have my business and have a great place to live with great schools for my children not to far from a big town or city. I also rather stay away from too much snow. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to narrow down locations in either state to accommodate what I am looking for?
In Oregon and Washington, the heavily populated areas (the areas most likely for a small service business to succeed) are also the cloudy and rainy winter areas. Most of the population in Washington is in the Seattle-Olympia corridor and most of the population in Oregon is in the Portland/Vancouver-Eugene corridor.
Other than housing costs, the entire west coast has about the same cost of living - how you are taxed varies from state to state but the overall burden isn't really that different, depending on situation. And while housing costs in the populous parts of Oregon and Washington are not as high as they are in the populous parts of California, they are still not cheap. The median house price in Seattle is $700,000, Portland is $415,000 - the median house price in Sacramento, Ca is $310,000.
In the populated areas in Oregon and Washington you can expect cloudy, cool, rainy winters (October-April/May) with the very occasional snow storm. Snow doesn't generally stick around for more than a day.
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Last edited by PNW-type-gal; 09-11-2018 at 11:13 AM..
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