Well Portland is pretty cool. The rain is insane in the winter months. I was born here, and it still drives me crazy sometimes. P-town is pretty laidback, but it has a lot of pretentious hipster folks. Other than that it is gorgeous, there’s always something to do, it’s a very very green state. I think almost anyone would love it, but that’s just my opinion. Hope I’ve helped. If not feel free to ask more questions, and good luck with your adventuring.

Hi Mariatherese!

Oregon is a fabulous place. I am partial to the westcoast as I am from Vancouver BC. I think the rain maybe a problem if you don’t get much where you live now, however the OR coast has more sun than inland.

I have found the people there really friendly, it is not a huge populated state so it does have a bit of a small town feel, even in places like Portland. Some of my favorite places in OR are Eugene, Salem, Portland, and all the of the coastline. The other benefit is the proximity to WA state, which is a small state, easy to travel around with the best people in the world. One of my favorite places is Seattle, even though it rains quite a bit in the Cascadia area (BC,WA,OR) everything is so green and lush and feels so alive. Whenever we have a bit of a rain spell, I love curling up with a good book and the fireplace…very soothing. As far as people go, I would have to say that the PNW is full of artsy, interesting, laid back people.

As for moving there, only you know if you should do that. You are a brave soul as I don’t know if I would move somewhere before checking out first. Michigan is cold in the winter and humid in the summer right? PNW is mild most of the year round, a little bit of snow in the winter (in elevated areas) but it is so beautiful in the spring and summer, not humid (well maybe a little). I hope this has helped and if you have any more questions let me know! Best regards ~ ABG

I would agree that Portland is a pretty nice town. I currently live in Corvallis and like it a lot. I would also agree about pretentious hipsters. LOL Corvallis has those, too. LOL As far as the rain…I think as long as you realize that you can’t wait for it NOT to rain to do something you’ll do fine. And also it’s not so much the rain that gets to people as it is the cloudy days. I’ve lived in Oregon most of my life, but spent a year in South Dakota and I would take rain any day over the bone chilling cold you can get in the Midwest. Hope that answers your questions, but if not ask me something else or ask for clarification!

I was born and raised in Southern Oregon, it’s a beautiful place. Lots of rain, but in general it tends to be pretty mellow. The summers usually aren’t too hot, and the winters aren’t too cold… lately there have been more extremes, but it rarely snows, in the Rogue Valley anyways. Everywhere else is another story. It all depends on where you’re planning to go.

After graduating college and living my whole life in Ohio, I took a chance moving to Portland and it was the best decision of my life. Annual rainfall here is actually lower than most major cities in Michigan or Ohio… it’s just spread out over a longer period of time. Very few hard rainfalls and a lot of light misty rainfalls.

Portland is one of the most casual cities around, for sure. It’s more like a really big neighborhood than a small major city. Very easy to meet amazing people with a little effort.

It depends where you go to live in Oregon. In my opinion Portland is a great city! Like any metropolitan city you will have the good and the bad mixed along with it. It will be crowded, sometimes noisy, crime rate is about on par with the rest of the nation. On the flip side, Portland has a lot of fun things to do during the summer months you can goto the Columbia River to go boating or the Willamette river to go fishing, TONS of camping and hiking, biking and other activity’s. Winter, there are plenty of restaurants, concerts, skiing, snow boarding, snow fights at Mt. Hood. Seattle is about a 2-3hour drive for more stuff to do.

Oregon has some really spectacular coast line! I like Lincoln City & Astoria myself. If ya go try to see the rose garden in Portland (unless you have hay fever, then I wouldn’t recommend it).

I haven’t lived in Medford but I hear good things about it.

Hope this helps,

Dave

Oregon is made of up many different ideas, attitudes, and climates. There’s the coast, the valley, and those east of the moutains. From Eugene to Corvalis, from Portland to Bend, from Salem to Ashland, I’m sure you can find a place for you.

Yea, I think Oregon is pretty laid back. Really, anything except for L.A. is laid back on the west coast. Portland is a little more businessy, but not by much. Compared to the east coast, it’s like sitting on a lawn chair in the pool.

People are friendly. It’s not really that rainy, just overcast a lot.

Well, it seems you’ve already received a lot of answers, and all I can do is echo them. I was raised in southern Oregon, and it has a very small-town feel to it. The scenery is awesome, the people are friendly for the most part (and let’s face it, there are not-so-nice people everywhere), but the economy is not so good in the south part of the state. Personally, I’d stay to the north if possible. Rain is a little more common there, but not unmanageable. Winters are generally nowhere near as severe as they are in Michigan or similar places. If you’re in the Willamette Valley (Eugene, Corvallis, Salem, Portland), you’re very close to the coast, mountains for hiking, camping, and skiing, and within a few hours at most of Portland, which is a great cosmopolitan urban area. Personally, I would love to live in Eugene or Corvallis. Both are university towns, with the laid back, friendly atmosphere that usually accompanies those towns. They have a small town atmosphere but are within easy driving distance of good concerts, sporting events, theater, museums, and so forth. Personally, I think you could do a whole lot worse than moving to Oregon, and I think the weather is the least of your concerns. Hey, it’s Oregon! Our motto is “If you don’t like the weather, stick around for a few minutes: It’ll change…” :-)

Hmm. Ive lived in both Michigan and Portland. Portland is definitely a great place if you have a career where you can for certain get a job. Otherwise dont move. Housing is cheap for the west coast. It’s a very canadian/british city… which i love because my ancestry is mostly british isles(cornish/welsh/scottish). they have great public transit.. three rail lines. My advice is. to get the hell out of the midwest.. though i have to say Michigan is the best part of the midwest. But just do it. People say if you set your mind to it you can do anything. I think they are wrong. it should read… if your heart is into it you can do it and you will love it. As long as you go to a place with heart you will love it. Because people like heart, and people make the place, wherever you are.

Benjiman

Okay. Yes, there is rain in Oregon. But not everywhere in Oregon. Most people tend to ignore Central Oregon when it comes to mentioning the weather. Here in C.O. it’s high desert which means dry, and more dry. We still have lots of trees and plants, flowers and such. The weather varies greatly and we get the most of each season. The entire state of Oregon is way laid back. I’d say it’s all the trees.

During my visit to the southern coast of Oregon in July a few years ago, it was sunny and in the 80’s. Oregon has everything – ocian, rivers, forests, mountains, lakes – it is so beautiful. As far as the rain, well – you don’t have to shovel rain!

Uh oh. Another person here who has lived in Michigan (home state) and Oregon. Oregon is a great place and I regret not having more time to spend in the parts I liked… But… I’m going to dissent from some people here and say that while Oregon has a lot to offer… well, caveats. Just pretend this is a comment from your old grouchy aunt Hortense.

First, if you’re not independently wealthy, please save up and try to get a job before you move to Oregon. It’s gotten better, but it’s still one of the worst job markets (only Michigan’s is worse right now). This is a pretty good article summing it up: http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=6802

Some of the people commenting on the news story think this is a really important snapshot of the new atmosphere, especially in Portland.

Lots of people are attracted to Oregon and move there whether they have a job lined up or not. There is growth, but since so many educated people go there, there’s a lot of underemployment (people with college degrees working at Starbucks). I moved to Oregon when I got married, and I had trouble finding another job, like thousands of other people. Ann Arbor was like this in the 1980s and 1990s. You had people with graduate degrees working at Border’s and other retail outlets, because they didn’t want to leave, but it was harder for them to establish themselves financially, and so on. Ann Arbor, today, is much more healthy than Portland, in terms of what it can offer a young graduate for job growth.

So for that reason, you might consider Washington, which is a short trip to Oregon, and has a stronger economy – or maybe consider finding work in Vancouver, Washington (across from Portland), where a lot of Portlanders are moving, because the schools are better and the infrastructure is in better shape.

As far as the rain, there are parts of Oregon that are dry and desert-like. Others get an extraordinary amount of rain. It is like Michigan in that the sheer length of the less nice weather can last, and last and last… But the rain means everything is green and lovely.

As far as the friendly, laidback people. Because you asked about it, it sounds like new friendships and social things are super important. Now, I have to be careful how I phrase this. Have you ever read “Bowling Alone”? Or “The Great Good Place”? They’re about social capital – how often people go out in groups to socialize, or whether there’s a hangout that attracts a big segment of the community that isn’t related or doesn’t work together.

The Northwest attracts many rugged individualists (just read one of Stewart Holbrook’s hilarious tall tales). Statistically, in Oregon and Washington, fewer people attend religious services (which social surveyers peg as an indicator of how often a community meets, than religiousity), but more folks move around a lot more than in most states. So if you like group activities, you may have to work a little harder to meet a lot of people – whereas in Michigan, some communities’ social lives revolve around church, clubs, other functions, etc.

You would be pressured much less to “fit in”, but you might also be surprised how some people act as if they live in a bubble of their own – with no regard for anyone.

If you are in a largish town or city with a lot of newcomers, you will probably meet lots of other open, friendly people. It’s really the difference between Garrison Keillor’s Midwest and Stewart Holbrook’s Northwest. Both are great places to live, but they both have their drawbacks.

So, did you end up moving there? I found the people in Portland to be so genuine and diverse all at the same time. Not like here in LA where everyone is trying so hard to be different. I also wonder about the weather, since I’ve been spoiled with sunny 75 degree Southern California weather all my life. But I dig rain, so maybe I’d be just fine there.