I traveled through 45 US states last year, trying to decide where to live, staying in a bunch of places, and wound up deciding to come back and settle in PDX, aka Portland (I'm in the city, and yes, there is a distinct city vs. rural conflict.... liberal vs. conservative, weird vs. traditionalist). My short list at the end of the trip was NYC, PDX, SFO, and Seattle (mostly west coast, because the whole east coast mentality drives me bonkers). Portland won out because of its culture, extremely low cost-of-living, and general wildness.
Here's what I have to say on the subject:
- The "heat factor". Well, my house has *no* AC, Swamp cooler, or anything of that nature. Doesn't need it. I don't think it even broke 90 degrees this summer. Of course, there are hotter, and drier, areas of Oregon, but PDX is heavenly. Folks used to cooler climates may think it's hot, but I spent 32 years in Tucson, where it gets to 112 degrees.
- Dry? Not compared to AZ. It rains fairly often here, which is nice. Folks from sun states sometimes find themselves in a funk during the rain season(s), but it hasn't happened to me, because I'm not much of a sunbather (skin cancer rates in AZ means that lots of folks raised there try to avoid the sun).
- Out of staters? Well, I have had some gentle ribbing about being from Texas, Colorado, Utah (whatever)... "you know, the southwest, it's all the same", but people are pretty nice, *unless* you're from California, in which case you may be singled out for trashing the economy of Oregon by driving real-estate sky high and trying to convert Oregon into yet-another-shopping-mall with inflated prices for everything. Californians are the butt of many jokes about social ills. Er... note this whole thread, for example.
- Finding work, programming: Well, PDX metro does have the "Silicon Forest".. there's tons of computer gigs here (Intel, IBM, etc.). Just to give you an idea of *how much* computing work there is around here, along with a hint about PDX culture, check out free geek:
http://www.freegeek.org/ ... even our brazillion computers are freely rebuilt and recycled for the needy and non-profit.
- Work, psychology: Well, there's the whole rainy season "funk" to mine for patients. :) Seriously, dysthemia and depression is simply part of the culture here.
- Dunno about universities.
- Less than 350,000? LOLOLOL. Of course there are houses available for much less, the whole cost of living here is pretty darned *low*. Note, as others have indicated, that the lower wages come with the package, though. (See also complaints about Californians).
So, onto the warnings and other notes for people thinking of moving here(?):
- We have some hardcore redneck types here. Mostly logging culture, mostly in the suburbs and rural areas. Of course, if you're coming from CO, you're already likely used to them. They're also, in my experience, a whole lot nicer than many southwest rednecks. Very much "live and let live".
- Rain. Gloom. Rain. Fog. Rain. Some folks can't handle it, others do just fine.
- PDX has some *seriously* weird folks. I don't consider this to be a bad thing (as I'm a tad odd myself), and if seeing tattooed, dyed, pierced, and wild folks as, say, a receptionist at your doctor's office, or as your supermarket checkout clerk, is perfectly fine with you, you'll be happy here.
- The cops here are occasionally brutal, or incompetently useless, or sometimes, both. Thankfully, they don't seem to be out on the streets all that often.
- Strip cubs and sex-industry workers... PDX has the highest per-capita rate of strip clubs in the country. You can easily walk into a random normal looking corner bar and realize that you accidentally stepped into a strip club. Definitely not a city for the sexually inhibited.
- Much of Oregon, and even PDX, is *really white*. Utah-level white. I searched for housing in the city until I found what I thought was a less segregated area, just because I hate mono-colored culture.
- The whole Meth craziness. As an out-of-stater, I was surprised at how much people here have been freaking out about meth. There are news stories almost every week about meth-this, meth-that. *shrug*
- No sales tax means high income and property taxes. Adjust budgets accordingly. It also means that smack-dab in the city, there are unpaved roads, potholes go for months and months without repair, and services such as the police (*cough*) aren't as up-to-par with other cities.
- No sales tax also means the "Lottery" is pervasive. What "Lottery" means here is that almost every bar in the city has casino style video poker and video slot machines, as well as Keno, scratch tickets, Powerball, etc. Not a good thing if you're a compulsive gambler.
- We get Ice Storms. The city totally shuts down, it's un-drivable, un-walkable, etc. Prepare to hole up.
- The dance clubs here are fairly limited (nearly non-existent), unless you're into watching gay porn while dancing, in which case the clubs are absolutely *great*.
- The primary social scenes seem to revolve around beer, and coffee.... pubs and coffee shops are everywhere. Might not be a good place for LDS migrants.
- Public transit here is fairly good. It's not NYC good (where you never need a car), but you can reasonably get by without driving most of the time... the bike scene is huge, and there's an interconnected set of rail and bus lines.
- Our local "meetin" group is absolutely huge, it's a great way to get to know people here (there's also "drinking liberally", but I haven't hooked up with them yet).