I've been considering relocating mainly because I love the outdoors activities that are offered there. Awesome weather. Beautiful land. Fit/healthy lifestyle is abundant/common. In general the overall culture seems to be superior to where I'm at. Furthermore I do believe I'd get a pay raise if I moved because my profession seems to have a higher rate there as opposed to where I'm at. I'm more of a city guy but want the ability to be in nature relatively quickly. Thinking Eugene or Bend at the moment. Not familiar with the coastal areas. Any recommendations? How is the state going to appeal to a southerner from a relatively conservative state? (Law wise).


In general I'm just wanting to move somewhere I can hike, Mountainbike, snowboard, Kayak, Fish, hunt, and maybe do a bit of camping & rock climbing. I don't really have any commitments or ties so I figure why the hell not. What says the hive?

Eugene is as liberal if not more so than Portland.

Look into Yamhill county also.

What line of work?

Personally Eugene isn't my kind of town but it does have a lot to offer in the way of outdoors. Bend is great but I've never lived there. I'm outside of Portland and have access to all the outdoor activities nearby also.

I had a nice paragraph rant but deleted it.   In a nutshell, if the 2nd is a big part of your life then I would look elsewhere.
Some dumb laws and more on the way.
I have called Oregon my home for my whole life but I will not spend my final days surrounded by these liberal fucktards.
I would like to think we can change things but that has never been the case with this State.

I've been in Bend my whole life. It was a small town 50 years ago. Now it is pushing 100,000 people, and the strains of rapid growth are evident. Housing is tight. Traffic sucks and assholes abound, especially on summer weekends.

People equate Bend to an island. it is about 3+ hours to get to any other "city" which is probably a good thing.

It is beautiful for sure. But politics wise, Oregon is heading the way of California. The east side of the state is still generally conservative (except for Bend, which is sliding left very quickly) but the westside's population makes the eastside irrelevant in terms of elections.

As an example, a year ago, we had pretty decent firearms laws. We now have a form of UBC which is a pain in the ass.  Our D-governor and both houses (majority D) are hell bent on making firearms ownership more challenging for law-abiding citizens. They will pass magazine bans next spring, and probably other crap too. I would not be surprised to see some kind of SAFE act here. I am sure it will be proposed. I am not a defeatist, just a realist.

Having said that, if you can make a living in Bend, you'll find all of the outdoors stuff easy to access. I can leave work and get on a trail and Mt. Bike for a couple of hours, or hit the river for a paddle, and still be home for a late dinner with my family.

No comment on Eugene. My folks live at the coast. If you like rain, you'll love it there.




ETA - Also, what the guy above me said...

Bend - Ok I was born there.   My family has had property there for the last 60 years and I will retire there in a few years.     The simple fact is if you want to liver there and be able to have the time/money to do anything you better bring the money with you when you come.     While people like to bring start up company's there, they dont stay there long and then move to some place else.   But if you can serve coffee, know your way around ski's AND bikes you can get a job for a little more then min wage.     Just good luck trying to live on that in Bend or any where close around there.

The Salem/Portland area are better but jobs are tight and the cost of living is high.    Oregon does ever thing they can to drive out and keep out large company's.    In Portland you have TWO large comapnys, Nike and Columbia Sportwear.  Neither of which even make any of their products in this country.

Lets try this another way

Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR–WA Area in 2014 had a GNP of 159,328 million rated 20th in the country

Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA area rated 11th with 300,827 million


Look I love Oregon, and I'm sure if you move there you will probably be able to earn enough money to get by, but odds are that is all you are going to do.  Just get by.     I decided long ago not to live in Oregon, I currently live in Houston where today its hot as hell.  While Houston has it bad points it also has some very good points as well. Living and working here has allowed me to build a retirement account that will allow me to retire around 55, and I still have the means to travel and enjoy the finer things in life.       I have lived in great places and have been to poor to enjoy it, it sucks.

I work in law enforcement. Wages there seems to be a bit higher then where I'm at despite the higher COL I think I'd bring in more money.


Thanks guys. Sucks to hear. Did see a lot of California plates and definitely knew there would be a strong liberal presence as well. I can make money in Texas but I'll be facing the same heat, similar culture, and won't have as many awesome activities at my finger tips.  Snead your peak traffic hours in Bend is about what traffic is where I live at 2:00AM on a Saturday night. Sitting through a red-light for 2 or 3 cycles of green-red isn't uncommon here. Its a daily occurrence.



I think I'll sit on the idea until Spring and see how things pan out.

The epitome of stupidity here recently:

You cannot lend a gun to a friend without having him pass a background check first.   It doesn't even matter if they have a CHL.

This was recently publicly tested by a church figure who supports more gun control but it looks like they are going to pick and chose who gets prosecuted.

Washington County Sheriff is hiring as is Tigard PD.

Housing in WashCo sucks balls though.  It's out of control.  As are Rent prices.  Although I would bet money that the economy will totally tank after the election and we will be back to mad foreclosures and losing the crap out of home values.  But rent will remain stupid high.  Again.  Still.  

Frankly, have you looked at Idaho as far as pay goes?  Housing prices are a bit more stable in some places.  COL can be a little cheaper.  Outdoors has way more options.  Hunting there is way better than here IMO.  At least when compared to anything with in 2hrs of the west side of portland.  I doubt pay would be as good, but its a lot more mellow in a lot of places.

Don't forget America's finest optics company.  

Um, who told you this?