I am thinking about applying for a job in medford and looking to find some cost of living information, Rent, and  common utility prices for a 3/4 bed house, schools, nieghborhoods to stay out of.  I am currently living in califonia and need to be able to crunch some numbers to see of the salary is comparable with cost of living. I grew up in Klamath Falls so I know a lilttle bit about medford area but not enough to make major financial decisions. Im really hoping its feasable, my wife and I are desperately wanting out of california (for obvious reason).

Jobs pay way less in the Rogue Valley than up North.  Rentals are up because of all the housing forclosures.

3-4 bedroom on the East Side of Medford (West = Little Tijuana) will run near $1000 a month, call a local rental agency to get a better idea.

Electric ~ $100.00 a month with a heat pump

Water ~ $40.00

Trash ~ $17.00

I wouldn't live in Medford if you paid me. But then again depending on what part of California you are from it wouldn't be that much different.

Care to expand on this please I am open to all input

I'd try not to live in West Medford if you can.  The crime rates there are typically higher than other areas.

I appreciate all the meaningful feed back, It will be useful if/when my application produces results.

The last two times I went to Medford my truck was broken into. The first time it was in my friends driveway and the second time it was parked outside a grocery store. Both times it was on the East side of Medford. It is also one of the hottest places in Oregon. Medford has more than its share of illegals and shall we say less desirable members of society, however like I said depending on what part of California you are in it wont be that much different.

Medford was recently rated as the safest city in the US with a population over 50,000 by the FBI. I've lived in Medford for 12 years and haven't had my truck broken into once...   Medford is great, beautiful area, you don't get all the shitty rain that the Portland and Eugene areas get.

What's going on with the Golf course, are they still planning condos?
Sucks they are building on that.
Guess I'll have to head out to White City to look for Real Estate.

A really good source of all kinds of useful information would be local newspapers.  The ads tell you what things are selling for, classified ads tell you not only prices for various items, but what is happening socially.  You have to deduce from the ads, but if one area has lots of RV's of various kinds (boats, trailers, ATV's, travel vans etc) you get a hint that the economy is worse than areas having less per capita sales of these items.  Prices will also let you know how desperate people are to sell various items when you compare to other similar sized cities.

Often, you can access the papers on line rather than having to buy them.  Sometimes, papers will send you a "sample" copy if you are possibly interested in a subscription.  If you tell them you are thinking about moving there, you might get a sample copy of the paper to look at.

I would look at who is hiring, who is looking for work, prices in the ads from stores, who got arrested, crimes happening locally, prices in classifieds.  Lots more information than just "the news".

Think like an anthropologist, historian, sociologist or someone like that who found a newspaper 100 years later.  What would the information tell you about that society.

http://mailtribune.com