Need some input from the OR HTF. My wife and I (as well as out kids) are looking to move to OR or WA in the near future. I was looking at Grants Pass and wanted to get sme input. Any thoughts?

My job allows me to live wherever and my wife is a cosmotologist. My kids are 9 & 6 and they both like the outdoors.

If wanted to move to OR/WA and wasn't tied to a specific location... I don't know how high on my list GP would be.  

Other than "liking the outdoors"... what, more specifically, are you looking for?

I grew up about 3 miles outside of GP. Josephine County basically has no law enforcement at this point, and it seems that crime is climbing. The city has a pretty good police force, but very little prosecution ability is taking its toll. I think schools in the city are ok. County schools not so much. Nearest good private school is in Medford. Honestly, I wouldn't move my young family there.

Thanks for the input. I'm looking for a place with some wooded land I can hunt and shoot on. My wife grew up in northern Washington and loves the mountains. My kids just like to play and I think they are over the desert. Something that is a reasonable distance from a town but dose not have to be in "town". I did find a place about 20 mins south of GP that I was interested in but as you tell I know nothing of the area. I am from San Diego but I have lived in AK and MN for a combined 10 years so I'm not a stranger to the cold. It's also the closest 1/2 way point between our families without having to live in CA.

The issue with law enforcement in Josephine County, in which Grants Pass is situated, is that the locals refuse to vote for raising taxes to pay for a viable Sheriff's Department. As a result Grant's Pass, which has a viable City Police Force, is akin to "Fort Apache - The Bronx" and at times feels like it is under siege. Jackson County, adjacent, is good to go. If you intend to live Rural-Residential, throw a dart at the map in Southern Oregon, hard to go wrong. Something to consider is that the local businesses tend to be almost Xenophobic with their hiring practices in Grants Pass. My wife and I moved here almost a decade ago, the other nearby population centers, such as Medford etcetera, are not nearly as bad as Grants Pass when it comes to jobs. You would probably not be happy with living in Ashland, think island of LIberals, not unlike Austin Texas...

I grew up in Roseburg and think it's great but anywhere small town will have its issues. What about suburbs of a bigger city to allow your wife an easier time to work.

One thing to keep in mind, the further north you go in the Willamette valley the worse the pollen and allergies get.  I live on the west side of portland and had to pick my sister up at OSU in Corvallis in the middle of the grass mating season.  I got so sick from going down there.  It was horrible.  My allergies are usually meh to ok up here, but that was like being hit in the head with a shovel.  

That said there are some good places in the far ends around the portland area (vernonia, yamhill, Boring, Canby, Scappoose/st helens, etc).  Real estate prices will be a bit higher but the employment outlook is a lot better in some ways.  There is always the Coast, but if you have Seasonal Affective Disorder, its not a good place to be all year long, unless you really like the color grey and being wet all the time.  But the Medford area might not be bad.  I don't know my way around there much though.

+1 on this.  I never "got allergies" until I moved up here (ummm... near the junction of 219 and 99W).  Yikes... mid-May to mid-July.  Going to Vancouver to get REAL sudafed goes a long ways towards helping, though.  

Thanks for all the input guys. We are still looking around via the web. I think when I have some time in the next few months we are going go up there and look around and spend time in some areas  looking at properties.

Been living in GP 18 or so years. Rivers, mountains and lots of druggies.