Thinking of relocating to the PNW - fill me in

[AdironRider]

Havent posted here in a while I know, but Ive been chasing the powder dream in Jackson for a while now. I know theres a large contingent of PNW people here and Im looking for some insight. Im spending another 6 months to a year here in Jackson, but then its time to get out in the real world and start a career.

Im looking for a solid job market for entry level finance/business/logistics type jos. By the time I move sometime next summer, I will have been out of school for 2 years with little real world experience, but I have a solid educational background. I consider work primarily a means to an end but enjoy suppy chain management, etc. I also need to be close to the water and the mtns, so naturally the PNW seems like a good fit for my pesky snowboarding habbit while keeping me close to the water.

Hows the job market?

Cost of living?

Where would be a good place to live in the area to allow me to get a nice cabin in the woods but still be a daily commute away from work in the city? Should I be looking at Seattle? Someplace else?

Hows the rental situation, and long term the real estate market looking?

Whats it like to live there? Vibe? I really liked Denver for its proximity to skiing and mtn life, while still being a cool city with a good job market. I dont like that Im 1000 miles from the ocean. Can I find this somewhere in the PNW. I will be making trips to the mountains at least every other weekend (every weekend in the winter). This is a high priority.

Fill me in!

[Van Westervelt]

Portland or Seattle... :) Seattle is larger than Portland, so it takes longer to get out of it, but both are realtively close to Mtn and Water.

[Nicademus]

Do it! I love it here :D

I see you live in Jackson Hole, that's a nice place too.

[cferb]

Try to find somewhere near Crystal MT. Everything is close to Snoqualmie but you would hate it there, lol. Portland and Seattle are pretty similar, in pretty much every respect, so either one is a good choice, and will be near a mountain. Gonna be at least a 30 min drive no matter where you go for the most part.

[Hallen]

You have to give us more than that. There is high tech and manufacturing all up and down the West (wet) sides of Oregon and Washington and some fast growth in the Bend/Redmond area.

Do you want big(ish) city life, more rural, smallish towns, what? The cost of living varies greatly from place to place. Do you want to work for a bigger company or something a bit smaller?

With your type of degree and interests, you can find a job with a thousand companies here. The job market is down a bit because of the housing problems, but that mostly affects those types of construction jobs directly. We are not doing a lot of hiring right now, but you never can tell.

[yberther]

seattle has a sweet music scene. crystal mountain is for rich people, alpental (part of snoqualmie and only 40 min from downtown) is where people know how to ski ;)

Scenery is beautiful, but you have some of the same in Jackson (I've been a couple times to ski and its something else) The mountains are big. real big. But we've got water :)

Agree with above, it all depends where you live. There's small towns and bigger cities, nothing huge really.

Regardless PNW is legit.

[joshh]

Portland for the most part is a good city other than the local government and most of the cyclists. They suck ass and bad.
I'd like it more if the liberals removed themselves from this state though.

[318isbmw]

seattle has a sweet music scene. crystal mountain is for rich people, alpental (part of snoqualmie and only 40 min from downtown) is where people know how to ski ;)

Meh, don't do snoqualmie. You will be disappointed w/ alpental I think after coming from jackson hole. Small area, atleast crystal you can't hear the semi's on the highway compression braking down the hill from the ski lift. More powder and better snow at crystal, cuz of the altitude if I remember right its quite a bit higher than snoqualmie.

[z31maniac]

Portland for the most part is a good city other than the local government and most of the cyclists. They suck ass and bad.
I'd like it more if the liberals removed themselves from this state though.

This is precisely why at the moment I have refrained from applying for any of the numerous Tech Writing jobs in the PNW. I'm afraid it would drive me insane.

[h0lmes]

The PNW fuckin rocks. Snoqualmie sucks for the most part so I recommend staying away. It is really popular though as it is pretty cheap and it's close to Seattle. Crystal Mtn. is great but is expensive and crowded and a bit more of a drive from Seattle. If you want some of the best boarding on earth come North to Mt. Baker. It is quite a drive from Seattle but it is relatively cheap and the crowds are always tame. It is also the snowiest place on Earth and the powder will give you an orgasm. Mt. Baker FTW.

[AdironRider]

Cool, thanks guys for the replies.

Now for a little more info on certain areas I want to be in. Im willing to commute a ways if it means I get to live in the woods. Not like off the grid, way out there in the woods, but an acre or two that will give me a feeling of seclusion type. If it means close to an hour in the car then so be it. I ride over a hundred days a year, and spend many more in the summer, so preferably itll be cutting off a decent amount of commuting time to the mtns to make up for the added driving to the city. Ive got an econ degree, and am looking primarily to get into the supply chain/logistics end of the business spectrum. Where should I be looking and what should it cost to live there?

On the riding front Baker is no question the place Im most intrigued by, but Ill most likely get either a Xstal or Alpental pass as well. Are there towns along the commutes to these places that will keep me within driving distance of work, but still cutting commutes to the mtns?

[MC Hammered]

Mt. Baker is best for the area you are thinking of.

If you want to come even farther North into Canada then go to Big White in Kelwona. You can work in the small town on the mountain and have the light champagne powder without any commute.

[peerless]

Hope you like the rain. Haven't heard anyone mention that yet.

I lived outside of Portland for about 2 yrs and it rains alot during the winter months, alot. 3 months without any sun, always drizzle and rain. I was about ready to go nuts.

But other then the rain it was very nice.

[MC Hammered]

Yes... the rain. Being born in it makes one forget that it is there.

But it does make the climate quite mild all year round. Never gets really hot or really cold. So it is either nice outside or it is raining.

And since you are a gravity slave like me you know that when it rains in the city it is dumping snow on the mountains.

[h0lmes]

Cool, thanks guys for the replies.

Now for a little more info on certain areas I want to be in. Im willing to commute a ways if it means I get to live in the woods. Not like off the grid, way out there in the woods, but an acre or two that will give me a feeling of seclusion type. If it means close to an hour in the car then so be it. I ride over a hundred days a year, and spend many more in the summer, so preferably itll be cutting off a decent amount of commuting time to the mtns to make up for the added driving to the city. Ive got an econ degree, and am looking primarily to get into the supply chain/logistics end of the business spectrum. Where should I be looking and what should it cost to live there?

On the riding front Baker is no question the place Im most intrigued by, but Ill most likely get either a Xstal or Alpental pass as well. Are there towns along the commutes to these places that will keep me within driving distance of work, but still cutting commutes to the mtns?

I am not to familiar with the job markets but based on what you are looking for it sounds like you can find a job just about anywhere. I highly recommend Bellingham. It has about 70k people so it is not to large but not to small and has everything you need. It's about an hour North of Seattle, 15 minutes from the Canadian border and 45 minutes South of Vancouver BC. There is a lot to do when it comes to outdoor activities. The hiking is incredible with North Cascades National Park and Mt. Baker nearby. Two large lakes and the Puget Sound for all sorts of water activites. The San Juan islands are next door which are beautiful and awesome if you enjoy sailing. Also, there are some nice small towns near Mt. Baker where you could get an awesome ski cabin for cheap (check out Glacier) while still being within an hour of Bellingham. It is a college town so there are tons of women and the bars and restaurants are top notch. You will, unfortunately, have to put up with an endless amount of crazy hippies and I have noticed that there are a lot of weird homeless people here for some reason.

Edit: I also forgot to mention that Bellingham is about as close as you can get to Whistler while still living in the US.