Best places to live in the Pacific Northwest?

Not telling you wrote:

Lol to Bend Oregon.

I’m not telling you the best place. Too many Californians have moved there already.

Tell us, what could go wrong? Oh yeah, remember when everyone was telling people to move to Portland, Oregon?

Not telling you wrote:

Lol to Bend Oregon.

I’m not telling you the best place. Too many Californians have moved there already.

Sacramento? Many PNWers moving there.

the FAKE Hingle McCringleberry's response is a 9 out of 10

Just missing a period to make a grammatically correct sentence and scoring the elusive 10 in trollism.

An inexperienced response would have gone for the easy anywhere but near Jamin answer.

Best to think outside the rhombus.

S.O.S.W.P.

Former Trophy Wife wrote:

Check out Boise, Idaho. If it’s not technically in the PNW it is definitely in the spirit of the PNW. I lived in Portland for a long time and it appears to have the same formula as Portland did 15 years ago.

Boise is a great place! It's not too big, traffic isn't much of an issue and the running is great! The foothills aren't too far, and offer a challenge! As well as a plethora of parks for enjoyable running.

Eastern Washington is the obvious Mecca for running in Washington. People can boast about Seattle's running scene, but look at the HSers in Seattle vs Spokane or Tri-Cities. Spokane schools have been dominant for 2 decades! Eastern Washington (especially Tri-Cities) is growing! Houses being built left and right. Plenty of nice's runs in the area as well. Eastern Washington also offers better weather for running. Sure the summers get a little hot, but the mornings and evenings are perfect.

Hood River, OR. An hour east of Portland in the Columbia River Gorge. Google it and you'll find out why....

Yakima. Two hours to Seattle, close to Mt. Rainer, dry, cheap, lots of Mexican food. I'm kidding of course. It's like hell on earth unless you want to work picking apples.

Bellingham

My wife's choice is Snohomish, WA, and she's made some very good choices before, if i may say so.

It's a really beautiful region.

seattle prattle wrote:

My wife's choice is Snohomish, WA, and she's made some very good choices before, if i may say so.

It's a really beautiful region.

nice area, not too far from seattle but feels away from it all with great scenery

Limo Sabinez wrote:

Yakima. Two hours to Seattle, close to Mt. Rainer, dry, cheap, lots of Mexican food. I'm kidding of course. It's like hell on earth unless you want to work picking apples.

You'd really make fun of the Palm Springs of Washington?

You'll See wrote:

Hood River, OR. An hour east of Portland in the Columbia River Gorge. Google it and you'll find out why....

A-hole. Shut your pie hole & stay out of my town boardhead.

Home of the C.I.M. wrote:

Not telling you wrote:

Lol to Bend Oregon.

I’m not telling you the best place. Too many Californians have moved there already.

Sacramento? Many PNWers moving there.

Couldn't be. Too much sun here for the Powder types.

Leavenworth, WA is the nicest place in the PNW. Gorgeous.

Take my word for it wrote:

Bellingham WA

45 min to Vancouver, 75 min to Seattle

On the coast in the shadow of Mt Baker

Ski, board, hike, sail, run, bike.....beer.

Much prettier than Bend but wetter.

Bellingham is not prettier than Bend but certainly as expensive too. I have a friend there. He escapes now every winter to Tuscon because he can. Too much rain there. Town is okay but way overpriced because of Seattle.

loppylop wrote:

Leavenworth, WA is the nicest place in the PNW. Gorgeous.

The Leavenworth, WA area is fantastic. The town is a tourist trap. Better weather than on the other side of the mountain range but you have a LOT of wildfires. So if you don't mind that you house might burn down move there.

Limo Sabinez wrote:

Yakima. Two hours to Seattle, close to Mt. Rainer, dry, cheap, lots of Mexican food. I'm kidding of course. It's like hell on earth unless you want to work picking apples.

Haha. Yakima (and everything else immediately east of the WA Cascades) is absolutely horrible, like you said, not to mention all the gang violence.

I'm surprised by all the calls for Bend. Not sure when the last time everyone was there, but it's kind of exploded over the last ten years or so and turned into this rich white community similar to (but not nearly as extreme as) Boulder. Like Boulder, it IS a nice area, but it's expensive and seemed kind of flavorless when I was there.

Bellingham does seem like a great place. It's a very hip community, close to mountains, not terribly far from cities but far enough away to be out of the chaos. Seattle and Vancouver are too expensive. Portland seems to be pretty nice, though there definitely are a ton of homeless people, druggies, and people so far left on the political spectrum they're more caricature than human. Nowhere is perfect.

Overall, out of places I've been, I actually liked Corvallis and Eugene a lot. Both are relatively close to mountains and the ocean and are nice communities. Both have universities which seem to keep things kind of lively. I've also heard Olympia is nice, but I've never been there other than to drive through on my way out to the peninsula.

Compared to middle America, yes, the housing market does seem to keep getting more and more expensive. You pay literally double what you would in the Midwest a lot of places. That isn't practical for a lot of people.

Mountain West wrote:

The Sunshine State! Gorgeous! wrote:

+1. Denver is pretty much the capital & place to be in the inland PNW.

Colorado is not anywhere near the PNW.

Minot, ND

I personally like Portland/Seattle but you gotta deal with high prices and not getting the kind of property you could get elsewhere. I think it's worth it to live somewhere where you'll always have something to do. I know a lot of people who live in Vancouver, Washington, and work in PDX. I'm also a huge fan of Eugene and Bend. Ashland is great in southern oregon. You gotta find what you like. The vibe definitely changed in Ashland/Bend versus the cities + Eugene.

Anywhere that is at least an hour drive from Seattle. You don't want to chance a run in with jamin.