Salem vs Portland

[pianochic]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

West Salem is nice. Some of the neighborhoods in the hills are lovely. West isn't my thing because I prefer older, really lush neighborhoods (my house is a 1960 build) with lots of trees and there isn't that much of that out west. There is a lot of newer construction out there. There are some pockets that have homes similar to Candelaria. There is an area out west that is off Lowen and Claremont that has some nice mid-century homes in it. It isn't quite as lush as Candalaria and Laurel Springs, but it has nice large yards for space between you and your neighbor.

West has been growing and developing. It used to be that you had to come over the bridge for everything, but Roth's did a huge remodel and the west store is great. Gilgamesh opened up a second place out there, and Xicha Brewery has really good food. Urban Grange is a great coffee house over there.

West isn't really walkable/bikeable which is something that is important to me as I get older. I want to be able to walk to the grocery store for when driving is difficult. Wallace Rd is the problem during rush hour. If you can bypass it by going down the Rosemont exit, then it isn't as bad.

Marion county/inside city limits rate is 19.36 per thousand. Polk county/inside city limits rate is 18.67 per thousand. When you are inside city limits the difference isn't as great as when you are outside city limits. Polk County didn't have 24-hour police coverage from 2013-2016 until they passed a levy to raise the tax rate. West Salem inside city limits is covered by Salem PD so they pay that additional rate rather than having to deal with the Polk County Sheriff's office.

Portland General Electric covers most of the city, but we do have a local co-op in town as well. Salem Electric covers West Salem and part of Keizer. I really like Salem Electric and found they gave good customer service to my clients to live in their coverage area. The cost of utilities just depends on how you use a home and the age/energy efficiency of the home.

Thank you! That helps a ton!

[leastprime]

Originally Posted by pianochic

Why did you move to Seattle?

We needed to be urbanized. Got tired of a yard, a garden and land. (69/72 yo)
Son lives in Seattle.
Parents all passed.
It's only a train ride to Salem from Seattle (think 5 hours on Cascades Amtrak).

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Salem has a very mild climate compared to Portland.
Getting to the Coast from Salem compared to Portland is very easy.

It has a totally different "Oregon feeling".
A lot more "relaxed" than Portland.
Portland is about an hour away depending on traffic.

Decent hospitals, etc.....
It is also a quieter town, with suburbs that make it feel bigger.
If I didn't grow up in the Portland area, I wouldn't mind living there.

Plus, in Keizer (which is very close) there happens to be the most northernmost "In-N-Out" if you like that kind of stuff and don't mind waiting in line for an hour or so.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Salem has a very mild climate compared to Portland.

Salem Climate Statistics: https://www.usclimatedata.com/climat...tates/usor0304
Portland Climate Statistics: https://www.usclimatedata.com/climat...tates/usor0275

They are very nearly identical

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I just know that my wifes parents live in the heart of Salem, and their weather ALWAYS better than Portland"s.

Less rain, less wind, less snow, warmer, less overcast days, etc.

Don't know what else to tell ya,?

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Salem Climate Statistics: https://www.usclimatedata.com/climat...tates/usor0304
Portland Climate Statistics: https://www.usclimatedata.com/climat...tates/usor0275

They are very nearly identical

I know the stats say the weather is the same, but I've lived in both Portland and Salem and when we moved down here the weather was noticeably better. It is less gray, the windstorms aren't as severe, we get less snow/ice. It is true despite that link. I think it has to do with how the precipitation falls. It was kinda gray and spitty all of the time in Portland, but Salem has a bit heavier rainfalls so we seem to get more precipitation at once. Then we get less gray and more sun breaks.

It was really obvious to me right away that the weather pattern was different after we moved.

[JackieLovesSun]

It was kinda gray and spitty all of the time in Portland, but Salem has a bit heavier rainfalls so we seem to get more precipitation at once. Then we get less gray and more sun breaks.

I find this very interesting. I am currently in The Dalles but there are more jobs in the Willamette Valley and I'm trying to decided if it's worth trying to get one despite how much the cloudy weather impacts my moods.

a micro climate with just a bit more sun in the dark part of the year might make all the difference.

I have a facebook friend who tells me McMinnville has a lovely microclimate.

[hikernut]

The NWS has some free data sets with archived weather information: https://w2.weather.gov/climate/. In addition to the typical temperature and precipitation numbers, they also publish a cloud cover metric. Each day gets a score from 0-10, with 0 being a perfectly cloudless day all day long, and 10 being 100% cloud cover all day.

Comparing Portland to Salem, the data does confirm anecdotal observations mentioned here. Salem is less cloudy than Portland.

Here are the monthly totals for the past 12 months. Smaller numbers indicate less cloudiness.

-Month- PDX Salem

10/2019 159 113
11/2019 188 155
12/2019 255 234
01/2020 280 247
02/2020 187 152
03/2020 198 159
04/2020 166 130
05/2020 206 157
06/2020 205 155
07/2020 126 89
08/2020 100 36
09/2020 187 157

[LongLeggedOne]

IMO Salem is the better place. It seems like that even if its not the nicest, u can get to know and see people better than in Portland which seems like alien nation to me even in the suburbs. Salem feels like a SW city to me also like it would be in NM or something. A section of Las Vegas also. It has a vibe I like more than Portland and for sure, a place like Tigard.