Looking to buy a home in end of 2018 or 2019, Ca or OR (Portland: find a job, theater)

[the city]

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

About the same as Bakersfield.

I am assuming thats a knock on Bakersfield. While I havent spent enough time in Portland or Bakersfield to gage the single scene, I'd assume Bakersfield has more than Medford bc it's a a larger city.

[Sherwoody]

Originally Posted by the city

I am assuming thats a knock on Bakersfield. While I havent spent enough time in Portland or Bakersfield to gage the single scene, I'd assume Bakersfield has more than Medford bc it's a a larger city.

Not a knock. I was trying to find the nearest similar vibe. There really isn't one that far south, have you been to Redding?

[the city]

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

Not a knock. I was trying to find the nearest similar vibe. There really isn't one that far south, have you been to Redding?

No but not heard it's a thriving singles hub. Medford has Ashland which draws some singles I think?

I'm starting to think if I want singles then city life is best for me. Which means Portland or some other city I can afford. SoCal cities are too crowded for me and I don't like the people. NorCal cities are nice, but I'm priced out.

Portland seems like a good fit. One of my co-workers works remotely in Portland. Seattle not enough sun.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by the city

No but not heard it's a thriving singles hub. Medford has Ashland which draws some singles I think?

I wouldn't say either Medford or Ashland are "thriving singles hubs," particularly not for young people (there are a lot of single retired people). Ashland does have Southern Oregon University, but it is a fairly small school (around 5,000 full-time and part-time students, although a lot of the part-time students are on-line or in programs that only require them to be physically present for short periods of time). Ashland only has a "university feel" in the area right within a few blocks of the school.

The other thing about smaller towns is that while there might be some IT jobs here, they are going to be more in the support side of things, like working at one of the large hospitals, the city/county, a few of the larger companies. It's only really in larger cities that the job density is there - offering you a larger choice of the type of position and the number of companies with positions.

Originally Posted by the city

Portland seems like a good fit. One of my co-workers works remotely in Portland. Seattle not enough sun.

There really isn't a great deal of difference in Portland and Seattle weather. If you look at the number of clear + partly sunny days per year, both Portland and Seattle have around 150 days per year and the rainfall totals are close.

Where does it rain more, Portland or Seattle? (interactive graphics) | OregonLive.com

[CAjerseychick]

Didn't Prineville just become a storage hub for Facebook or something internet-y like that?
But, yea, Portland seems like the best fit overall for OP, there are a lot of niches here...

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by the city

No but not heard it's a thriving singles hub. Medford has Ashland which draws some singles I think?

I'm starting to think if I want singles then city life is best for me. Which means Portland or some other city I can afford. SoCal cities are too crowded for me and I don't like the people. NorCal cities are nice, but I'm priced out.

Portland seems like a good fit. One of my co-workers works remotely in Portland. Seattle not enough sun.

Again, if sun is an issue for you, look into Arizona. The amount of sunshine is not remarkably different between Seattle and Portland. The Pacific Northwest is not sunny. Please don't move here, unless you are willing to give up sunshine. Otherwise you will be one of those people who will be complaining all the time about how bad the lack of sunshine is.

Sunniest Cities in the U.S. - NerdWallet

[wolfdog]

And I've read Bend isn't as sunny as they'd like you to think.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by CAjerseychick

Didn't Prineville just become a storage hub for Facebook or something internet-y like that?
But, yea, Portland seems like the best fit overall for OP, there are a lot of niches here...

Server farms only create a lot of jobs during construction.

After that, it's skeleton IT, facilities, and security crews, probably around 100 people.
I'll bet that the facilities and security jobs already got snapped up by locals.

All they need is power, water, and connection to the internet.
The rest is pretty much automated.

Prineville is happy because they get tons of tax revenue, and didn't have to really improve any city infrastructure.

Facebook greenlights third Prineville data center: It's Oregon's biggest | OregonLive.com

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by the city

No but not heard it's a thriving singles hub. Medford has Ashland which draws some singles I think?

I'm starting to think if I want singles then city life is best for me. Which means Portland or some other city I can afford. SoCal cities are too crowded for me and I don't like the people. NorCal cities are nice, but I'm priced out.

Portland seems like a good fit. One of my co-workers works remotely in Portland. Seattle not enough sun.

Ashland has SOU, but it's a small school. There are a few hundred college age women there. Ashland itself is based on a theater industry, with the attendant gay population. A bunch of bi women could be fun for a young guy, but are probably not a good bet for a long term relationship.

Portland has the reputation of being "where young people go to retire." There's a lot of truth in that. The contact that I have had with young women there has generally not been pleasant, with lots of ranting about low pay, high rents, and worthless men. The rent part is true. A 2 br. apartment will cost you $2,000/month in Portland, which may not sound like much to somebody from SoCal, but 15 years ago you could rent the same apartment for $850. Rents have been inflating at about 6%/year. Do the math. If it keeps on, 2 years from now that $2k apartment will cost $2250 to rent.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

Ashland itself is based on a theater industry, with the attendant gay population.

I don't think is remotely even true. The "attendant" population is wealthy tourists and second-home owners. Some of them may or may not be gay, but that is secondary to the "wealthy tourist"

SOU's student body is slightly over 50% female, which would put them around 2,500 students. As I said, though, a lot of them are in on-line or non-residency-requiring programs (like one of the Master's in Music programs offered by an affiliate, for which you only need to be present for 4 weeks twice a year).