Cheap Places to Live in Oregon

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by Rob Allen

Oregon in general is expensive and Corvallis is among the most expensive places in the state.

If you think Oregon is expensive, take a look at Colorado or many other states where the rents for studio apartments start in the four digit figures a month.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

If you think Oregon is expensive, take a look at Colorado or many other states where the rents for studio apartments start in the four digit figures a month.

Sounds like Portland.

[haggardhouseelf]

Every once in awhile my husband and I get a wild hair up the tush and consider relocating to a different city/state/whatever.

It usually happens when we have gone too long without a real vacation. Getting away from home sure does help you appreciate home more.

But anyway... whenever we get this wild hair... I open up my handy dandy excel spreadsheet that I created many years ago when we were having to relocate (many times) for husbands job and didn't really have a choice in the matter about where we were moving to. Back then, I was just trying to learn more about the place we were moving to. Now, I use this excel spreadsheet to figure out if it would be worth it to relocate if we should choose to.

So... I have three columns. Column 1 is the item to research. Column 2 is where I put the data gathered during research of my current "home". Column 3 is for the data gathered during research of the potential place to relocate. Seeing the data side-by-side is very beneficial.

So here are the items I research:
1. Population of town/city
2. Population of larger metro area
3. avg. purchase price of comparable home (similar to what we currently have)
4. avg. price of homes per sq. ft.
5. avg. cost to insure home
6. property taxes
Utililities:
7. water rates (I also research source and quality of water)
8. electricity rates (also source and is it clean/renewable?)
9. natural gas rates
10. sewer rates
11. trash & recycling rates
Transportation costs:
12. cost of gas
13. cost of vehicle registration
14. cost of renewing drivers license
15. cost and process of transferring vehicle and drivers privileges to new state if applicable
16. auto insurance
17. cost of monthly bus pass
TAXES (yes or no and if yes, how much?)
18. sales tax
19. city income tax?
20. state income tax? (Is social security income exempt?)
21. Other city or county fees or monthly costs (fire, ambulance, etc?)
EDUCATION
22. Free two-year college tuition? This is a new addition to my spreadhseet, since Oregon adopted the Oregon Promise. For us, this can potentially save us and our kids and future grandkids thousands of dollars in college tuition expenses.
Quality of Life
23. Air Quality (Ozone? Year-round particle pollution? Short-term particle pollution? Carbon dioxide emissions?)
24. Water quality (Fluoride? No fluoride? Compare water quality stats. Compare source.)
25. Outdoor recreation opportunities
26. Access to public library
27. access to museums, live music, theater, and other arts performances
28. access to organic locally grown food, co-ops, CSA's, farmer's markets
Public Safety & Crime
29. Which location has higher violent crime (murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault; per 100K population)
30. which location has higher property crime (burglary, theft, vehicle theft; per 100K population)
31. How many police officers per 100K population

There are things I used to research that I don't anymore, like the quality and performance of K-12 public schools. My kids are mostly beyond that point now, so I don't care much about that info anymore. Also commute time/traffic. There are several things not included in my list that I don't actively seek out data for. Inevitably as I'm researching these items, I come upon other interesting little tidbits. But usually just researching these items I can figure out if the move would be worth it or not.

Just thought I'd share in case it helps others.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

Sounds like Portland.

I believe that base rents for studios are less then $1000 in Portland. I believe that base rents for one bedrooms are less then $1000. Thats not the case in Denver, or most major towns in Colorado.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

I believe that base rents for studios are less then $1000 in Portland. I believe that base rents for one bedrooms are less then $1000. Thats not the case in Denver, or most major towns in Colorado.

It's been a while since you left Oregon, unless your idea of "base rent" is what they charge for a roach infested hole in a bad neighborhood.

https://www.rentjungle.com/average-r...r-rent-trends/

[McFrostyJ]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

I believe that base rents for studios are less then $1000 in Portland.

Maybe not in Portland. I'm really not sure. However, you can find something not far away for that.
My sister rents a very nice one bedroom place in Gresham with a pool and all the other things you'd want for $850.

[Wickedhallows]

I was looking at relocating to Eugene. Can anyone tell me what it is like weather wise, cost of living, rent/home prices, utilities and all? Or direct me to a place to find this information? The internet is great but extremely time consuming and often conflicting.

[PNW-type-gal]

The Eugene - Springfield - Cottage Grove area has its own forum, you might try looking through the threads there and then ask a more specific question in that forum:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/eugene-area/

[PNW-type-gal]

Closed - since this thread was started, we've had a major economic downturn and recovery, making the info in the thread dependent of the timing of the posts.