In Search of Good Quality of Life in Salem (Portland: appointed, health insurance)
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Hello ~ I've lived in Houston, Texas my entire life (mid-50's) and my partner and I have always loved the Pacific NW and would love to live out our years amongst the lush, green landscape. We have had enough of the brutal Texas summers.
I would be interested in hearing about the overall quality of life there in Salem from a middle-aged perspective. We like cool, mild weather, good restaurants, parks with walking trails, and natural beauty. Salem seems well situated as far as being close to lots of nearby places to visit.
The only negatives seem to be long, cloudy winters and cost of living. We should be able to purchase a home from the proceeds of our existing home. We also work from home so he would use the VA and I pay approx. $400 / month for health insurance. I need to find out how much I would pay there as that is a big monthly expense and will try to find an insurance agent to assist with that. Running our air each summer costs approx. $300 / month June - September and our property tax is $8,000 with home insurance at approx $3,000 / year so cost of living here is considered good but not exactly cheap for us.
Is healthcare good there? I've read there is a VA Hospital in Salem which is important to us but I would also like to know about other hospitals and if they give quality care.
Are there any other costs I should consider? I've corresponded with a couple of people in Salem that feel the cost of living is good but that is in comparison to places like Seattle.
Lastly, coming from an area that's seen it's fair share of hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes, I'm wondering if Salem has many concerns as far as natural disasters. Is the area prone to flooding? I've read about earthquakes and tsunamis but it looks like Salem may be in a better area to avoid such things. In fact, according to this site, Corvallis was named as one of the safest places to live with Salem falling in the top 10.
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I would welcome and appreciate any and all comments as it is a very difficult decision to move so far from home but we are really hoping it will work out for us.
Thank you very much.
Last edited by Yac; 09-07-2018 at 03:40 AM..
Reason: Used incorrect wording in title.
hello
welcome to salem it is great place to call home we are retired and came 13 years ago from northern California
first thing you should is check out the va locatins there is clinic but the hospital is in Portland also other medical insurance
plans the medical care is excellent,
the weather is really tame compared to that of texas. thunderstorms are front page news. I like the cool wet winters that because you can stlll be out and about,,,there are miles of walking parks and more. the sf giants have farm club that plays from june until September,,those games are just good fun to go to.
about us we did no research on salem we were fulltiming our motor home stop in town for few days,found our house and the rest is history we knew salem from driving visit friends in the northwest
well that dollar two-ninetys worth
go luck pn your search.
Thanks so much for the very helpful information, mamh. Ha - funny that thunderstorms would make front page news. That's music to my ears.
I was going to ask if you ever get used to the long, gloomy winters. I follow a couple of webcams there in Salem and as I write this, the sun is shining brightly. As long as there are some sunny days mixed in, I can't imagine winters being too depressing. I'm really looking forward to a real fall as we only have two seasons in Houston --- warm and hot.
Thanks again. I really appreciate your time and would love to hear from others.
Dec was unusually cool/rainy (if memory serves), but on the whole it's been a pretty sunny winter compared to the norm.
Food particularly, and even healthcare to an extent, are relative. Salem has adequate health care, but for certain specialties/crisis you'd more likely be moved up to Portland. Restaurants are also fine, but it depends on what your tastes/expectations are. Again, Portland isn't so far away that you can't go up for an easy weekend day trip, but there are plenty of options in Salem as well, from the chains (McGrath's Fish House) to fast food, to actual local places.
As for natural disasters, mega-earthquake and volcano would be the primary ones. We don't get a lot of the routine moderate disasters the rest of the country gets, though the PNW as a whole does tend to get 1-3 small tornadoes per year, they're nothing to write home about by the standards of the Plains states. And perhaps not unlike Texas, when we do get even a minor blizzard things shut down pretty much until it melts off - not a lot of ice/snow equipment out there to do much more than keep the interstates and major thoroughfares passable.
Thanks so much for the very helpful information, mamh. Ha - funny that thunderstorms would make front page news. That's music to my ears.
I was going to ask if you ever get used to the long, gloomy winters. I follow a couple of webcams there in Salem and as I write this, the sun is shining brightly. As long as there are some sunny days mixed in, I can't imagine winters being too depressing. I'm really looking forward to a real fall as we only have two seasons in Houston --- warm and hot.
Thanks again. I really appreciate your time and would love to hear from others.
I think that article you linked must have been published before the whole PNW mega-earthquake article hullabaloo last summer. Bler144 is right on - not much severe weather here in Western Oregon, but there is a risk of very infrequent but extremely strong earthquakes and very infrequent but catastrophic when they happen volcanic eruptions. Other than that, a F1 tornado once or twice a year, usually one good windstorm a year, a few really heavy rainstorms that can drop several inches in a few days, an ice storm that shuts down everything once every few years and snow maybe once a winter that may or may not shut everything down depending on the amount.
You should check the webcams again - I bet it's cloudy now. That's how the weather goes here during spring - sunny for 10 minutes here and there but cloudy more often than not, probably with some rain mixed in. Winter can have sunny days mixed in, but there can be stretches of days and occasionally what seems like weeks at a time where the sun doesn't shine At All. The ratio of sunny days gets better in the Spring but is still more cloudy days than sunny days and if the sun shines, it won't be all day for the most part. I do think the weather would have to be more pleasant than Houston, but from what I've heard Houston weather is like hell on earth most of the year.
Hello ~ I've lived in Houston, Texas my entire life (mid-50's) and my partner and I have always loved the Pacific NW and would love to live out our years amongst the lush, green landscape. We have had enough of the brutal Texas summers.
I would be interested in hearing about the overall quality of life there in Salem from a middle-aged perspective. We like cool, mild weather, good restaurants, parks with walking trails, and natural beauty. Salem seems well situated as far as being close to lots of nearby places to visit.
The only negatives seem to be long, cloudy winters and cost of living. We should be able to purchase a home from the proceeds of our existing home. We also work from home so he would use the VA and I pay approx. $400 / month for health insurance. I need to find out how much I would pay there as that is a big monthly expense and will try to find an insurance agent to assist with that. Running our air each summer costs approx. $300 / month June - September and our property tax is $8,000 with home insurance at approx $3,000 / year so cost of living here is considered good but not exactly cheap for us.
Is healthcare good there? I've read there is a VA Hospital in Salem which is important to us but I would also like to know about other hospitals and if they give quality care.
Are there any other costs I should consider? I've corresponded with a couple of people in Salem that feel the cost of living is good but that is in comparison to places like Seattle.
Lastly, coming from an area that's seen it's fair share of hurricanes, flooding and tornadoes, I'm wondering if Salem has many concerns as far as natural disasters. Is the area prone to flooding? I've read about earthquakes and tsunamis but it looks like Salem may be in a better area to avoid such things. In fact, according to this site, Corvallis was named as one of the safest places to live with Salem falling in the top 10.
Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site
I would welcome and appreciate any and all comments as it is a very difficult decision to move so far from home but we are really hoping it will work out for us.
Thank you very much.
$8,000 in property taxes gets you a $500-$600,000 home here which is quite nice. The biggest issue relocaters have is the small lot size that we have here. Salem's rate is 18.801 per thousand.
Salem doesn't have a VA hospital, but there is a VA clinic here. I know someone that has dealt with the Texas VA system and Oregon's and they said Oregon's isn't good in comparison. That was regarding some long term care as opposed to everyday health care, but that was her experience.
We have a lot of retirees here. Salem doesn't have bad traffic and is a slow paced city, but still has everyday amenities. There are many good restaurants in Salem, but what you think depends on what you like. Our Mexican won't be as good although we have decent Mexican food here. Minto Brown has several miles of walking trails and once the pedestrian bridge is done it will connect to Riverfront Park and Wallace Marine Park. There are trails through Bush Park, and will be trails through the new 50-acre urban park in south Salem.
Most homes don't have AC here, but if you run it all the time, I could see it being $300 a month depending on the size of your home.
oh hummm!!! new friend on the subject of winter gloom..this not an issue with us. I look forward to winter and doing inside things
on lighting i'm not sure if any of the regulars are aware of but out where I spend time volunteering aka Oregon garden there is a giant sequoia that was hit by lighting and split in half they have left this tree alone so our visiors can see how it is healing this happene two years ago.its pretty neat to see. so with that said have good day.
oh hummm!!! new friend on the subject of winter gloom..this not an issue with us. I look forward to winter and doing inside things
on lighting i'm not sure if any of the regulars are aware of but out where I spend time volunteering aka Oregon garden there is a giant sequoia that was hit by lighting and split in half they have left this tree alone so our visiors can see how it is healing this happene two years ago.its pretty neat to see. so with that said have good day.
I think this is the way to deal with the winter gray is just get outside and get your body moving in nature. Many of the waterfalls are spectacular during the rainy season, so having good rain gear is important.
Thanks to you all for your very helpful comments. I'm disappointed to hear about the VA but it's good to know. And I can't even imagine a house without air conditioning but I realize it rarely gets too hot there. Houston is hell on earth in the summer but the rest of the year is very nice. I think we have one of the best winters around. I was sitting outside all of last week enjoying sunny, cool springlike weather. I would miss the sun (and great Mexican food) by moving to Salem but everything is a trade-off.
I did find another link showing Salem has only a moderate risk of an earthquake but not sure how accurate that is. I had not considered the possibility of a volcano erupting. Kind of disturbing to think about all of the gloom and doom scenarios we read about the Pacific NW lately with the "Big One" and tsunamis wiping out the coast. Even with Salem being further inland, you read it would affect the entire state if it were to happen. Seems a shame they have to try to take away people's peace of mind.
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We are looking for a small low maintenance lot so that's perfect for us. I've heard we should look at West Salem and south Salem. Are those areas hilly? I love the hills but read something about mudslides today and not sure where those occur. Also, is flooding ever an issue there?
We are currently looking at both Salem and Roanoke, Virginia. Our hearts have always been with the Pacific NW but it's hard to argue with the cost of living in Roanoke which is also a beautiful place.
Thanks again for all your comments. They are greatly appreciated.
I've lived in Oregon for 25 years and I have felt one earthquake. When the big one hits off the coast, we would supposedly feel about a 7 here while they get a 9 on the coast, but that depends on the epicenter. The coast would be cut off from the rest of Oregon and we would have bridge and road damage here as not everything is up to earthquake standards. Oregon has designated areas that are geologically shown to be high risk of landslides due to earthquakes. They are labeled level 4 areas out here.
Salem has mudslides on River Rd which is one of the areas that has a lot of slope and level 4 areas. It isn't hard to avoid hills. A small low maintenance lot describes most of Salem's homes since we have urban growth boundaries here. It means super dense cities to preserve farm and forest land. We don't sprawl here like Texas.
Yes flooding is an issue in the flood plains. Salem has wetlands and creeks that run through it. People on/near Mill Creek, Pudding Creek, and Pringle Creek have potential flooding concerns. There was a big flood in 1996 and one in 2012. Then you will have some low streets, like River Rd, that get flooded regularly in certain section during winter. It isn't hard to avoid areas prone to flooding as most of Salem doesn't have that issue.
West Salem is hilly and part of south Salem is hilly.
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Bler144 is right on - not much severe weather here in Western Oregon, but there is a risk of very infrequent but extremely strong earthquakes and very infrequent but catastrophic when they happen volcanic eruptions. Other than that, a F1 tornado once or twice a year, usually one good windstorm a year, a few really heavy rainstorms that can drop several inches in a few days, an ice storm that shuts down everything once every few years and snow maybe once a winter that may or may not shut everything down depending on the amount.
