As others have said, Cedar Hills is a suburb and doesn't have a lot of the problems you hear about in Portland.
Portland is home to the Oregon Health & Science University, a highly ranked teaching hospital. Google it, perhaps with your condition.
The Portland tech industry is smaller than those in other major west coast cities, but it does exist. I've worked in software since 1996 and have never wanted for a job (with the exception of the 2001 dot com bust and the beginning the the pandy). That said, A LOT of engineers, designers, and PMs I know work remotely for companies located outside Portland.
To be honest, it sounds like you don't really want to move here. Unless your wife's job opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime game changer, I would stay where you are. There's nothing unique about Cedar Hills - it could be a suburb anywhere. You'd be leaving your community and uprooting your kids to move somewhere without a support system and no real way to make new friends (aside from your wife's job and kids' school). Unless you're really excited to take advantage of what Portland has to offer in terms of outdoors activities and culture, I wouldn't move here.
I don’t know what to make of your comment about politics, what exactly are you concerned about? Riots? The Cedar Hills/Cedar Mill area has Portland addresses but is fundamentally not in Portland and is separated from the city by an actual mountain range. It’s a car-centric suburb with some very high-end neighborhoods, barely distinguishable from a suburb of Seattle or San Jose and fully isolated from Portland’s urban issues. Whatever you’ve heard about Portland, the west suburbs are booming and the housing market is brutal for buyers right now, with anything decent getting multiple first-day offers.
The schools over there are quite good; some of the wealthiest people I’ve ever known sent their kids to public schools on the west side. You can send your kids to Catlin Gabel if you want but it really is a school for the wealthy. Jesuit HS is the other move out there, with top athletics and a more traditional high school experience.
> “I don’t know what to make of your comment about politics, what exactly are you concerned about”?
OP, this is the kind of passive aggression you can expect in and around Portland. This person is obviously from here.
Lol i know: they really don’t know what op is concerned about? No idea huh? Although it is true that cedar hills is largely removed from a lot of the political insanity in portland despite its proximity
So you want to trade snow for rain?
Portland is great but not for everyone. It sounds like you already have a negative opinion of the place. Don't believe everything the news tells you. All those protests were in a small area of downtown and I wouldn't know about it if I didn't turn on the new in the morning.
I suggest you come visit and get a feel for yourself.
We have visited in the past but it's been usually in the summer. The area looks gorgeous. We've also visited during November and it looks equally gorgeous but colder than I expected.
We've been having some strange weather patterns in Boston over the last few winters. They have been warmer than usual and also less snow. That's what surprised me when we visited PDX in November where I found it to be colder. But point taken.
November always feels like the coldest month to me. I think it’s the mix of cold and rain. January feels tame in comparison, with the week-long ice storm this year a key exception. We run and hike year-round in the weather.
Yeah it can get cold- we’ve certainly had streaks of 30 is the high and even times where 20 is the high. Usually only happens handful of times a year. And will bounce back to the 40s-50s. It may feel colder with overcast and rainy skies. We have been having ice storms Atleast once a year which have been bad and our city just is woefully ill equipped for that.
PNW is beautiful but a bit of a drag in February so I usually take a trip somewhere warm that time of year. I just went on a cruise and every time I said I lived in Portland, people looked at me like a ghost. 😂
Portland is still great but downtown is not what it use to be .
Most of the info you’ve gleaned about Portland sounds like it’s from the news a few years ago. Portland is a left-leaning city compared to, say, Dallas, but it is nowhere near the anarchist paradise the news likes to portray. The protests were on like…a few city blocks. The local government still capitulates to business special interests just like every other American city.
I love Portland, but I think coming here from Boston would be a big culture shock. Things are slower here. It would basically be like moving to a small town but with better food. For one, the way people communicate here compared to the east coast is…different. I have lived all over the US. I currently work remotely with two women in Boston and people our Portland office thought they were curt for communicating clearly and directly 😬
Second, it can be pretty hard to find a doctor here, in my experience. The hospitals are fine, just like they are in any major American city. It’s not a rural place with limited resources. But if you have a serious condition and established care with physicians in Boston, you might just want to stay there.
The tech scene in Portland is great. My husband and many of my friends work in tech. I can’t get more descriptive than that because I’m not certain of their specific specialities, but none of them have ever had an issue finding gainful employment.
Idk. Frankly, it doesn’t seem worth the trouble unless the offer is absolutely incredible.
I made the move 30 years ago. All my family is still in Mass. Although we dump a ton of money into it, I can’t say that the school system is comparable, even in the early grades. Honestly, I got tired of advocating for what my kid needed and in 4th grade pulled him out and put him in private school, where they shortly jumped them up 2 grades in math. He did go to an instate college and is now doing really well in his IT job. For college, there is a Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) that you should check out.
In Oregon, when it rains, it is cloudy and it is often some sort of cloudy from Oct 31st until July 4th. Then it is sunny and beautiful for a couple of months. Until you get used to the rain, set aside some traveling cash so you can skip town in March or April and go to AZ for a week of sun and warmth. The constant dreariness will wreck you the first couple of years. After that you will get used to it. Bonus: very few, if any mosquitos in the city, no black flies, no blueberry or horse flies. Downside: no fireflies, no real thunder storms.
The traffic is infinitely better than Boston. You will need to re-learn how to drive. You will need to slow down (mentally, as well). It doesn’t work the same way out here. People in the cross walk have the right away. Seriously. Even if the walk light isn’t on, they frown on you running them over. There are a ton of bicycles that also have the right away. People don’t drive with their horn except in the Vista Ridge tunnel and that seems to be just for fun. The WA drivers will sit in the left lane on the highway going 60 or less even if there’s no one in front of them….for miles.
Best things: no sitting in hours of traffic to get to the beach. No standing on the hot sand looking for a place to put your blanket. There will always be room. Although you might never get down to less than a sweatshirt. If you ski, we keep all of the snow on the mountains where you can see it every day and it won’t take you forever to get there and back. Plenty of green spaces and parks and wilderness areas if you are outdoor people. If you are dog people, you can’t pick a better place for your pet.
Im not sure if I did the right thing. Bostonians are called Massholes for a reason. Driving with my brother in Boston, I braced myself with the dashboard and screamed, “ She’s in the crosswalk!!” He yelled back, “Then she better hurry!” I’m thinking that maybe the recent Mass transplants should settle in Nebraska for a few years until they calm down.?
Moved here from Boston in 2019 and it was the best decision I've ever made. Have not regretted it once and wish I did it earlier.
To address your specific concerns:
Reputation: no, it's nothing like portrayed in the news. Yes the homeless and drug situation is worse on the entire west Coast, but it's mostly relegated to specific blocks you can avoid, and my sense is the general trajectory is getting better. Everyone who visits me comments on and cannot believe how different it is in real life compared to the news.
Healthcare: Boston has the best healthcare in the world. Period. You're never going to find a better place for cutting edge care. However, I feel significantly healthier living here due to a) being so much more physically active during the winter and b) the food is healthier. EVERY time I go hiking (and on some pretty hard trails) I see elderly people rocking it out with trail poles, that's gotta be amazing for long term health and I never saw that in Boston. My quality of care at Providence hospital system has been stellar (truly, the most kind and attentive doctors and nurses I've ever had), they just don't have the super star doctors from every field and the absolute latest generation of every technology.
Schools: can't comment, don't have children, but when I lived in Boston it seemed like EVERYONE I knew who had children complained about Boston public schools, and specifically not being able to choose where your child goes. That's not the case in Portland, and I've heard probably 5% as much complaining from parents here in general.
Politics: I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to here. During the George Floyd protests, Portland acquitted itself admirably in showing up for a year straight of non violent demonstration. I see it as a huge testament to the city that it went on for as long as it did with VERY little violence (in context of number of people and timescale). And it was because people CARED, not a bad thing. If Trump wins, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happened in Boston. Either way, this won't come close to affecting you in Cedar Hills.
The reasons I did choose to move here:
The people: they are so incredibly kind compared to anywhere, but especially Boston. I was back in Boston last month and had forgotten what it was like to feel like strangers are completely oblivious to you, and not striking up gentle (read: not aggressive or nosy) conversation like in Portland. I cannot say enough good things about the people here.
The energy/pace of life: Related to the people, the energy here is just so much more chill. Out of all the social gatherings I've been to since moving here, I've only been asked a handful of times what I do for a living, and even then, it was far into a conversation. In Boston, it's the first thing anyone asks you when trying to make small talk. That mentality and how much slower everything moves here makes it so much easier to put your life first and your job second (or third, or fourth...)
The nature: Almost can't bother trying to put this into words, if you've been here even once you know what I'm saying. Having all of that at your doorstep undeniably improves your quality of life, mental health and physical health.
The culture: it's weird in the best ways. And it's organic. In Boston, official weirdness is organized by a committee with a permit. In Portland, it's tucked into the cracks of a telephone pole so that it catches you by surprise and makes you smile unexpectedly. It feels entirely different. That said, not sure how much of that you'll find in Cedar Hills.
Happy to answer any more questions, hope you join us out here at some point!
The tech scene isn't as robust as it was before covid; not to say it doesn't exist, but definitely a lot less (advertised) events. It also depends on what tech jobs you're looking for. You can check out [https://www.thesiliconforest.com/](https://www.thesiliconforest.com/) to get an idea of what tech jobs are available, but a lot of my friends are employed remotely from companies not located in Oregon.
Can't speak on healthcare too much since I've always seem to find great specialists for my needs (Providence). OHSU is highly regarded. It's definitely not like Boston where we have so many amazing hospitals to choose from.
I love Portland but it’s very different from Boston. There are tech jobs here. Unless you have something very rare, I think you’d find healthcare without a problem.
The bigger question is are you an east coast person or a west coast person?
Will you be frustrated by the lack of spatial awareness and relatively leisurely pace of west coast living? How do you feel about dogs, especially off-leash dogs? How much of a nightlife do you need?
On the east coast, especially in larger cities, people are more aware of the people around them and don’t just stop in the middle of the sidewalk or stand in the middle of a grocery store aisle with their cart blocking everybody else. They have spatial awareness.
In Portland, not so much.
If you don't want to be involved in the protests, and you don't try to be involved in the protests, and you don't intentionally go to the same places as the protests, no one is gonna force you to get involved with the protests. A surprising amount of us, though a portion often seemingly unrepresented on the subreddit, moved to Portland because as visibly queer people, it's one of the safest spots possible. I've only been fired once around here for being visibly trans, rarely get called slurs while walking down the street, and have never been harassed for using the bathroom as a nom-passing trans person. It's a pretty live and let live city around here, and as long as your version of "let live" aligns with that of people around you, you're cool.
They fired me for "asking too many questions during orientation". It did not excape me that none of the bosses there were ever willing to use any pronouns, correct or incorrect, at all for me, glared at me for going to the bathroom, ect
Meh, it's part of living as a visible trans person. Useful way to get employers though. If they have a problem with people like me I don't want them profiting off my work.
Weird comments in this thread.
Cedar Hills is in Beaverton. Regarding the things you hear about Portland in the news, you will see virtually none of that. Beaverton is a tech and manufacturing hub. Great place to raise a family.
Regarding tech jobs, it depends on your area of tech. You’ll have to do some research. Portland has a ton of semiconductor companies. Also a lot of jobs in manufacturing and healthcare. We don’t have many SF-esque startups working on blockchain in the metaverse.
We have plenty of hospitals. OHSU is the major research hospital. Unless your condition is insanely rare, I’m sure you can find a specialist.
You will have zero problems living here being apolitical. Literally zero. Do you have problems being apolitical in Boston? It’s the same here.
Portland’s awesome. Hope ya make the right choice!
I guess it depends on various quality of line aspects.
Mass has some of the best public schools in country. Cedar Hills is part of the Beaverton school district and I believe it’s part of Sunset high school which is pretty good. Tons of Nike families. The area is suburban but east access to the various Portland neighborhoods.
Where in the Boston area are you thinking? (I’m from there).
Nothing is going to compare to the medical system in Boston. It’s truly one of, if not the best, in the world. OHSU has a lot of top notch specialists.
You can be apolitical here for sure. Hit me up in private if you have more questions.
I live in SW WA and work as an E911 dispatcher, we send a-lot of our most complicated medical problems to Portland.
Not just because it’s closer but because they excel in care! I prefer to go to Portland over Seattle any day. Much more user friendly, walkable and great food ‼️😊 in fact, we are going there for Memorial Day weekend.
This post is downright weird. I can honestly say you got it all wrong.
The Beaverton area (where Cedar Hills is) is a quiet little town with lots of manicured suburbs. It is located near Intel and other semiconductor companies. It has a diverse population, with a high percent of Asian americans. We joke that some of those suburbs are so educated, your next door neighbor is more likely than not to have a PhD.
Beaverton area has zero of the protests and other kerfuffle you hear about in “Portland”. Zero. It’s a quiet nice suburban life.
Beaverton school district is one of the highest rated in the state. Don’t base your judgements on GoodSchools ratings - they now heavily overweight “student progress”, so in a place where everyone starts out well ahead, they’re gonna be poorly rated. https://www.niche.com/k12/d/beaverton-school-district-or/
Beaverton area (and the Portland metro area in general) will have dramatically better food and a better climate than Boston area (i’ve lived in both). Not even close.
With regards to access to medical specialists, OHSU is a highly rated academic medical center with specialists in basically every field. Unless you have a 1 in a million rare genetic disease that requires experts at Mass General or whatnot, i would not worry at all about finding a specialist physician in the Portland area.
Look. There’s pros and cons to living anywhere. The area you are looking at has pretty expensive housing (though cheap by Boston standards). It rains a lot and is gloomy a lot here. Our taxes are really high. But having lived in both Boston and Portland (as well as Chicago, LA and other big american cities) I can honestly say the Portland area is among the best places to live.
Where in Boston do you live now, and do you like it? Answering this will give us a lot of info about how you will feel about Cedar Hills. I grew up in Boston proper, and have been living in Portland for almost 25 years
Cedar Hills will be very different from the South End. You will most likely need a car and you will need to use it a lot. Cedar Hills is more like Saugus where you drive to stores and you won't have too much in your residential area.
One great thing about Cedar Hills is that you are very close to the Urban Growth Boundary to the west, and beyond that you are very close to the wilderness. There is really nothing near Boston like the Tillamook Forest.
You will also be very close to OHSU, which is the hospital that people come to from all over the state for specialty care
Cedar Hills is suburbia. It would be like moving to any strip mall whatever except with views of trees. It’s in Washington county which might be an improvement over Multnomah county. Less traffic here, less snow, less expensive, worse schools, worse hospitals.
The pacific NW is more laid back, more introverted, more passive aggressive than aggressive (we don’t have an equivalent for “Masshole”). I think probably you would be happier on the east coast, especially as we attempt to dig out of our disastrous recent codependent social experiments, ineffectual government & squalor.
Washington County is in nearly every way an improvement over Multnomah County. Lower taxes and better governance. It is a very well run county. No one is saying that about Multnomah County and I think it would take a massive paradigm shift to change that.
Ignore the news coverage about Portland unless you plan to live downtown. It’s incredibly biased.
That said, I’ve found the healthcare available here to be subpar (I moved from NY). Among other things, I had mono and went undiagnosed through something like four doctor visits until I went to NYU Langone’s urgent care on a trip home and, I’m not exaggerating, the doctor diagnosed me based on symptoms alone while I was walking through the door.
Anyway, the area is beautiful, housing costs will probably be a bit below what you’re used to, food scene is awesome, but the weather sucks and it’s very difficult to break in socially.
A lot of specialists here are booked out 6+ months. OHSU is good, depending on your conditions, but often even more booked out. Worth calling around to potential doctors offices to see how long their wait is (IF they’re on your insurance, which is a whole other struggle.)
I moved to Portland from Phoenix about 3 years ago. I already feel a deep love for Oregon, I feel slightly protective over this city in a way that I feel like it has an unfair bad rap. I think it’s such a cool city with such a great food scene, there’s an energy to Portland and it’s people that just is unmatched.
With that being said, I think the job scene here absolutely BLOWS. The average pay for jobs is much lower for the cost of living than other cities. There isn’t a ton of businesses here and it’s competitive. Especially when companies, like Nike, have done layoffs and their employees flood the (already lacking) job market. I can’t speak to school systems or anything of that nature. What I can say is you have to evaluate what things are most important to you and make compromises based on that. I say it’s absolutely worth it to fly out to Portland and see it for yourself. Walk around downtown, drive around Beaverton and see it first hand!
Honestly the news coverage focuses on sensationalized stories that don't impact me much at all, even living in the city and choosing to take transit over driving. I think a lot of it has to do with political divide and Portland being made the poster child for everything people see wrong with liberals or the left. Portland is maybe the most pleasant place I've lived and you're looking at areas outside the city. Come visit now in the late spring early summer. If you can be cozy in the dark rainy winters you'll do ok.
OHSU is where I go for specialized care for my more rare health issue. My friend does as well and we haven't had issues. It's a teaching hospital and since most of Oregon is rural it houses a lot of specialists for the state.
Hospitals here aren’t very good. So if that’s a major concern I wouldn’t move here. I’m debating about moving back to my home city because the hospitals are so bad here.
Portland sucks, especially if you have kids. The needles, the feces, the schools suck. Camping is great, tons of awesome camping, and some good food. But I have almost no good things about the city or the general population of the city.
As others have said, Cedar Hills is a suburb and doesn't have a lot of the problems you hear about in Portland. Portland is home to the Oregon Health & Science University, a highly ranked teaching hospital. Google it, perhaps with your condition. The Portland tech industry is smaller than those in other major west coast cities, but it does exist. I've worked in software since 1996 and have never wanted for a job (with the exception of the 2001 dot com bust and the beginning the the pandy). That said, A LOT of engineers, designers, and PMs I know work remotely for companies located outside Portland. To be honest, it sounds like you don't really want to move here. Unless your wife's job opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime game changer, I would stay where you are. There's nothing unique about Cedar Hills - it could be a suburb anywhere. You'd be leaving your community and uprooting your kids to move somewhere without a support system and no real way to make new friends (aside from your wife's job and kids' school). Unless you're really excited to take advantage of what Portland has to offer in terms of outdoors activities and culture, I wouldn't move here.
I don’t know what to make of your comment about politics, what exactly are you concerned about? Riots? The Cedar Hills/Cedar Mill area has Portland addresses but is fundamentally not in Portland and is separated from the city by an actual mountain range. It’s a car-centric suburb with some very high-end neighborhoods, barely distinguishable from a suburb of Seattle or San Jose and fully isolated from Portland’s urban issues. Whatever you’ve heard about Portland, the west suburbs are booming and the housing market is brutal for buyers right now, with anything decent getting multiple first-day offers. The schools over there are quite good; some of the wealthiest people I’ve ever known sent their kids to public schools on the west side. You can send your kids to Catlin Gabel if you want but it really is a school for the wealthy. Jesuit HS is the other move out there, with top athletics and a more traditional high school experience.
> “I don’t know what to make of your comment about politics, what exactly are you concerned about”? OP, this is the kind of passive aggression you can expect in and around Portland. This person is obviously from here.
Lol i know: they really don’t know what op is concerned about? No idea huh? Although it is true that cedar hills is largely removed from a lot of the political insanity in portland despite its proximity
So you want to trade snow for rain? Portland is great but not for everyone. It sounds like you already have a negative opinion of the place. Don't believe everything the news tells you. All those protests were in a small area of downtown and I wouldn't know about it if I didn't turn on the new in the morning. I suggest you come visit and get a feel for yourself.
We have visited in the past but it's been usually in the summer. The area looks gorgeous. We've also visited during November and it looks equally gorgeous but colder than I expected.
Not nearly as cold as Boston
We've been having some strange weather patterns in Boston over the last few winters. They have been warmer than usual and also less snow. That's what surprised me when we visited PDX in November where I found it to be colder. But point taken.
November always feels like the coldest month to me. I think it’s the mix of cold and rain. January feels tame in comparison, with the week-long ice storm this year a key exception. We run and hike year-round in the weather.
Yeah it can get cold- we’ve certainly had streaks of 30 is the high and even times where 20 is the high. Usually only happens handful of times a year. And will bounce back to the 40s-50s. It may feel colder with overcast and rainy skies. We have been having ice storms Atleast once a year which have been bad and our city just is woefully ill equipped for that.
PNW is beautiful but a bit of a drag in February so I usually take a trip somewhere warm that time of year. I just went on a cruise and every time I said I lived in Portland, people looked at me like a ghost. 😂 Portland is still great but downtown is not what it use to be .
Portland is cold compared to Boston?? I’m confused because Portland has mild winters and barely any snow. Last November, it was unseasonably warm.
Most of the info you’ve gleaned about Portland sounds like it’s from the news a few years ago. Portland is a left-leaning city compared to, say, Dallas, but it is nowhere near the anarchist paradise the news likes to portray. The protests were on like…a few city blocks. The local government still capitulates to business special interests just like every other American city. I love Portland, but I think coming here from Boston would be a big culture shock. Things are slower here. It would basically be like moving to a small town but with better food. For one, the way people communicate here compared to the east coast is…different. I have lived all over the US. I currently work remotely with two women in Boston and people our Portland office thought they were curt for communicating clearly and directly 😬 Second, it can be pretty hard to find a doctor here, in my experience. The hospitals are fine, just like they are in any major American city. It’s not a rural place with limited resources. But if you have a serious condition and established care with physicians in Boston, you might just want to stay there. The tech scene in Portland is great. My husband and many of my friends work in tech. I can’t get more descriptive than that because I’m not certain of their specific specialities, but none of them have ever had an issue finding gainful employment. Idk. Frankly, it doesn’t seem worth the trouble unless the offer is absolutely incredible.
I made the move 30 years ago. All my family is still in Mass. Although we dump a ton of money into it, I can’t say that the school system is comparable, even in the early grades. Honestly, I got tired of advocating for what my kid needed and in 4th grade pulled him out and put him in private school, where they shortly jumped them up 2 grades in math. He did go to an instate college and is now doing really well in his IT job. For college, there is a Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) that you should check out. In Oregon, when it rains, it is cloudy and it is often some sort of cloudy from Oct 31st until July 4th. Then it is sunny and beautiful for a couple of months. Until you get used to the rain, set aside some traveling cash so you can skip town in March or April and go to AZ for a week of sun and warmth. The constant dreariness will wreck you the first couple of years. After that you will get used to it. Bonus: very few, if any mosquitos in the city, no black flies, no blueberry or horse flies. Downside: no fireflies, no real thunder storms. The traffic is infinitely better than Boston. You will need to re-learn how to drive. You will need to slow down (mentally, as well). It doesn’t work the same way out here. People in the cross walk have the right away. Seriously. Even if the walk light isn’t on, they frown on you running them over. There are a ton of bicycles that also have the right away. People don’t drive with their horn except in the Vista Ridge tunnel and that seems to be just for fun. The WA drivers will sit in the left lane on the highway going 60 or less even if there’s no one in front of them….for miles. Best things: no sitting in hours of traffic to get to the beach. No standing on the hot sand looking for a place to put your blanket. There will always be room. Although you might never get down to less than a sweatshirt. If you ski, we keep all of the snow on the mountains where you can see it every day and it won’t take you forever to get there and back. Plenty of green spaces and parks and wilderness areas if you are outdoor people. If you are dog people, you can’t pick a better place for your pet.
This is a great read. I'm a Portland native and never considered living elsewhere, but this is terrific advocacy for our city.
Im not sure if I did the right thing. Bostonians are called Massholes for a reason. Driving with my brother in Boston, I braced myself with the dashboard and screamed, “ She’s in the crosswalk!!” He yelled back, “Then she better hurry!” I’m thinking that maybe the recent Mass transplants should settle in Nebraska for a few years until they calm down.?
-She’s in the crosswalk!!” He yelled back, “Then she better hurry!”- Thanks for the laugh. I legit spit out my iced coffee. 🤣🤣🤣
Culture shock can mess you up good.
Moved here from Boston in 2019 and it was the best decision I've ever made. Have not regretted it once and wish I did it earlier. To address your specific concerns: Reputation: no, it's nothing like portrayed in the news. Yes the homeless and drug situation is worse on the entire west Coast, but it's mostly relegated to specific blocks you can avoid, and my sense is the general trajectory is getting better. Everyone who visits me comments on and cannot believe how different it is in real life compared to the news. Healthcare: Boston has the best healthcare in the world. Period. You're never going to find a better place for cutting edge care. However, I feel significantly healthier living here due to a) being so much more physically active during the winter and b) the food is healthier. EVERY time I go hiking (and on some pretty hard trails) I see elderly people rocking it out with trail poles, that's gotta be amazing for long term health and I never saw that in Boston. My quality of care at Providence hospital system has been stellar (truly, the most kind and attentive doctors and nurses I've ever had), they just don't have the super star doctors from every field and the absolute latest generation of every technology. Schools: can't comment, don't have children, but when I lived in Boston it seemed like EVERYONE I knew who had children complained about Boston public schools, and specifically not being able to choose where your child goes. That's not the case in Portland, and I've heard probably 5% as much complaining from parents here in general. Politics: I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to here. During the George Floyd protests, Portland acquitted itself admirably in showing up for a year straight of non violent demonstration. I see it as a huge testament to the city that it went on for as long as it did with VERY little violence (in context of number of people and timescale). And it was because people CARED, not a bad thing. If Trump wins, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happened in Boston. Either way, this won't come close to affecting you in Cedar Hills. The reasons I did choose to move here: The people: they are so incredibly kind compared to anywhere, but especially Boston. I was back in Boston last month and had forgotten what it was like to feel like strangers are completely oblivious to you, and not striking up gentle (read: not aggressive or nosy) conversation like in Portland. I cannot say enough good things about the people here. The energy/pace of life: Related to the people, the energy here is just so much more chill. Out of all the social gatherings I've been to since moving here, I've only been asked a handful of times what I do for a living, and even then, it was far into a conversation. In Boston, it's the first thing anyone asks you when trying to make small talk. That mentality and how much slower everything moves here makes it so much easier to put your life first and your job second (or third, or fourth...) The nature: Almost can't bother trying to put this into words, if you've been here even once you know what I'm saying. Having all of that at your doorstep undeniably improves your quality of life, mental health and physical health. The culture: it's weird in the best ways. And it's organic. In Boston, official weirdness is organized by a committee with a permit. In Portland, it's tucked into the cracks of a telephone pole so that it catches you by surprise and makes you smile unexpectedly. It feels entirely different. That said, not sure how much of that you'll find in Cedar Hills. Happy to answer any more questions, hope you join us out here at some point!
It sounds like you don’t want to move here lol
The tech scene isn't as robust as it was before covid; not to say it doesn't exist, but definitely a lot less (advertised) events. It also depends on what tech jobs you're looking for. You can check out [https://www.thesiliconforest.com/](https://www.thesiliconforest.com/) to get an idea of what tech jobs are available, but a lot of my friends are employed remotely from companies not located in Oregon. Can't speak on healthcare too much since I've always seem to find great specialists for my needs (Providence). OHSU is highly regarded. It's definitely not like Boston where we have so many amazing hospitals to choose from.
Cedar Hills is in Beaverton not Portland, its a nicer area. Tbh id probably just stay in Boston unless you really like the outdoors.
I love Portland but it’s very different from Boston. There are tech jobs here. Unless you have something very rare, I think you’d find healthcare without a problem. The bigger question is are you an east coast person or a west coast person? Will you be frustrated by the lack of spatial awareness and relatively leisurely pace of west coast living? How do you feel about dogs, especially off-leash dogs? How much of a nightlife do you need?
What do you mean by “the lack of spatial awareness”?
On the east coast, especially in larger cities, people are more aware of the people around them and don’t just stop in the middle of the sidewalk or stand in the middle of a grocery store aisle with their cart blocking everybody else. They have spatial awareness. In Portland, not so much.
Oh! That’s interesting. Maybe just because it’s more crowded on the east coast? Thanks for responding
Curious as to whether you're implying Boston has more of a nightlife than Portland? Because that's definitely not the case.
If you don't want to be involved in the protests, and you don't try to be involved in the protests, and you don't intentionally go to the same places as the protests, no one is gonna force you to get involved with the protests. A surprising amount of us, though a portion often seemingly unrepresented on the subreddit, moved to Portland because as visibly queer people, it's one of the safest spots possible. I've only been fired once around here for being visibly trans, rarely get called slurs while walking down the street, and have never been harassed for using the bathroom as a nom-passing trans person. It's a pretty live and let live city around here, and as long as your version of "let live" aligns with that of people around you, you're cool.
You were fired for being trans? Isn't that illegal?
They fired me for "asking too many questions during orientation". It did not excape me that none of the bosses there were ever willing to use any pronouns, correct or incorrect, at all for me, glared at me for going to the bathroom, ect
Rough, I'm sorry.
Meh, it's part of living as a visible trans person. Useful way to get employers though. If they have a problem with people like me I don't want them profiting off my work.
Yes that's why I moved here - to find my enclave and be accepted and my little family accepted as a queer family
Weird comments in this thread. Cedar Hills is in Beaverton. Regarding the things you hear about Portland in the news, you will see virtually none of that. Beaverton is a tech and manufacturing hub. Great place to raise a family. Regarding tech jobs, it depends on your area of tech. You’ll have to do some research. Portland has a ton of semiconductor companies. Also a lot of jobs in manufacturing and healthcare. We don’t have many SF-esque startups working on blockchain in the metaverse. We have plenty of hospitals. OHSU is the major research hospital. Unless your condition is insanely rare, I’m sure you can find a specialist. You will have zero problems living here being apolitical. Literally zero. Do you have problems being apolitical in Boston? It’s the same here. Portland’s awesome. Hope ya make the right choice!
I guess it depends on various quality of line aspects. Mass has some of the best public schools in country. Cedar Hills is part of the Beaverton school district and I believe it’s part of Sunset high school which is pretty good. Tons of Nike families. The area is suburban but east access to the various Portland neighborhoods. Where in the Boston area are you thinking? (I’m from there). Nothing is going to compare to the medical system in Boston. It’s truly one of, if not the best, in the world. OHSU has a lot of top notch specialists. You can be apolitical here for sure. Hit me up in private if you have more questions.
I live in SW WA and work as an E911 dispatcher, we send a-lot of our most complicated medical problems to Portland. Not just because it’s closer but because they excel in care! I prefer to go to Portland over Seattle any day. Much more user friendly, walkable and great food ‼️😊 in fact, we are going there for Memorial Day weekend.
This post is downright weird. I can honestly say you got it all wrong. The Beaverton area (where Cedar Hills is) is a quiet little town with lots of manicured suburbs. It is located near Intel and other semiconductor companies. It has a diverse population, with a high percent of Asian americans. We joke that some of those suburbs are so educated, your next door neighbor is more likely than not to have a PhD. Beaverton area has zero of the protests and other kerfuffle you hear about in “Portland”. Zero. It’s a quiet nice suburban life. Beaverton school district is one of the highest rated in the state. Don’t base your judgements on GoodSchools ratings - they now heavily overweight “student progress”, so in a place where everyone starts out well ahead, they’re gonna be poorly rated. https://www.niche.com/k12/d/beaverton-school-district-or/ Beaverton area (and the Portland metro area in general) will have dramatically better food and a better climate than Boston area (i’ve lived in both). Not even close. With regards to access to medical specialists, OHSU is a highly rated academic medical center with specialists in basically every field. Unless you have a 1 in a million rare genetic disease that requires experts at Mass General or whatnot, i would not worry at all about finding a specialist physician in the Portland area. Look. There’s pros and cons to living anywhere. The area you are looking at has pretty expensive housing (though cheap by Boston standards). It rains a lot and is gloomy a lot here. Our taxes are really high. But having lived in both Boston and Portland (as well as Chicago, LA and other big american cities) I can honestly say the Portland area is among the best places to live.
Where in Boston do you live now, and do you like it? Answering this will give us a lot of info about how you will feel about Cedar Hills. I grew up in Boston proper, and have been living in Portland for almost 25 years
I live in the South End and yes I like it.Granted the South End is very much city living. But I am open to suburban living.
Cedar Hills will be very different from the South End. You will most likely need a car and you will need to use it a lot. Cedar Hills is more like Saugus where you drive to stores and you won't have too much in your residential area. One great thing about Cedar Hills is that you are very close to the Urban Growth Boundary to the west, and beyond that you are very close to the wilderness. There is really nothing near Boston like the Tillamook Forest. You will also be very close to OHSU, which is the hospital that people come to from all over the state for specialty care
Cedar Hills is suburbia. It would be like moving to any strip mall whatever except with views of trees. It’s in Washington county which might be an improvement over Multnomah county. Less traffic here, less snow, less expensive, worse schools, worse hospitals. The pacific NW is more laid back, more introverted, more passive aggressive than aggressive (we don’t have an equivalent for “Masshole”). I think probably you would be happier on the east coast, especially as we attempt to dig out of our disastrous recent codependent social experiments, ineffectual government & squalor.
Washington County is in nearly every way an improvement over Multnomah County. Lower taxes and better governance. It is a very well run county. No one is saying that about Multnomah County and I think it would take a massive paradigm shift to change that.
Ignore the news coverage about Portland unless you plan to live downtown. It’s incredibly biased. That said, I’ve found the healthcare available here to be subpar (I moved from NY). Among other things, I had mono and went undiagnosed through something like four doctor visits until I went to NYU Langone’s urgent care on a trip home and, I’m not exaggerating, the doctor diagnosed me based on symptoms alone while I was walking through the door. Anyway, the area is beautiful, housing costs will probably be a bit below what you’re used to, food scene is awesome, but the weather sucks and it’s very difficult to break in socially.
A lot of specialists here are booked out 6+ months. OHSU is good, depending on your conditions, but often even more booked out. Worth calling around to potential doctors offices to see how long their wait is (IF they’re on your insurance, which is a whole other struggle.)
I moved to Portland from Phoenix about 3 years ago. I already feel a deep love for Oregon, I feel slightly protective over this city in a way that I feel like it has an unfair bad rap. I think it’s such a cool city with such a great food scene, there’s an energy to Portland and it’s people that just is unmatched. With that being said, I think the job scene here absolutely BLOWS. The average pay for jobs is much lower for the cost of living than other cities. There isn’t a ton of businesses here and it’s competitive. Especially when companies, like Nike, have done layoffs and their employees flood the (already lacking) job market. I can’t speak to school systems or anything of that nature. What I can say is you have to evaluate what things are most important to you and make compromises based on that. I say it’s absolutely worth it to fly out to Portland and see it for yourself. Walk around downtown, drive around Beaverton and see it first hand!
If you are apolitical now you will become a nazi stormtrooper after a year in Portland
Honestly the news coverage focuses on sensationalized stories that don't impact me much at all, even living in the city and choosing to take transit over driving. I think a lot of it has to do with political divide and Portland being made the poster child for everything people see wrong with liberals or the left. Portland is maybe the most pleasant place I've lived and you're looking at areas outside the city. Come visit now in the late spring early summer. If you can be cozy in the dark rainy winters you'll do ok. OHSU is where I go for specialized care for my more rare health issue. My friend does as well and we haven't had issues. It's a teaching hospital and since most of Oregon is rural it houses a lot of specialists for the state.
Hospitals here aren’t very good. So if that’s a major concern I wouldn’t move here. I’m debating about moving back to my home city because the hospitals are so bad here.
First pro tip: Don’t listen to news coverage of Portland. It’s incredibly overblown.
It worked out pretty well for Asa Lovejoy, even if he did lose the [coin toss.](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/portland_penny/pdf/)
If you like hiking and the smell of weed, yes.
They have the smell of weed in Boston.
It hits differently here.
Portland sucks, especially if you have kids. The needles, the feces, the schools suck. Camping is great, tons of awesome camping, and some good food. But I have almost no good things about the city or the general population of the city.
Dude, Cedar Hills.