Quote:
Originally Posted by scottmandue
What about north of Portland into Washington state?
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Vancouver WA is right over the river from Portland. It has a quiet "downtown" area, pleasant neighborhoods, nothing notable. Much of the population commutes to Portland jobs, so the traffic on the two bridges (5 and 205) can be really, really bad. There is no light rail option. WA has no income tax and OR no sales tax so the hot tip used to be live in Vancouver, work and shop in Portand, thus Vancouver became a bedroom community. Now OR taxes income from WA residents working in OR, and it can take an hour to drive the 5 miles between the two places at the worst time of day, but housing is still cheaper in Vancouver and the small-town feel is attractive to some. I work in Vancouver half the week, my official work location is there, I've thought about getting a studio apt there and trying to become a WA resident to avoid OR state income tax, but doesn't seem like it's really worth the hassle. If the idea is a quiet and affordable place with easy access to Portland, Vancouver is one possibility but I'd pick Forest Grove.
Don't know much about the part of WA that is north of Vanouver and south of Tacoma. Bunch of small towns, not particularly attractive or interesting, biggest one might be Centralia which has a community college and an actual commercial district. I've ridden my bike through there multiple times and have never thought "gee, this is pretty, I wish I could stop and poke around a bit".
Gresham was mentioned. Ehhh. Booooring. I'd consider living in North and East Portland, before Gresham. Look at prices in St Johns neighbourhood?