Need advice, considering moving to Oregon or Washington, thank you.

Hi everyone,

I'm very thankful for this site and the wealth of info. from all of you, and to those who are on the front lines fighting to protect our constitutional rights!

I would like to ask a question and will appreciate all responses. I have lived in Missouri most of my life (51 years) and have worked for the same business (except for time served in the military) for 26 years. I'm ready for a change and considering a move to the Northwest and open to suggestions based on the following criteria:

1. Mild weather (no extreme cold or heat)
2. Fun, friendly and interesting place to live
3. Open carry friendly city/state
4. Good job market for customer service/sales
5. Year-round availability of local, fresh organic foods would be a plus.

I have never been to Oregon or Washington although they both sound like very nice places to live! I do have my conceal and carry (CCW) license issued by the state of Missouri. Not 100% positive, but it appears Washington will honor my license and Oregon may not. Any advice/suggestions on the best cities to live and why will be greatly appreciated, thank you very much!

alanspfdmo said:

Hi everyone,
1. Mild weather (no extreme cold or heat)
2. Fun, friendly and interesting place to live
3. Open carry friendly city/state
4. Good job market for customer service/sales
5. Year-round availability of local, fresh organic foods would be a plus.

I have never been to Oregon or Washington although they both sound like very nice places to live! I do have my conceal and carry (CCW) license issued by the state of Missouri. Not 100% positive, but it appears Washington will honor my license and Oregon may not. Any advice/suggestions on the best cities to live and why will be greatly appreciated, thank you very much!

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I've only lived in Oregon for a couple of years, so take this all with a grain of salt.

1. The coast of Oregon tends to be wetter/windier but more consistent temperatures. The coast range gets some snow but not an awful lot. The cascade range gets significantly more snow. East of the cascades Oregon stops being wet and starts being dry. I'd suggest looking at precipitation maps and temperature maps to get an idea of the ranges.

2. Fun depends on what you want to do. Hunting and fishing would put you in a very different location from eating at nice restaurants and being into boating.

3. Oregon is pretty open carry friendly in my opinion. It isn't Arizona, but even the liberal places tend to not really care. The downside of Oregon is that there isn't state preemption for unlicensed open carry, but none of that matters if you get a CHL. In Oregon you can carry pretty much anywhere other than secure areas of airports, jails, courts (I think), post offices, and federal buildings.

4. I have no idea what the job market is for customer service/sales. There's lots of industry sprinkled throughout the state, but obviously Portland is going to have the most job openings.

5. Not too familiar with the rest of the state, but I know Corvallis has a year round farmers market. I'd be surprised if Portland didn't or other larger cities.

Downsides to Oregon are the income tax which Washington lacks, but in Oregon you can own machine guns. But then in Washington you can smoke marijuana for recreational purposes.

I'd recommend taking a vacation out here and driving through the areas you think might work.

Just fyi.... If you live in the northwest you will probably do as I do and CC 8 months out of the year because of the weather. Otherwise when you do go OC nobody really cares. Check our open carry thread.

alanspfdmo said:

1. Mild weather (no extreme cold or heat)
2. Fun, friendly and interesting place to live
3. Open carry friendly city/state
4. Good job market for customer service/sales
5. Year-round availability of local, fresh organic foods would be a plus.

Click to expand...

I lived 4.5 years in the Seattle area and the rest of the time in the Portland area. I've been to most areas in both states but am not expert on all of the ups and downs. Both states are geographically similar were the west little bit is a rain forest, the valley area is moderate, the middle is mountains, and the east half is a high desert. North is wetter and cooler, south warmer and dryer. I am just fine having it rain for 3 months in a row without a single glimpse of the sun and start to pant when it gets over 80F so what is "hot" or "cold" to me is not going to be the same as everyone else.

The large cities are very liberal and attract some strange people. The more heavily populated areas are more liberal and restrictive while the more urban areas conservative and less restrictive of your rights. If you live in a large city be prepared to do a bit of driving and/or pay some money to go shooting. Both states are about 55-60% liberal voting overall so be prepared to feel like your vote is useless if you are conservative.

Washington is truly unlicensed open carry and a concealed permit is a simple affair where you walk in off the street with cash in hand and take care of business. Oregon is unlicensed open carry in most ares, but in Multnomah county, Portland, Oregon City, Salem, Beaverton, Tigard, Independence, and maybe somewhere else, require you to have a CHL. Some places require the CHL only for parks. It's a mess. In Oregon you have to take a $40 class then make an appointment with the county sheriff's office to get your CHL. The wait list is a few months in most places. That little $40 class of 2 hours sitting in a chair is the reason why Oregon has decided that Washington permits aren't good enough for us to honor.

If you live in WA then getting an OR permit can be a challenge, but not impossible. If you live in OR then getting a WA permit is easy. Neither state will play nicely with the other when it comes to permit reciprocity and it is Oregonian's that are to blame for that.

In Oregon we are too dumb to pump gas on our own so we've made it illegal. I actually heard the governor defending the law not on a basis of safety, but on the jobs it creates. Ok, let's pay more for milk so that someone can get paid to place those heavy jugs in our shopping carts for us. In Washington you can roll up to the pump at 2am if need be and handle it all yourself. In Oregon we close the gas stations at night in most places.

In Oregon we have an income tax, in Washington they have a sales tax. I don't know the exact figures, but as far as I'm concerned the level of taxation is similar and it's just an issue of which you detest the least. What I like about shopping in Oregon is that before I get to the register I already know to the penny what I am supposed to be paying, but in Washington I just give up and hope I've got enough money to cover the tax.
If you live in OR and work in WA you will pay OR income tax. If you live in WA and work in OR you will pay OR income tax.

Oregon has a $0.05 deposit on beverage containers, Washington does not. I just recycled a month of cans by feeding them one at a time into a finicky machine that rejected the can half the time. I do believe that they should be recycled, but not that I should be forced to do it by my nanny and while standing out in the wet and wind in a line to do it. Businesses hate the cost of supporting can recycling and they don't make it easy for us, and they shouldn't since we're the ones that forced it upon them. On the up side, the bums keep Oregon clear of empty beer cans.

If your #1 criteria is open carry then move to Washington and far enough away from the Portland area so that you are not tempted to do work in the people's republic of Portland. If your #1 and #2 bullet points were the highest priority to you then move to the Seattle/Puget Sound area, just don't expect OC to be socially acceptable in the cities.