brianjohndavis

Hello All,
I have 3 kids (3, 6 & 8) and looking for the best place to raise kids.
My job allows me to live anywhere along in NorCal, OR, WA, ID, MT or AK.
Too many choices...
So I think we've narrowed our options to Marin in SF, Lake Oswego in Portland & Bellevue in Seattle.
I'm leaning towards Portland because the people are so darned nice & we can likely get a place on the lake or canal for a lot less than nice areas of Marin. We're touring Lake Oswego houses and schools and will likely have some answers of our own, but I'd love to hear from any family who has faced this decision.
Sincerely
BD

NorthwestMale

Portland winters (if they're destined to come at all any more) are worse than Seattle winters.


Though I suspect, that somebody projecting forward the anticipated life for those kids when they are old enough to make a go of it on their own, would have to give Portland the highest grades among the 3 places for affordability.

And the Portland metropolis probably has greater room to expand than do the other places.

Furthermore, Portland has better transportation infrastructure already in place than does Seattle. And while society is moving to both the Seattle area and the Portland area, Portland's suburbs may be expanding more efficiently than are Seattle's.

As for attractions... well, you can't beat a doughnut shop and a used book store for headliners.

tomfuller

I agree totally with NWMale. The cost of living is much better in Portland.
You should look for a place close to the TriMet light rail system. http://trimet.org/max/index.htm
Lake Oswego is served by buses on the TriMet system but can get caught in frequent traffic jams.
There is good late season skiing going on on Mt. Hood.
Two ski areas on Mt. Hood will be open this weekend even though temps in the city of Portland will hit 80 on Sunday.

Gardyloo

Location, location, location.

First, "Marin" is a county, and a pretty big one at that. You could be in Stinson Beach and feel like you're a light year from SF; on the other hand you could be in San Rafael and feel like you're in Anysuburb USA.

Bellevue is rapidly emerging as a center city on its own, separate from Seattle. Its population is three times that of Lake Oswego; it's a corporate headquarters city, arguably the shopping center for the county, and has a full set of big-city advantages (ethnic diversity, range of housing options) as well as disadvantages (traffic, crime.)

Bellevue schools are very good; whether they still will be in 10 years is anybody's guess, but my assumption is that they'll remain so. Ever since I spent summers as a kid in east Portland, Lake Oswego has had the reputation of being slightly snooty; Bellevue used to have that reputation but it's faded big time. (I presume ditto for Lake Oswego but don't know.)

There are some grown-up considerations as well. Oregon has a state income tax but no sales tax; Washington has a high sales tax but no income tax. California has both.

Winters are wetter and summers hotter in Portland than in Seattle; you're two hours from salt water in Portland but close to the wonderful Columbia Gorge. There's a great bookstore and a lot of food trucks in Portland; you can fly to a lot more places out of SEA than you can out of PDX. In Bellevue you're three hours from either Portland or Vancouver; in Portland you're three hours from either Seattle or... ? You can be skiing or hiking in the mountains in an hour from either place; you can watch MLB or NFL in Seattle or NBA in Portland. Seattle has a lot more higher education resources than Portland.

Depends on what you (and your family) are looking for, big city or suburb.

Fodorite018

We live less than 5 miles from both Bellevue and Lake Oswego. We split our time between the two places, so know them both all too well.

First off, schools in WA are much better than OR overall, although both Bellevue and LO are good. Having kids that have been through both schools in both places that we live, I give the nod to WA schools overall. Check the details in reports.

As for things to do, it depends on what your family enjoys. We like to hike, and from our place near Bellevue, we have more options for closer hiking trails than we do near LO. We also like to sail in the summers, and found more places to do that around Seattle.

In the winter we ski and snowshoe, and WA has more options again. For Portland, most people head to Mt Hood( either Timberline or Meadows). For Seattle, there are more options again. Stevens Pass, Crystal Mtn, Snoqualmie, etc.

Cost of living is much better in Portland than Seattle.

If you have any questions, keep asking

tomfuller

To answer Guardyloos question mark. In Portland you are 3 hours from Bend or Eugene (University of Oregon).
You are 2 hours from Corvallis (Oregon State). My BIL lives in Corvallis and will soon be retiring from HP.
I do have a friend that got her nursing education in Portland and loves her job as a nurse at one of Portlands several hospitals.

Fodorite018

Gardyloo--Yes, LO still has that reputation. It has not diminished at all and there is a pretty bad association with it as far as not being racially diverse.

LO to Corvallis is 1 hour 15 minutes, and to Eugene about 1 hour 45 minutes. We make both of those drives routinely to see family.

sunbum1944

Another area you might consider in the Seattle area is Edmonds. It is a beautiful community, right on the water, views of the mountains across the sound, several restaurants with ocean front dining, it has a small town feel to it with the amenities of the city close by.

It's an easy drive into the city but no public transportation as far as I know.
I have friends who live there and enjoy any opportunity to visit there.

FaceInTheCrowd

"...society is moving to both the Seattle area and the Portland area..."

No kidding! Portland reportedly has the hottest housing market in the country, attributable in large part to what seems to be a mass exodus from California. It's doubtful housing costs will reach the level Seattle, though, and if you're looking in LO, you're probably not too much concerned about it.

But increased population and the increasing gap between housing costs and wages creates other livability issues too. Enough such that from your list of possibles, you might also seriously consider ID and MT.

tomfuller

While you are looking at Oregon, at least look at Bend.
The former QB of the NE Patriots Drew Bledsoe built a beautiful house in Bend and is now a football coach at Mountain View HS. He also owns Double Nickle winery in SE Washington. (His jersey was 55).
I have seen a few bumper stickers reading 'Don't Californicate Oregon'.

tomfuller

Correction: Bledsoe's winery is Doubleback and he coaches at Summit HS. He has 4 children in the Bend public school system.

suze

Portland is by FAR the more reasonably priced of the three places... then Bellevue, then Marin County.

brianjohndavis

Truth is, it's all about the kids. We want them to be well educated & have blast of a childhood. SF has been good to us, but it's tight & we're ready to make the leap a place with more elbow room, a home for a dog and tons of outdoor activities. I love to sail, hike, ski and enjoy good food.
That said, a friend recently recommended Mercer Island because of the schools & sailing. Can anyone weigh in on their schools?

StuDudley

>>Drew Bledsoe .....(His jersey was 55)

Gardyloo

Mercer Island is terrific; housing prices could be Marin-ish but the schools are excellent and there's a nice community feel. Getting into Seattle is super easy, as is access to the mountains.

Sailing is available everywhere; of course to get to salt water from MI involves a long trek through the Lake Washington Ship Canal and the Ballard locks, but Lake Washington is enormous so plenty of places to sail there too.

NorthwestMale

... and add to it all, that Portland, Oregon has more strip clubs per capita than does anywhere else in the USA

(which has to be amusing to anyone coming from the S.F. area)

So, you've got doughnuts, food trucks, used books, and strip clubs... something for morning, noon, and night.

Kathie

Mercer Island has better schools than Bellevue. Housing costs are high in the whole Seattle/Bellevue area.

Can you live in smaller towns or is it important for you to be close to a major metropolis? If you can be farther away, consider Bellingham, about 70 miles north of Seattle. It's a University town right on the water.

I live right in Seattle, have lived here since the mid-1970s when I finished grad school. I've loved it, but the traffic has gotten so bad, I feel like I can no longer take advantage of all of the opportunities here. Bellevue traffic is also terrible.

sf7307

I've lived in the Bay Area for 43 years and I say "get outta Dodge" while you can. (My kids grew up on the Peninsula, and we live and work in very well-paying jobs downtown now, and I have a strong philosophical objection to the cost of living here)