Moving from Fort Lauderdale FL to Portland Oregon?

Hi. My family is thinking of moving to Portland from Florida within the next couple of years because my dad just cant take the heat here in FL anymore. We were thinking about going somewhere in the pacific northwest so i'm trying to find out about portland in comparison to south fl. In comparison, what is the crime, weather, people, jobs, scenery like in portland? Do you think going to portland is a good idea? Also how are the schools (my little sister is 14 yrs old). Is it really cold there? Just tell me anything important to know before moving clear across the country (lol). thanks.

I moved to Portland from Florida five years ago. I too was tired of the heat and constant evacuation from hurricanes. The hardest adjustment will be the weather. It actually rains less than Ft Lauderdale but it is lighter and more spread out and constant. If you wear layers with a hoodie you will be comfortable. It doesn't really snow here unless you are in the higher elevations outside of town. It did snow once so far this year on Christmas morning but was melted by the afternoon. There is no real dangerous crime or dangerous parts of town. You see women walking by themselves all the time downtown at night with no worries about their safety. One big difference from Florida is how incredibly nice and polite people are here. It is the norm for people to say hello to one another when passing each other on the street. Everyone thanks the bus driver when they get off the bus. Another quirky difference is you are not allowed to pump your own gas here, there is no self serve you have to let someone do it for you which is kind of cool. There is no sales tax here but there is an income tax unlike Florida so when you get your first paycheck it can be a little maddening but you get used to it and the minimum wage is 8.00 an hour even for food servers so the wages tend to be better than Florida. The job market is pretty good it can be a little competitive because a lot of people that have just graduated college are moving here but there are a lot of jobs. This is also great because the average age is the youngest on the West coast. There is a very vibrant music scene with lots of bars to see local musicians. Everybody is more environmentally conscious here. You will see hundreds of people commuting to work by bike every morning. People recycle everything. They have done a good job here of limiting the sprawl of strip malls, Walmarts and subdivisions unlike Florida. This is one thing I especially like compared to Florida. When I first moved to Florida it was a beautiful state now it is overgrown and they did not manage the growth well. They are very conscious of that here and trying to limit the sprawl. The transit system is great here and is free in downtown and close in. Portland has a great school system and the best library system in the country. I'm not sure what ethnicity you are but the state is overwhelmingly white so it can be a little bit isolating and intimidating to other ethnicities but there is no overt racism and the politics tend towards liberalism in Portland and conservative in the rural areas. There are tons of scenic things to see here. Within an hour you could ski year round in the mountains, go white water rafting, kayaking, wind surfing in the Columbia Gorge, regular surfing in the Pacific ocean there is a culture here that embraces all types of sports which is why Nike and Addidas have their main headquarters here. People are very computer savy here as well with Intel another major employer in the area and many other computer related enterprises. People in Oregon generally do not want any more people to move here there used to be a sign on the California border that said "Thank You for Visiting Please do not Stay" but peoples attitudes toward Floridians seem more accepting (I have 3 other friends that moved here from Florida) I would suggest moving out here in late May or early June this will give you the whole summer to explore the area dry and theres lots of activities that will allow you to meet new people. It will also ease you into the rainy season. I had done a lot of research on the computer before moving here but everything here exceeded my expectations. You should make the move!

I live in Florida and every summer I take a trip to to the North west. It's a beautiful place to live. Well, depending where you go. Schools are generally good. The weather is mostly cool, but it can get hot. In the summers the weather is the best. It's cool and there isn't much humidity.

Hi ,
I live here in Portland oregon. We get snow two or three times a year but it is usually gone again in a few days.
this website has a map along with other info:
http://www.travelportland.com/
This will tell about all the cities and towns in Oregon:
http://bigdaddydata.com/state/OR/index.p...
and much more info at:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=na...
Welcome aboard, when you get here.
Hope
P S one more added bonus is that we are one of the few states that has no sales tax.

I will talk about Portland AND Seattle, because they are very similar.

The weather is very wet in the late autumn through mid-late spring. It usually hovers around 55 down to 30. The rain is rarely strong, it's just never ending. Instead of the one hour downpours Florida tends to get, it will be a week long sprinkle. Lots of cloudy days. But there will occasionally be days like today. The most beautiful days of the year. It's perfectly clear and the mountains are shining white and the sky is bright blue, the trees are green. beautiful.
The summer is sunny and temperature ranges from 70-95, all dry heat.
Portland and Seattle are the same, except Portland tends to be 2 or 3 degree more extreme and Seattle tends to be .2 or .3 inches wetter.

The secenery in both cities is the same. Mountains, hills, water, pine trees. Seattle has more ranges to see, and lakes. Portland has more stand alone mountains and rivers/streams.

Crime is very low. There bad parts of both towns, but if you stay away from there it's very safe.

The job scene in Portland and Seattle are both good. Seattle has more opporunity, as it is more of a hub for companies, and its service sector is larger.

The people are kind, but hard to get to know. You can't just walk down the street and make friends, you ave to try and show trust and compassion before you get friends, but the friends you get will be strong friends.

The schools are good. Suburban schools are better. Seattle has a better private school scene, but the public schools on the west side of Portland are some of the best in the region.

Get used to being damp, but be prepared for scenery you will never forget. Also, if you drive a stick, practice your quick starting, as the hills (which are very numerous here, especially compared to FL) are a tough place to drive a stick on.