Moving from NYC to Portland Oregon; 5 things to know.

There was a brief time where I was a New Yorker. From 2009-2011 I split my time between NYC and San Francisco for work. When it comes to NYC there’s really no place like it anywhere else on earth. And visiting isn’t the same as paying rent, and setting up shop for your everyday life. Even having grown up in San Francisco I really don’t think I fully understood what “city life” was until I moved into my apartment at 51st and Lexington with 8 other girls. Yes, I said 8. NYC tends to be the bar by which I judge all other cities. I find when I run into other former New Yorkers they feel the same. There is actually ALOT of us here in the Pacific Northwest. It’s a common migratory pattern apparently.

I imagine those of you contemplating or planning a move from NYC are excited for a different pace of life and lower costs but a little nervous about things like… will I love it there as much as here? Because at the end of the day, even though it’s normal to see a rat dragging an entire pizza down the street in NYC, when you look at the Rockefeller center at Christmas you’re filled with a sense of wonder and energy that can only be attributed to New York City.

So I thought I’d share a few tips/ dispel some fears and confirm some biases with this post. Hopefully it makes you excited to move to Portland and eases the sting of missing the craziest city in the world.

1. The cost of living is WAY LOWER.

2. We have some of the best food in the world in Portland Oregon.

3. Public Transportation is great, you don’t need a car if you don’t want one.

4. You can still find good bagels and coffee (this was really important to me when I moved here).

5. There is just as much to do here as in NYC.

The cost of living is WAY LOWER

This is the primary draw for people coming to Portland from cities like NYC, SF and LA. The cost of living. You’ve heard it’s lower and you’ve probably perused Zillow a time or two and noticed how much less houses cost and how much cheaper rent appears to be. I am here to confirm its literally 5xs cheaper. At an average cost per square foot in NYC of $1600 vs an average cost of $319 you can expect to lessen your housing costs significantly by relocating to Portland. In fact this article says that NYC is going to increase it’s living costs at an average of over 50% in the next year. If you’re paying $4500/ month for a 1 bedroom apartment in the upper west side you could probably pay that same amount for a 3500 sq foot 4 bedroom 2 bath singe family home with a garage and a 6000 sq ft yard walking distance to shops and restaurants in a top school district. If you wanted to go smaller with a much lower payment you could probably pay $2500-3000 per month for a 3/2 bath in hot up and coming neighborhoods like Brentwood Darlington, Lents or Cully. Oh and did I mention that’s the cost of a mortgage? Yah you could own a house here for the cost of the rent you’re paying in NYC right now. It’s WILD. That said housing costs aren’t the only lower priced commodity here in the Pacific Northwest. Overall eating out is cheaper, gas is cheaper, property taxes are cheaper, public transportation is cheaper. I’d say its reasonable to expect your costs to decrease by 30% or more with a move to Portland Oregon from NYC. The only thing that’s slightly more is taxes, however you could potentially make that even less by living in Vancover WA (15 mins from Portland) where there is no state income tax.

We have some of the best food in the world in Portland Oregon.

If you’re a fan of the Netflix Food/ Travel show “Somebody Feed Phill” you probably saw the Portland Oregon Episode from Season 5. Portland has some of the best food, especially street food in the world. I believe we’re in the top 5 cities for Street Food in the US. That’s because during the recession of 08 the city council removed barriers and passed laws that made it easy for food carts to set up shop all over the city. Most neighborhoods have a “food cart pod” and many of them are solo or small business ops with world class chefs at the grill. You can get anything from Peruvian roasted chicken at “Chicken and Guns” to gluten free Indian Fusion at “Desi PDX. “ My favorite food cart pod is attached to Prost, a popular bar that imports beers from Germany. Most of the areas around the carts are covered and heated so even though you’re “outside” you’re dry and warm. In addition to Street Food I feel we have one of the best brunch scenes in the world too. World class food at incredibly affordable prices. I’m personally obsessed with “Proud Mary” and Toast. But some popular spots also include Petite Provence and Screen Door if you like delicious french pastry or chicken and waffles.

But what I think is more important to note about the Portland food scene is that it’s affordable and accessible. It’s rare that brunch costs me more than $15 per plate. There’s SO MANY places and the community is hugely impactful in supporting these local mom and pops so they have the opportunity to stick around and thrive. Additionally Portland is pretty crunchy granola and most places have rotating seasonal menus focused around supporting local producers. Also if you’re someone who loves a farmers market you can basically throw a rock during harvest season and hit an amazing farmers market.

Public Transportation is great, you don’t need a car if you don’t want one.

If you’ve lived in NYC most other cities have inferior public transport. It’s not their fault, they’re just not as old or as good. But Portland actually has a great transit system and the buses and trains run pretty consistently. When we moved here we had a car and in order to save up for our first home we decided to sell it and pocket our saved cash for a downpayment. Now is it AS GOOD as NYC - no. Is it better than SF, Seattle, Chicago and LA? Yes, at least in my personal experience. We managed for a whole year without a car and supplemented with Zip Car and biking. If you love cycling bike culture is HUGE in Portland. The year we moved here the city dropped over $50 million on designating bike lanes and paths. There’s also loads of specialty bike shops and clubs/ events for cycling. In short, you can totally be car-less in this city. Especially if you live west of 82nd Avenue. Like many cities the further out you get the less public transport there is. However because our major employers are largely based in Hillsboro and Beaverton, suburbs west of the city. There are several buses and light rail trains that go directly to Nike, Intel etc. campuses. So it’s very possible to work pretty far outside the inner city and transit into the office with adequate planning and time.

You can still find good bagels and coffee.

I was legitimately concerned about the quality of coffee and bagels in Portland when we moved here. I once had a roomate make a joke “You realize if Jesus was a New Yorker first communion would be bagels and coffee?” I felt that statement pretty much summarizes breakfast culture in NYC. I LOVED my ritual of going to “Ess-a-bagel” for a drip and a bagel and schmear every single day when I lived in NYC. There is a massive abundance of great coffee, Portland is a coffee centric city. I was deeply concerned about the quality of bagels in Portland and actually went on an official pilgrimage to try every single bagel at every single bagel shop in Portland. Bagels were a different story. I can happily report there are exactly 4 bagel shops with satisfactory bagels throughout the city and several coffee shops stock bagels from these bagelry’s so it’s not difficult to locate a good bagel and coffee experience. Bowery, Henry Higgins, Kenny and Zukes and New Cascadia (for the gluten free peeps) are the defacto best bagels in Portland. So fear not, you won’t be deprived.

There is just as much to do here as in NYC.

One of the questions I often get from visitors and transplants is “What is there to do around here.” The answer is whatever you like doing. Portland is a major metropolitan city. We have a very diverse and involved community here and there’s always something to do. From vintage movie theaters to farmers markets, art galleries to kayaking on the willamette this city is a treasure trove of activities. We have multiple public golf courses, loads of quirky commercial districts lined with great restaurants and shops, architectural walking tours and huge community events like the Naked Bike Parade and the Rose Festival. If you like professional theatre we’re on the off broadway circuit and you can easily catch a symphony performance downtown on just about any weekend. Portland offers something for everyone and people here are approachable, welcoming and kind. I will say that late night culture basically stops at 11 here most days of the week. Bars etc are generally open until the standard 2 AM but it’s not as much like NYC in everything being open all the time. However I have found it genuinely easy to build community here because Portland has a culture of openness and a spirit of kindness that runs through its crunchy granola core, and that was something I had to work a lot harder for in NYC.

So if you’re on the fence, or have questions I hope this has helped answer some of them. All of my NYC transplant friends here love their new life in the PNW.