I am considering moving to Oregon when I get on my feet. How is Oregon, such as Climate, Politics, Economy, rent prices, etc? I am planning to move to the Willamette Valley near Salem. I'd like to hear from you. I heard it is a highly liberal state and I would fit there comfortably.

as far as rent prices...

http://www.apartments.com/

thats what i sed around me in NY when i was looking

Thx Bandit.

I hope he likes rain we get plenty

I don't mind the rain as long as there is no snow.

Here'* a link from CNN Money Magazines "best places to live". There'* a list of ten city'* in Oregon...click on the links and you'll get the statistics on each area including the weather, median housing costs, etc...
http://money.cnn.com/best/bplive/states/OR.html

That is an interesting site to visit.

Climate is very similar to Northern CA. A little wetter and cooler, but not as bad as WA. It'* a great compromise between the two neighboring States. In the Willamette Valley where I live, snow is rare. It snows every year, but we don't get a good heavy dump except every 5 or 6 years.

Politics vary by city. I live in a fairly conservative blue-collar community, but work in a liberal white-collar college town. Pick your poison.

There is no sales tax in Oregon, but property taxes are slightly higher than average to make up for some of it. Oregon typically has tax REVENUE that is disbursed back to the taxpayers almost every year in the form of a 'kicker check'. The State refunds it when tax revenue exceeds a certain percentage of expectations. It'* a neat thing. Cost of living is relatively low here. A NICE 2-bedroom apt in Albany (not a college town) is about $600 including water, garbage, and sewer. The same apartment in Corvallis (college town) would be about $100 more.

For the most part, the State is Liberal. But there are pockets of mild conservatism. The valley itself is fairly neutral in the long run. I live 30 miles from Salem, btw. Maybe some of the WCBF crowd can give you a review of the area too. They've been here several times for WCBF twice, and a few mini-meets.

I've either visited or lived in 44 States. Oregon is my favorite. I'm here for life.

One hour to the Coast. One hour to Portland/Vancouver. Two hours to year-round skiing. Dozens of rivers and lakes in a one-hour radius.

Good census stats:
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/41000.html

Population as of 2005:
3,641,056

Portland:
538,544, but the combined Metro area is probably nearly half Oregon'* total population.

Lot'* of wide-open spaces, particularly Eastern and Southern Oregon.
Gas prices are currently hovering at almost exactly $3.00 a gallon for 92 octane.

Wow, sounds like a great place to live. It sounds 100x better than where I am, 92 here is 3.29/gal and we have 6% sales tax. I think I will be moving there if everything works out.