I am thinking of moving out to Oregon in the next couple of years. I'm currently a resident of Maine, and I have the opportunity to relocate. I am looking for someone to give me an insight as to how the state is doing in terms of education, economics and taxes. Also what are the firearm laws like.
Planning on a vacation this summer to come out and see the area.
thanks in advance!
Scott
Lived in central Oregon for 19 years, then went to school in Corvallis. Family in Lebenon, Oregon City, and Portland.
Here is something worth knowing.
It's beautiful, the cascades are amazing, Portland is very Posh and "trendy" (in a 1 year lag behind the rest of the world kind of way)
BUT.
It's liberal drug laws and the flocking of hippies, makes it a bad place to raise a family IMO. I was a police office in Oregon after getting out of the Army, and I can tell you first hand, the drug problem (meth) is sooooo bad many agencies are focusing resources on other manageable crimes (read giving up). It's bad..bad..bad ...bad. Please keep in mind I have lived in only 5 states and only about 15 cities, and the Oregon cities (Madras, Corvallis, sisters) have been the worst, however OSU campus made Corvallis tolerable.
Not sure where you are planning to live.. If I had to suggest a City, I would say Bend. The state is dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the city and it is a pretty nice place to live.
Housing (in family safe, clean neighborhoods) is expensive, most cities with a 4A school or higher are pretty well funded, however some smaller schools (like Culver) have an above average rating dispute being 2A.
Weed is legal,( if you care). Long guns are easy to buy, but the hippies there don't much care for guns, so you will have to be a closet gun owner if that's your thing. The laws regarding firearms is pretty liberal, clean record, no wait, private sale exc. But, the Dems want the guns squeezed and it is a Dem state...so be ready for your gun rights to be ushered out and the pot is carried in. That said, currently there is no wait to buy, no limit, and no bans. But watch this one closely, it's being reworked.
Oregon is full of farm land and Forrest, so it's no shocker that the job market is tilted toward the hands on outdoors get your hands dirty kind of work. I still have close family all over Oregon and everyone one of them hit me up for a Job at some point over the last couple years. There are some big companies there like Bushwacker, Letherman, Gerber knives, and I think Eddie Bauer.... Not sure what your trade is, but in Oregon, it will have to count for something, or you need to know how to set a choker, or run a yarder.
By Taxes I assume you are referring to sales/income, as other tax rates are set by local governing bodies. Well there is no sales tax, but the income tax is can be a bear. 9.9 percent. If you do the math on that, it will hurt.
Example:
If your income is $100k, you pay $9900 annual tax.
People in sales tax states pay tax in disposable income spending as well as most services. So let's call this 45% of your income gets spent on goods and services that are taxable, and the rest gets spent on rent, and utilities. If I recall the national average of disposable income is closer to 15%, but it does not take into account taxable services, like cell phone and cable.
Back to the math.
$45000 per year that you would pay sales tax on comes out to (@ 7.25%) $3263 a year in sales tax.
I know I just made most of the numbers up, but you get my point, paying income tax sucks... You have to pay your state a percentage of every dollar you earn instead of every dollar you spend. There are other factors, but this was just my biased example of why I hate income tax. There is a larger picture to this topic for me, but it does not do you any good so I will drop it.
Well, I have rambled on long enough, and if you are still reading, I'm sorry I stole so much of your time.
Bottomed line, Oregon is a beautiful place to visit... But then again, I know nothing about Maine, perhaps Oregon is better.
In other words, you pay income tax based on the state you work in. A lot of people live in Vancouver for this reason, so the I-5 and I-205 bridges that connect Oregon and Washington are packed on weekends when all the WA residents come down to load up at Costco for tax free shopping. As much as I hate traffic, these people are pocketing on average about 9% of their income which would otherwise be handed over in taxes. Hi five, Vancouver people! [MENTION=60147]the kid[/MENTION]
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