Vancouver Bleg
Hellooooo, Vancouver!
Can those of you who live there please tell me what the cost of living is like compared to the rest of Metro Portland? What kind of house or condo or rental or apartment would $37K per year get you? How much more than that would a family of three need to bring in to live comfortably?
A friend of mine from the Midwest wants to know. Any info appreciated!
Thanks.
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I’ve lived in the Couve for 20 years now. It is definately less expensive to live and work here. But if you live here and work in Portland, it may not be. If you have to spend an hour each way going to work your travel cost and personal wear and tear will erode any saving in housing costs. So where your friends will work will be more significant than where they live, in my experience. Though I have friends who still made the commute all the way to Hillsboro.
When you ask “What kind of house or condo or rental or apartment would $37K per year get you?” I suppose you mean that $37k would be their anual income and not their housing budget. The schools are better here as are most the other services as they are generally much newer than in Portland.
We do have a sales tax if you do much shopping here, but often times the base price may be lower if you shop places other than chain stores. Gas and food cost about the same as in Portland. Auto and home insurance is lower, and in fact is not required on motorcycles. And there is that, no state income tax. And if they are conservative, then they will find a lot more like minded people. We could use their help re-electig Dino Rossi. Maybe this time the dead, the iillegals and the felons votes in King county wont get counted.
Comment by Bill — October 19, 2007 @ 10:12 am
Oh yeah, my realator broker friend tells me housing cost run about 80% to 90% of Portland on average.
Comment by Bill — October 19, 2007 @ 10:14 am
Thanks, Bill. Yeah, the income would be $37K. Your last statement narrows it down: A person could get a $250K condo on about a $60K income around here, so probably say $50K in Vancouver. Sound about right?
Comment by Anwyn — October 19, 2007 @ 10:19 am
Well the way I would put it is that they could get the same quality of condo for about $200k. Their income requirments are more compliocated than a straight reduction since there are tax benefits and it also depends on their other assets and creit worthiness.
I’ll go to a example of a lady friend who I talked into quiting her job in Portland to take a job in Vancouver. She was pretty scared to do it because the job in Vancouver paid about $2 less per hour and she was barely getting by on the job in Portland. Well she took the job and within two months she noticed she actually had money left over at the end of the week each payday, and she was a lot less stressed. Because she could afford to live within 5 miles of where she worked.
Comment by Bill — October 19, 2007 @ 10:49 am
Bill, thanks, that’s an important distinction.
Comment by Anwyn — October 19, 2007 @ 10:54 am
Anwyn, as a counterpoint to that, your friends could always move a bit further down the valley. My yearly wages are around that, and I support a family of 5, 4-bedroom house on a good sized lot with a view of a golf course.
Just something to think about.
Comment by wg — October 19, 2007 @ 6:39 pm
Wow. Maybe that means *I* should think about moving farther down the valley. : )
Gotta weigh it against the commute in this case, though, since the job in question is in Vancouver proper.
Comment by Anwyn — October 19, 2007 @ 8:07 pm
Oregon property values, taxes, and prices are very much driven by the county tax base down here, because property taxes are our primary means of state funding for education. Polk and Yamhill counties, for example, can be really really high, even in the more rural parts of the county, but Marion County (where I live) is a lot lower.
Just to give you some idea, my property was assessed last summer at just over $300k. My property taxes aren’t correctly assessed, I think – last year, they were $2800 or so, but I’m not going to tell the county assessor that. :)
Further down the valley, Benton County is far more expensive than Linn.
Comment by wg — October 19, 2007 @ 9:54 pm
Thanks for the information, everyone. I just returned from an interview in Hibbing, MN (Bob Dylan’s hometown) where they are offering $45,000.00 for the same job. You’ve given me good stuff for comparison.
Comment by Chuck Bell — October 23, 2007 @ 5:42 pm