[kevinnugent]

My family and I are considering moving back to the States in a couple of years. I'm Australian but my wife and son are US citizens.

We're either moving to the Portland OR area where her family is from, or Brooklyn NY where we'd prefer to be for "lifestyle".

Given we'd have just us (our son would be nine) and we wouldn't be working, what would your preference be?

Where would you go, and why?

[paddygirl16]

Wow, two different life styles. Since your son is school age, you need to look into what kind of school you will be enrolling him in. If it is private than it shouldn't make a difference (very expensive). You can pull up public school information on both areas and see what the statistics are.

I am from NY and am partial to that part of the US. Moved out west and it is definetly not for me. Can't wait to move back east at the end of September. If you don't have to work, why don't you do 1 year in NY and then 1 year in Portland. Also, there is something to be said about having family close by. That is of course you all get along with them.

[SCrid2000]

Ugh, I don't think I could live in either of those
Granted I'm from Washington, which politically isn't much better than Oregon.
I suppose I'd take Portland over NY myself if I was forced to live in one or the other.

[Bl_ai_r]

PORTLAND! i live and work in the portland area, although i have been contemplating a move to puget sound due for work reasons.

[wnm]

Having grown live my entire life in the east coast megalopolis, I would recommend Portland.

[mvp2ny]

Depends if you are a tree hugger or a modern lifestyle by choice.......GL

[JR A]

I'd choose BK over anywhere in Oregon to be honest. LOL I'd really want to live in Manhattan if I could. That would be a nice experience.


But, if money is NOT an issue, come on over to the San Francisco Bay Area of California It's a pretty spread out area and each region has it's own "feel" to it. SF/Peninsula is very urban/industrial. If you live in the city (San Francisco), you'll definitely get the lifestyle. You could be in the financial district, close to the beach, or somewhere in the hills. I've never lived in the city and wouldn't want to to be honest (too tree-huggie for me). The two things Brooklyn and the Bay Area both have in common is that they're very diverse, and served as immigration hubs for the east and west of the country.

If you want to be around the Silicon Valley yet have access to the best public schools in the entire state, and also have a nice (but not creepy) suburban lifestyle then move to Santa Clara County in the South Bay. Again, if money is no issue check out Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Los Altos (all of those towns average home in the $1 million+ range and have the top public school districts in the state academically.) And, best of all, when BB10 comes out, you can flash your Z10 or X10 around Apple headquarters in Cupertino

But on a serious note, this would be a nice area for your wife if she's used to the nature aspect of Oregon. Lots of hills and trees in those parts. And of course, anywhere near Stanford University (Menlo Park, Palo Alto, not East...) has plenty of Redwoods and that whole nature friendly vibe to it. Not to mention the million dollar homes.

If you want to get into a suburban area for cheaper, there's plenty of places in and around San Jose. It has plenty of rich neighborhoods and average neighborhoods so you get a nice diversity of every culture and has been declared the safest big city in the nation by Forbes for several years running. Then there's the East Bay (I'd stay out of Oakland, for obvious reasons) such as Union City, Fremont, Newark which are also great areas to raise children in.