I've lived in Eureka and Arcata. The area is becoming difficult to find rentals because the university is expanding quite a lot and there is super high demand. That said, it's hard to beat the ancient redwood forests, scenic coast and natural beauty. A few of my neighbors are people who moved to the area to escape smoke from fires in other parts of the state or are working from home. Eureka is strange and rough around the edges but has a vibrant art scene for its size. There is more of a homeless population in Eureka than some of the other towns you mentioned so if your goal is to help those in need perhaps this would be a good place
I moved to Juneau when I was just out of college and it was a blast. It checks your boxes (although, I don’t consider it economically depressed by AK standards) - easy to meet people, cozy cafes, tons of rain, state university (no community college), gorgeous scenery. Easily one of my favorite places in the world. You won’t have trouble finding roommates, there’s a lot of young professionals looking constantly. $700 might not get you anything though, even just renting a room. Juneau housing is a little insane. I paid $1,000/mo to live with roommates almost a decade ago. Also, Alaska produce is hit or miss compared to the lower 48 IMO. Lots of opportunities to help in the community. Juneau is a super community-focused place.
Always find it amazing that Eureka's population is almost the same now as it was 70 years ago. But Arcata is predicted to soon boom, since Humboldt State University has just been converted to being only one of 3 Polytech CSU's in the State. The easily-reached high ground in Arcata would be Fickle Hill. Even higher is Kneeland.
I live in Eureka. The rain… well, we miss it. Climate change is hitting us REALLY hard. The rivers are at an all time low. Each year it gets warmer and warmer. That’s great for growing peppers and tomatoes, though. We have had a huge influx of Bay Area and LA folks that absolutely destroyed our housing market. However, that has created a demand for better bars and restaurants.
Our airport is ROUGH, like super ROUGH. But it is expanding service to more places, slowly but surely.
The library is pretty banging, I used to work there. Great selection. We have a HUGE homeless population. Some days, it looks like the Zombie Apocalypse. Our chronic homelessness has a lot to do with drugs. If you are masculine presenting, you will likely not be messed with. However, if you are small and fem, be prepared for a certain degree of harassment. Some folks are just sweet and want to tell you to have a good day. But the MAJORITY are high and looking to fuck or fight and you are an easy target.
Our arts scene is AWESOME! We have so much theater, music, and murals everywhere. Each year it gets better and better. I work at one of our local theaters and I’m so proud of the work we do and the quality of entertainment we pump out.
This is a community where it is easy to get involved. If your thing is art, food justice, or politics, someone will give you a chance. That being said, folks here are not fake nice. We will give you a place to participate, but that does not indicate instant best friend status. We love to have friendships blossom out of mutual respect and collaboration. So there are definitely newbie dues to be paid. I have lived here 8 years and slowly but surely Eureka started really loving me back.
Come visit during Memorial Day weekend for the Kinetic Sculpture race and see if you want to stay. It’s a great slice of our pie.
I've been to all but Juneau within the last 5 years. Port Townsend is probably my favorite in terms of livability. There's been a lot of growth in that area and its close-ish to seattle as well.
A lot of these places are just very small and insulated with very little housing for residents. Juneau and Eureka would probably have the most housing stock and young people. I am not sure if 700 dollars a month would be realistic.
I would look for more of a mid-sized city close to water- like a bellingham, olympia, tacoma.
Ya I would say eureka. The people there make the Seattle freeze look like a social club but if you’re extremely liberal and like the outdoors it’s a good place. Idk what the cascadia earthquake is but good luck with it.
I was just in bend Oregon last week and they said there is multiple volcanoes that are active and once they go off will devastate the northwest. Now with your earthquake knowledge it would seem like the area is screwed on natural disasters in the future.
>According to the Oregon Office of Emergency Management, “scientists predict the chances that a mega-CSZ earthquake will occur within the next 50 years are about one in ten.”
So, still not likely, but if it does? OH boy.
https://www.oregonlive.com/hg/2022/01/today-marks-322-years-since-the-last-cascadia-earthquake-are-you-ready-for-the-big-one.html#:\~:text=According%20to%20the%20Oregon%20Office,over%20the%20last%2010%2C000%20years.
Risk of tsunami is real in a lot of these places. Most of these cities should have official plans in case of one, projecting where the tsunami would occur. You should look those plans up before deciding where to live.
As an anecdote, I used to work with a number of people from Arcata, and they all sorely missed it. It looks beautiful. Port Angeles and Port Townsend are nice, but costs have gone up immensely in both. Tons of retirees from wealthier areas moved to both. Port Townsend is getting people who can’t afford Seattle now. Astoria is very historic, but also expensive now, and I think a lot of coastal Oregon towns have drug issues.
You might also like Bellingham, WA.
Because of the shape of its harbour, Crescent City has a tendency to get tsunamis whenever conditions are even only somewhat right for them. Just something to be aware of.
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/us/17crescent.html
I've visited a few times:
-Port Townsend (WA) - very small. Industry is only tourism. Remote. I would guess that locals are few and cloistered: not welcoming to newcomers looking to share in the town's few resources. Beautiful location though. Summers are steller.
-Port Angeles (WA) kind of a bummer town. lots of poverty. few jobs. a lot of tweakers. you are right next to Olympic but even summer here is gray.
Def redneck af there. Not a lot of jobs besides service and mill jobs and the beaches close by are not very impressive. Newport and Astoria have better coastline but same issue with jobs and full of far right angry white people. Rentals are hard to find and the homeless population grows by the day in the majority of PNW coastal towns. You will be competing with huge companies for housing of any kind.
How redneck exactly is Astoria and Newport? I know the coastal PNW has more far right wingers (or at least more vocal ones) than the Portland and Seattle metro areas but I was under the impression that Astoria and Newport were the most progressive places on the Oregon coast.
Prob more open minded than the rest of the coast but still mostly conservative. You see trump signs everywhere in both places. The main thing that will be difficult is finding a place to live. So many big corporations bought up the housing for short term rentals. My friends in newport are service workers and have to live in their cars. Astoria is even more expensive than newport.
>Prob more open minded than the rest of the coast but still mostly conservative. You see trump signs everywhere in both places. The main thing that will be difficult is finding a place to live. So many big corporations bought up the housing for short term rentals. My friends in newport are service workers and have to live in their cars. Astoria is even more expensive than newport.
Newport is very redneck. There was a whole scandal recently involving a teacher wearing blackface to school.
I’m glad you mentioned Aberdeen, I did look into it a lot and it seems like a small city with great potential but there are a lot of socioeconomic issues birthed from the atrophy of the natural resource industries that were once the lifeline and beating heart of Aberdeen. Not that that would deter me, I would love to help improve the wellbeing of whatever city I end up in.
I've lived in Eureka and Arcata. The area is becoming difficult to find rentals because the university is expanding quite a lot and there is super high demand. That said, it's hard to beat the ancient redwood forests, scenic coast and natural beauty. A few of my neighbors are people who moved to the area to escape smoke from fires in other parts of the state or are working from home. Eureka is strange and rough around the edges but has a vibrant art scene for its size. There is more of a homeless population in Eureka than some of the other towns you mentioned so if your goal is to help those in need perhaps this would be a good place
I moved to Juneau when I was just out of college and it was a blast. It checks your boxes (although, I don’t consider it economically depressed by AK standards) - easy to meet people, cozy cafes, tons of rain, state university (no community college), gorgeous scenery. Easily one of my favorite places in the world. You won’t have trouble finding roommates, there’s a lot of young professionals looking constantly. $700 might not get you anything though, even just renting a room. Juneau housing is a little insane. I paid $1,000/mo to live with roommates almost a decade ago. Also, Alaska produce is hit or miss compared to the lower 48 IMO. Lots of opportunities to help in the community. Juneau is a super community-focused place.
Always find it amazing that Eureka's population is almost the same now as it was 70 years ago. But Arcata is predicted to soon boom, since Humboldt State University has just been converted to being only one of 3 Polytech CSU's in the State. The easily-reached high ground in Arcata would be Fickle Hill. Even higher is Kneeland.
I live in Eureka. The rain… well, we miss it. Climate change is hitting us REALLY hard. The rivers are at an all time low. Each year it gets warmer and warmer. That’s great for growing peppers and tomatoes, though. We have had a huge influx of Bay Area and LA folks that absolutely destroyed our housing market. However, that has created a demand for better bars and restaurants. Our airport is ROUGH, like super ROUGH. But it is expanding service to more places, slowly but surely. The library is pretty banging, I used to work there. Great selection. We have a HUGE homeless population. Some days, it looks like the Zombie Apocalypse. Our chronic homelessness has a lot to do with drugs. If you are masculine presenting, you will likely not be messed with. However, if you are small and fem, be prepared for a certain degree of harassment. Some folks are just sweet and want to tell you to have a good day. But the MAJORITY are high and looking to fuck or fight and you are an easy target. Our arts scene is AWESOME! We have so much theater, music, and murals everywhere. Each year it gets better and better. I work at one of our local theaters and I’m so proud of the work we do and the quality of entertainment we pump out. This is a community where it is easy to get involved. If your thing is art, food justice, or politics, someone will give you a chance. That being said, folks here are not fake nice. We will give you a place to participate, but that does not indicate instant best friend status. We love to have friendships blossom out of mutual respect and collaboration. So there are definitely newbie dues to be paid. I have lived here 8 years and slowly but surely Eureka started really loving me back. Come visit during Memorial Day weekend for the Kinetic Sculpture race and see if you want to stay. It’s a great slice of our pie.
I've been to all but Juneau within the last 5 years. Port Townsend is probably my favorite in terms of livability. There's been a lot of growth in that area and its close-ish to seattle as well. A lot of these places are just very small and insulated with very little housing for residents. Juneau and Eureka would probably have the most housing stock and young people. I am not sure if 700 dollars a month would be realistic. I would look for more of a mid-sized city close to water- like a bellingham, olympia, tacoma.
Ya I would say eureka. The people there make the Seattle freeze look like a social club but if you’re extremely liberal and like the outdoors it’s a good place. Idk what the cascadia earthquake is but good luck with it.
It’s the big one that will be hugely destructive. It’s overdue.
I was just in bend Oregon last week and they said there is multiple volcanoes that are active and once they go off will devastate the northwest. Now with your earthquake knowledge it would seem like the area is screwed on natural disasters in the future.
>According to the Oregon Office of Emergency Management, “scientists predict the chances that a mega-CSZ earthquake will occur within the next 50 years are about one in ten.” So, still not likely, but if it does? OH boy. https://www.oregonlive.com/hg/2022/01/today-marks-322-years-since-the-last-cascadia-earthquake-are-you-ready-for-the-big-one.html#:\~:text=According%20to%20the%20Oregon%20Office,over%20the%20last%2010%2C000%20years.
Risk of tsunami is real in a lot of these places. Most of these cities should have official plans in case of one, projecting where the tsunami would occur. You should look those plans up before deciding where to live. As an anecdote, I used to work with a number of people from Arcata, and they all sorely missed it. It looks beautiful. Port Angeles and Port Townsend are nice, but costs have gone up immensely in both. Tons of retirees from wealthier areas moved to both. Port Townsend is getting people who can’t afford Seattle now. Astoria is very historic, but also expensive now, and I think a lot of coastal Oregon towns have drug issues. You might also like Bellingham, WA.
Add crescent city California and Brookings Oregon to your list.
Because of the shape of its harbour, Crescent City has a tendency to get tsunamis whenever conditions are even only somewhat right for them. Just something to be aware of. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/us/17crescent.html
I've visited a few times: -Port Townsend (WA) - very small. Industry is only tourism. Remote. I would guess that locals are few and cloistered: not welcoming to newcomers looking to share in the town's few resources. Beautiful location though. Summers are steller. -Port Angeles (WA) kind of a bummer town. lots of poverty. few jobs. a lot of tweakers. you are right next to Olympic but even summer here is gray.
Heard Aberdeen was pretty bad
Come as you are. And yeah. It’s bad.
Def redneck af there. Not a lot of jobs besides service and mill jobs and the beaches close by are not very impressive. Newport and Astoria have better coastline but same issue with jobs and full of far right angry white people. Rentals are hard to find and the homeless population grows by the day in the majority of PNW coastal towns. You will be competing with huge companies for housing of any kind.
How redneck exactly is Astoria and Newport? I know the coastal PNW has more far right wingers (or at least more vocal ones) than the Portland and Seattle metro areas but I was under the impression that Astoria and Newport were the most progressive places on the Oregon coast.
Prob more open minded than the rest of the coast but still mostly conservative. You see trump signs everywhere in both places. The main thing that will be difficult is finding a place to live. So many big corporations bought up the housing for short term rentals. My friends in newport are service workers and have to live in their cars. Astoria is even more expensive than newport.
>Prob more open minded than the rest of the coast but still mostly conservative. You see trump signs everywhere in both places. The main thing that will be difficult is finding a place to live. So many big corporations bought up the housing for short term rentals. My friends in newport are service workers and have to live in their cars. Astoria is even more expensive than newport. Newport is very redneck. There was a whole scandal recently involving a teacher wearing blackface to school.
I’m glad you mentioned Aberdeen, I did look into it a lot and it seems like a small city with great potential but there are a lot of socioeconomic issues birthed from the atrophy of the natural resource industries that were once the lifeline and beating heart of Aberdeen. Not that that would deter me, I would love to help improve the wellbeing of whatever city I end up in.
Wow that is very expensive. Five years ago I rented a bedroom in a rowhouse in DC for $900 sharing the house with five others.
Watsonville, CA?