Lanthiriel

@rockandroller: Portland really is a pretty great place to live. It's just so expensive! Portland is very responsive to the gay/lesbian community, vegetarian diets, sustainable living, etc. There is also A LOT of recreation here. The Pacific Northwest is beautiful. Oceans, rivers, mountains... all at your back door. But if you're serious about moving out here, I would wait and see how our economy does. Oregon is a difficult state to live in. Instead of sales tax, the state just takes 10% off the top of every paycheck; about 30% of my income goes to taxes. Portland is the ONLY area in Oregon that has any job opportunities and they are not plentiful or stable. It is very difficult to find work here and the cost of living is very high. I would suggest looking in Washington if you're interested in living in the PNW. Olympia has a lot of job opportunities for both blue and white collar work. Seattle is doing a lot better than Portland, but it's also significantly more expensive to live there. Sorry for the unsolicited advice, but I love the PNW. Too bad it's not a great place to be starting out.

@gotribe: Thank you for your insight into engineering jobs in your area. My husband is very interested in pursuing a PE license, but I didn't realize how much of a difference it made.

Thank you for all of your replies! I think I'll be adding Cleveland to our shortlist. We're trying to come up with places we'd be willing to move so that when the time comes for my husband to search for an engineering job we know where we'd be willing to move. Here is a little more detail about the setting we're looking for; perhaps you can tell me which cities in Ohio fit best: The one thing that I like most about Portland is that it has all the convenience of a big city, but the change from urban to suburban happens very quickly. I grew up near Seattle where it's very difficult to find affordable housing (renting or owning) within about 20 miles of the heart of the city. My husband's not a big fan of all the hustle and bustle of downtown living, but I enjoy the variety it offers. I have about a 20-30 minute commute to work right now and could stand one a little longer. We're not big on eating out; in fact, we're pretty much a couple of homebodies. I'm much more interested in making a comfortable home than I am in nightlife or trendy eateries. I do, however, enjoy the farmer's market type atmosphere and do a lot of shopping there. As far as hobbies, mine is competitive agility with my corgi. We're training now to compete next summer in CPE and AKC. My husband likes to play tennis and occasionally golfs. (I'm making us sound a lot older than we really are! We're only in our mid-20s.) We enjoy camping during the summer, so having some camping options within a few hours drive would be nice. And this is going to sound strange, but I'm interested in finding a town with down-to-earth, middle class people. I work for a sustainable energy company and support a cleaner earth. I'm a left leaning moderate, but Portland is just waaay too much of a hippie town for me. All of the stereotypes are true. I'm definitely interested in moving somewhere with less dreadlocks and where the height of fashion isn't alpaca sweaters.

Initially I was looking because I was thinking about going back to grad school and those places seemed like livable places for a student. Now I'm not sure if I want to pursue a PhD (because the likelihood of landing a tenure track job within 5 years in English is less than 50%). I'm definitely open to ANY suggestions of places to move. Unfortunately I'm not very good at staying on top of the news, so I don't know which places are getting hit harder economically than others. My whole family lives in the Pacific Northwest, so I don't have a lot of perspective from beyond Idaho. All I know is that I'm living in the state with the ninth highest cost of living coupled with the second highest unemployment rate and I want out!

My husband is finishing up an engineering degree within the next year and will be looking for a job. We're fed up with the cost of living on the west coast (we live in Portland) and have been spending some time looking into possible cities to move to after his graduation. Our biggest concerns are the availability of jobs and cost of living. The weather is not an issue for us. He will have a degree in Civil Engineering and will be looking into completing his PE. I have a Bachelor's in English and Master's in Book Publishing. I am currently working at a hydropower development company as an administrative assistant/desktop publisher making 30k/year. I would love to work in publishing, but would be happy to work a similar job to the one I have now. We don't have children, nor do we intend to. We do, however, have a dog and would appreciate a city that is dog friendly (dog parks, doggy day cares, etc). Based on this information, does Cleveland sound like a decent option for us? What are the pros and cons of living in Cleveland? We're also looking into Upstate New York and some areas on Pennsylvania. Does anyone have input on how Cleveland compares?