[pj3000]

Originally Posted by subterranean

Fair question and I'm sure the answer is different for everybody. All I can answer is for me personally why I have the pull to move there.

Where we live now, the median home price is about $550,000. You need to make $105,000 per year with $100,000 down payment to even qualify for a loan, and that's assuming you have no other debt. Compared to how the wages are here, it's just not even worth it if you ask me. To live in a middle class neighborhood, you better be ready to fork out $650,000 to $750,000 - anywhere with good schools basically starts in this bracket. At today's interest rates, even with $200,000 down, you're looking at a PITI of $3500-$4000 per month in housing alone. Our daycare bill is literally twice our mortgage, too.

When you look at the wages for engineers and other professionals in Mid-Michigan, they're not that much lower than here. This will be different depending on your industry, but the pay scale in my current job is only about 15% higher than what I was making in Lansing, but the housing is wayyy cheaper in Michigan. My wife or myself could choose to quit one of our jobs or go part time, spending more time at home with our children and not having to pay for daycare. My parents are also there, which would mean more opportunities for weekends away/date nights, which would be $25/hr here. It's a real consideration for us.

Yeah, totally makes sense to given the situation you describe. And given that your parents are there, of course.

Also, I didn’t realize that Portland was that pricey — Jesus!