really nice - 11/28/2023

Really nice weather and a cool town and is great for people who love the outdoors with the nearby Rogue River and abundant mountain biking and hiking trails but is a little expensive

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Sunshine, hiking, great food, music and art! - 9/13/2022

I've lived in Ashland, OR for 13 years, and I love it. The winters are the mildest I've ever experienced. We get 196 sunny days per year. Lithia Park near downtown Ashland is INCREDIBLE. It's a great place to hike, picnic, or bring the kids to play in the playground. There is also nearby hiking at Grizzly Peak, Pilot Rock, Mount Ashland, and more. The Ashland Food Cooperative has a great selection of organic produce. Ashland is a very easy city to bicycle in, as there are bike paths. I feel very safe in Ashland, day or night. There isn't much crime here to speak of. I only know of one murder in 13 years. The Green Show provides free live music several nights a week in the summer months. What great fun! There are also wonderful plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Theater. I encourage you to visit. The downtown area is beautiful. It feels as though you are stepping back into time, into small town America.

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DON'T DO IT! - 5/10/2021

Sorry, Ashland. I've lived here on and off since 2001. The prices have gone utterly berserk. The town is smoky in the summer, cold and wet in the winter, and totally sublime and gorgeous between May and July. Add to that the fact that it is absolutely riddled with irritating liberal holier-than-thou rich Boomers at every turn who sold real estate in CA and came up here to blow their wads on $9 celery juice (not an exaggeration.....see "NW Raw" for details)....since Covid the town has gone straight to hell...if you can make $14 an hour, 20 hours a week, count yourself lucky. Yes, it's pretty. But it has real, serious, unsolved problems with outrageous housing costs ($1200 for a crappy 70s studio...today I saw an ad for a new development that said "Starting at $682,500") I am SO OVER IT. You Boomers in your stupid purple fleeces can have this s***hole.

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DON'T DO IT! - 5/10/2021

Sorry, Ashland. I've lived here on and off since 2001. The prices have gone utterly berserk. The town is smoky in the summer, cold and wet in the winter, and totally sublime and gorgeous between May and July. Add to that the fact that it is absolutely riddled with irritating liberal holier-than-thou rich Boomers at every turn who sold real estate in CA and came up here to blow their wads on $9 celery juice (not an exaggeration.....see "NW Raw" for details)....since Covid the town has gone straight to hell...if you can make $14 an hour, 20 hours a week, count yourself lucky. Yes, it's pretty. But it has real, serious, unsolved problems with outrageous housing costs ($1200 for a crappy 70s studio...today I saw an ad for a new development that said "Starting at $682,500") I am SO OVER IT. You Boomers in your stupid purple fleeces can have this s***hole.

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Like living here so far - 12/26/2020

Beautiful place, pretty progressive overall, overall good climate, great outdoor recreation, nice downtown. Yes this year was rough with abnormal heat, the fires, etc. but there’s not a perfect place on the planet.

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Blighting Wildfires aside... - 9/23/2020

Notice the 480K median home price vs the 41K median income price and that is mostly what you need to know. If you looked at the AQI of 70, rest assured that is only true for 3/4 of the year, and the rest of the time, you will likely need a P100 mask to go outside and constantly run air purifiers indoors due to wildfire smoke. Southern Oregon University is a sketchy, student-hostile insitution with dial it in faculty, bloated admin and lots of lackluster students too unmotivated to go to a real school. The exceptions being theatre, film, marketing and costuming/fashion design, which are great programs with great faculty & a surprising number of talented, devoted students (the latter is especially true in theatre, because Ashland is a theatre town and Southern Oregon has a big indie filmmaking community). The rental market in this town is out of control and making enough to pay rent is damned near impossible unless you work 30 min away in Medford, affectionately nicknamed Methford by the locals for its dismal, strip-mall like vibe. The Ashland Food Coop is unparalleled & living among legit hippies is nice. Too bad about the panicked bluehair neolibs, vicious business hippies, and leather & feather sidewalk hustlers harassing everyone. Lithia Park & Grizzly Peak are beautiful. Glorious hikes abound. Restaurants are expensive, but that's the norm in the PNW, especially at tourist destinations. This town is much more of a tourist town than family town so just know that going in, if you plan to live here for any length of time. It's kind of like living in Disneyland - pricey, surreal, fun and eclectic.

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Don't do it!!!!! - 9/13/2020

I have lived in this god forsaken hell hole for 11 years, don't do it!!!!! Corrupt local officials, very isolated, tourist dependent economy, fires and smoke for 3-4 months during summer. Stay away!

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Amazing!If you’re thinking about moving here DO IT - 5/15/2020

Great place with a great community.

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A Town that is a Throwback to Better Times - 7/5/2019

I've lived here for about two years and so far we love it. We've experienced all of the seasons, and though we've had some snow, it hasn't even effected our driving. Spring is amazing, with a sweet network of trails all around this small city--wildlife abounds, and on most days we see wild turkeys, deer, and occasionally a bear. It is so quiet, without jets flying over and not much loud noise--fireworks are banned, so our dogs stay sane. In the fall, leading up to Christmas, in addition to some of the best weather, there are lots of community activities, any excuse to have a parade and deck the halls--Ashland is on it. In addition to this being a scenic gem, there's also so much going on by way of culture--from two stellar live theaters, to the Britt Fest in Jacksonville, to countless small live music venues, there's always something to do. Don't miss Dobra Teahouse. Some people talk about smoke from fires, and we find that's the perfect time for a coastal vacation to the beach, which is only a couple of hours away. And as far as fire is concerned, we feel pretty safe given that Ashland proactively burns all winter long, when it's wet and the smoke blows away from town. And while it's not the cheapest place to live, it's still much less than similar places in California, and the vibe here is pretty laid back by comparison, for a such a small, energetic city. People are very friendly, and it's easy to walk everywhere in town. And the co-op is marvelous, and is just one of lots of places with plenty of alternative choices. I also have to add that people here are very well educated, savvy, and conscious. One last thing we considered before coming here was earthquake risk--there are no faults nearby, and it's seismically quite stable.

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Our favorite home yet - 4/22/2019

We have been fortunate to live in many great places. Marin County, Napa, the Big Island, and finally Ashland. It has been our favorite home so far. The rural feel and very little traffic are counter balanced by so many cultural offerings as to be mind boggling. I have never experienced so much live music offered nightly in any town even 10 times the population. Every building oozes charm and character and the amount of beautiful parks and trails will blow your mind. Come for a visit and you might just leave your heart here.

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Know the Pros & Cons in Advance - 12/15/2018

If you already have a house in Ashland and are financially secure, it's undoubtedly an amazing place to live in many respects. I say this because it is beautiful, the culture is warm, the politics are environmentally progressive in many respects (glyphosphate and GMOs are moderately banned, the water isn't fluoridated, there is a huge movement to support pollinators populations, resistance to the Jordan Cove LNG, etc.) and the parks are stunning and well maintained. You can truly walk everywhere and you get to know your community for better and worse. It feels like home. However, the high school - there is only one - leaves much to be desired. It looks very good on paper and we were highly optimistic, but it wasn't a particularly good school. It was an average state school except for the fact that, in the 2 years our son went there, there were 3 student deaths and 1 stabbing. This is especially alarming considering how small Ashland's population is. Ashland is also known to be nice and is, consequentially, becoming very expensive. Having moved from San Francisco, I was shocked to discover that housing is even MORE competitive in this miniscule spot of land in the middle of nowhere. There is no industry to support the rental rates, but enough wealthy out of towners want vacation homes that it doesn't appear to matter. Highly-paid non-medical jobs are scarce. I love the Ashland community (when the smoke clears, it's beautiful), but it is a cultural oasis in a lowbrow environment riddled with meth due to its proximity to Medford (locally dubbed Methford) and Grants Pass. The seedy underbelly...and overbelly...of those areas doesn't often seep into Ashland, but it just means if you were thinking of driving to Medford to accommodate your commerce needs (i.e. you need a blank type 9 DVD tonight and Ashland literally doesn't sell those anywhere) bear in mind what you'll be driving in to. I've made some of my best friends in that town and Ashland culture is mostly warm, friendly and laidback. That said, there are plenty of entitled aggressive "traveler" fashion hobos who fancy themselves charming, counterculture Jack Keroacs of the 21st century, littering, panhandling, chain smoking in public areas. They are mostly homeless by choice and feel that it is a superior choice to working for a living, and they are all over the PNW, but really crowd Ashland's sidewalks in the summer and heckle people, making a nuisance of themselves. Many of Ashland's residents protest attempts of the city to dislodge their hegemony feeling that it violates human rights. I suppose that is the trade off for living in what is mostly a liberal utopia. Southern Oregon University is a terrible university. There isn't even enough time to explain all the reasons why that is true, but suffice it to say that the organization is corrupt, poorly run, and very student hostile. A truly draconian business. There are some caring and devoted teachers there, and there are a handful of exceptional faculty who are disadvantaged by the staff and institutional politics. The only good things that can be said for it are: the film and media program is exceptional & unparalleled for an affordable state school (as of this moment the only viable west coast alternatives are in CA and Vancouver, BC - these are no less costly than private art colleges); the business department is quite brilliant, and there are a few bright stars in the EMDA department (which is a groundbreaking program). Egos are huge and bureaucratic inefficiency is at an all-time high in all other parts of the organization. The cost of living is simply untenable for average families on average salaries. Rentals are very competitive - we'd camp out on Craigslist and Zillow, refreshing 6 times a day for weeks and still encounter draconian property management firms (who manage nearly all of Ashland's properties and require income or savings equivalent to 3x the monthly rent per month - even to be considered). For the most part, they don't allow a pet (even a cat), and discriminate openly against students. Other individual landlords we encountered seemed literally psychotic (oh the stories!). There is just no economy to support the cost of living unless you're in medical or legal or some 6-figure salary range and have a job lined up. Most places want to may a max of $15/hour for skilled labor such as graphic design or construction. Office jobs average $12/hour. However, many places where a student could work still pay less than $10/hour. You can potentially live in a house with many roommates. That is one options. But to what end? The options for career advancement or entrepreneurship are limited due to the tiny population. Last, but not least, the wildfires literally make the air unbreathable at least once a year, usually for weeks, but sometimes months. It is unsafe to go outside without a mask for any length of time and visibility is sometimes no more than a block down the road due to haze. There are a whole heap of negs, but I still really loved living here.

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Irish pub in Ashland oregon - 3/24/2018

I have epileptic seizures, giving me HUGE gaps and holes in my brain. Went out on the town, in this beautiful town of Ashland Oregon. Every establishment I went to was nice and friendly and multi raced, witch I love. For one last hazza with my dark and light skinned friends, I was not allowed because the owner is pro black racist bigot and unwilling to forgive and move forward. If your looking for a good time, I would point you to the black sheep, beau club, or the wild goose. Its a blast other wise.

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The last best place - 7/3/2017

I've been fortunate in life, so I write this review from that viewpoint. Moved here in 1996 from big city, recently retired. Was an auspicious time and choice, in retrospect. Then I was scaling down. Bought a vintage much smaller house, great mountain views, then at an affordable price..... and now have spent 21+ years in the upkeep, updating/improvements/renovations that were needed, but ultimately it's been worth it! (I'd visited Ashland in previous years and observed the gradual improvements, so felt it was a good choice in 1996.) Have loved living here. The town always is changing, all seemingly do... .... with resulting issues: taxes up....city/state/federal, the cost of housing is extreme for those less fortunate now. Most who live here love it and desire to retain this diverse mix of inhabitants, lifestyles,however. The elementary schools are fine, the high schools highly rated, and the college here adds much. Ashland still retains it's sense of valued history, perspective, and fabulous location/climate. Multitudes of activities,,,,educational, physical, volunteer. Never been able to participate in all that I wanted to do. The climate is ever-changing, albeit perfect for me. Each season brings its new enjoyments, and unexpected crisis. Glad I landed here.

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Ashland OR - 2/15/2016

A lovely community. Great weather, a bit hot and cold yet overall pretty nice.

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How climate change has affected Southern Oregon - 8/21/2015

Ahhhhhhhh. I moved here to get away from the gray, gloom, and doom of Portland in 2009. The weather looked wonderful here. Not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter. A very Mediterranean climate. Elevation was 2000' vs. sea level. All was great until 2012-----the heat intensified and forest fires beginning in July lasting thru August became the norm. This has continued every summer since then. Weeks of 90's-100's in Ashland, unending. The smoke gets so bad that I hibernate indoors. I'd love to be able to stay here, just leave come June, July, and August. Not realistic tho. It's time to move back up north again. Somewhere in Washington that doesn't get so much rain and gloom. Ashland is a wonderful town. Just not in summertime any longer. Climate change? Damn right.

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Overrated - 10/8/2013

A lot of people move here and expect to have everything just "work out." I've heard so many horror stories of people ending up on the streets with their dreams of moving to this incredibly expensive, high unemployment, tiny town. This town was a lot nicer many years ago, but now it feels like a lot of people are trying very hard to convince you (and themselves) what heaven this place is, in spite of all of its flaws. Ashland is a good place to vacation to. Living here is another story. Please keep that in mind when you think about relocating.

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population - 11/2/2009

Population of Ashland, Or is well over 20,000. In your stats you listed as only 2,000. This is obviously incorrect. You may want to check into this.

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healthy and beautiful place to live - 4/2/2008

There are organic local farms in the area and a wonderful Food Coop. It is easy to have wonderful healthy fruits and vegetables. The Ashland watershed provides good quality water.

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Great Little Town - 12/12/2007

I live in San Francisco but visit Ashland at least once a year to go to plays and enjoy the town in general. For me it's always been a very friendly place with plenty to do, and we enjoy the area a lot when we want a slower pace from our usual city life. I can understand when some locals are upset at the rise in housing prices and people moving in from other areas. After all, I live in San Francisco, which draws people from all over the world, and where supply and demand rules everything. So it's very expensive to live here and many longtime locals like myself (almost 40 years hre) suffer because of it being such a magnet for people from all over. Heck, we even let zillions of OREGONIANS move here. ;-) But anyway, Ashland is a great little town, and it's up there on my list of small, self-contained towns that we might retire to. People need places to retire, just like people with children need places to live as well. Sometimes they are not the same places. That's life.

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Nice paint job, rotten wood - 3/7/2007

This place is all cosmetics. Underneath it all is old, ugly, desperate crud. I've rented 2 houses for the same price I'd pay in LA. Both were so cute with lots of green outside, etc. What a sucker. Both had out-of-state landlords renting out old houses built when there were no building codes, for vastly over-inflated prices. (The salaries out here are worse than when I was in high school. And that was a long, long, long time ago...) I can't blow dry my hair with the lights on. Either I do it in the daytime or in the dark. I have a gorgeous bathroom w/ a huge tub that never fills up before the hot water runs out. Floors that tilt and windows that don't lock. Just a lot of irritating nonsense. And lately worse. Breathing problems traced to dirty air. Ashland is a little too wily for me. The housing is just ridiculous! Can't be legal.

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