Traffic congestion - 12/1/2021

This city has traffic similar to Seattle. I think some drivers here are aggressive and are not able to stay calm under stress. Although the rent prices seem reasonable I don’t think this is a great place to live.

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From Good To Bad time for a New Mayor and Council - 6/18/2021

Plus no pone wants a new bridge it has been voted down a thousand times but now the city of Vancouver is going to try and sneak one in anyway and the nice small feeling is looking more like New York or California every day old historic place are replaced with high rise condo and apartments people have to work in Oregon and pay extra non resident tax to make it as there are no jobs here anymore they have all moved out 68 years here is really bad time for new mayor that listens to it people

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it's time to leave the corruption behind - 4/7/2021

The city is corrupt, department heads taking bribes, 2 yr community college almost destroyed because the faculty are making it into a 4 yr college. Mormon corruption they don't collect business licensing fees from companies in OR they're involved in that are doing business in WA, autodealers charge the wrong amount of sales tax on Costco auto program, most jobs are part time, homeless seem to be less visible but who knows where they are hiding them now. Really a bedroom community to Portland. Commutes to Portland easily 30 mins to an hour depending on when. Prices high, high sales tax, sanctuary city for Russians and Hispanics.

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Great small town! - 10/21/2020

Great small town. Lots to do in nature. Clean, well maintained and safe. Great place to raise a family or retire!

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Unaccountable police, gloomy, ugly, and gross - 3/21/2020

I Lived in Vancouver for 10+ years. I used to be heavily involved in the community and was a city volunteer for many of those years. Recently, my love for this city has disappeared. Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle and the current city council has absolutely destroyed the community. She’s running a police force that overreacts to EVERYTHING, has disproportionate use of force, and is the least transparent agency in the state. There’s zero accountability in the city. Don’t believe me? Google it. I have recently packed up my businesses and my family and moved far away from that awful place. It’s gloomy, become overpriced, full of homeless, has awful traffic lights and really has no benefits to offer. Move somewhere else. Somewhere where the community actually has a voice... they certainly don’t in Vancouver

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Vancouver! A good place to be homeless! - 12/24/2019

All I can say is gentrification. Every time I see another Tesla driving down our crowded streets another person is out of a home. I've lived here 17 years and it just keeps getting worse. They keep builing hotels and banks and restaurants but where are the good paying jobs? Where are all these minimum wage workers supposed to live?! The wages are too stagnant and the rent is too high. It is far too rainy and there is not much to do. The only activities are in Portland but you have to sit in horrible traffic to get there. Not much else to say about this depressing purgatory.

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Gentrification - 12/24/2019

noun the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste. "an area undergoing rapid gentrification"

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Wonderful Small City I love Living Here! - 5/22/2019

I moved to Vancouver 3 years ago and I love it. It's a clean, small city feel, easy to get around with lots of parks and nature nearby. Everything is close, within 20 minutes of what you want to do and the Columbia River Gorge and beaches are practically in your backyard. People are friendly and I feel very safe living here. And, if you want to go to the big city it's nearby! Love my life here, wouldn't want to live anywhere else (except maybe the beach!)

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The highs and lows of living in the PNW - 4/22/2019

My family and I first moved here in 1996. We lived here until 2007. We loved Vancouver and called it home for many years. The city was a great size and we had Portland just across the River. We had to move due to my husbands job near Olympia and really never liked it as well there. We were able to move back to Vancouver in 2017 and have been very disappointed in the changes that we have seen. The traffic and construction are much worse. The price of housing has doubled and in some places tripled from when we left, and the homeless population seems to be taking over most areas of Vancouver and Portland at an alarming rate as well as the trash on the side of the highway. Of course the population has drastically increased which makes it feel much larger but the increase in restaurants and movie theaters has been a plus. Also the rain and gloomy dreary days seems to drag on forever which is a major reason we are considering moving, unfortunately there is just no place better as far as weather goes than Vancouver from the months of July through October. I guess everywhere is going to have positives and negatives, you just have to decide what you can and can not live with.

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Awesome place to raise family - 8/6/2018

Awesome place to live , quality life a lot better than New York or San Mateo California where I was living before , it is getting very expensive and crowded. We move from the Bay Area 20 years ago right on time now we are getting the California weather without paying high price to live .

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Resident from 2015-2018 - 3/20/2018

Pros: Beautiful green scenery, plenty of rivers and lakes, great air quality, top notch natural landmarks within an hour radius, very little to zero dangerous wildlife in the area, moderate temperatures year-round, laid back people, located near a larger city with abundant amenities (Portland), federal and state tax benefits living in Vancouver and shopping in Portland. Cons: Lack of sunshine (there are more grey days a year than there are sunny days), long stretches of rainy days (often 2-3 weeks straight in the rainy season), rent and property prices are increasing sharply due to steady growth, traffic is increasing due to lack of public transportation (traffic to and from Portland for 9 to 5 workers is especially bad), drug problems and homelessness are around the cheaper parts of town causing property crime (my aunt and uncle have lived downtown for 12 years and have had their cars broken into multiple times and have had a homeless person attempt to break into their house), pollen counts are high in spring causing very strong allergies for people who don't have a high tolerance

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The gloom will make you literally sick - 3/20/2018

Well. I moved here from southern California about 3 years ago (yes, there are a lot like me). I was looking to get away from the constant heat and sun, which I sure as hell did. I was warned by EVERYONE about the rain, which I don't mind at all, but I didn't heed warnings about gloom. The sun comes out less than half the year, and I'm not exaggerating. The lack of vitamin D has really affected my health. I am constantly depressed, my anxiety is extra high, I have permanent fatigue, I get sick a lot...my eyesight has suffered greatly from living here, because it's so dark out all the time, and sungazing is a rare and precious happening. It's also crowded as s**t here now. I wanted to escape the big city vibe of socal, but it seems everyone and their mother had the same idea. Traffic is terrible, rent and housing prices are skyrocketing, the job market is insanely cutthroat. Also, employers here very often treat workers like garbage. I have been through 10 jobs since moving here. 10 jobs in 3 years!!!! Employers are allowed to treat you like crap without any legal repercussions, plus they're allowed to fire you without reason. The amount of abuse I've dealt with in jobs here has been out of this world. Of course, the place isn't all bad. It is gorgeous here. Like, really seriously green and beautiful. Great scenery, loads of hiking spots, botanical gardens. It is truly built for the outdoorsy type... If you can find parking and don't mind hiking with a bunch of strangers. The hikers are friendly, they say hello, pretty much everyone here has a dog. Your hike will never be private or quiet, but you might make a friend. You also have to pay to park pretty much anywhere in the area. Parks, hiking spots, downtown, etc. I would say annually, I spend $200 or so on parking fees. Washington does boast the highest minimum wage state in the country, so you are guaranteed to make $11.50+, but you are a server or bartender, you will greatly struggle to find work here. Everyone in the area fights tooth and nail for 10-15 hours a week at a restaurant. Most jobs here are part time, to accommodate for the insane influx of people. Too many people, not enough jobs. So while the unemployment rate isn't very high, I would say most people are probably underemployed. Employers keep hours low to avoid giving benefits. Most people I know here have at least 2 or 3 jobs. The homeless problem is growing, too, with the rapid increase in rent prices. You can't drive more than a mile in the city without seeing at least one person begging for money, food, cigarettes, pot, etc. We're right next to Portland, which is probably to blame for the traffic, crowding, and homeless epidemic. But it also has its benefits. Powell's is the most impressive bookstore I've ever seen (and probably ever will see) in my life. It's hard not to get lost in there for hours. They really have everything. There are also quite a few small businesses in Portland, which I appreciate. Portland also has a ton of available jobs, but the commute from Vancouver to Portland can often take 2 hours because of traffic. I find Portland people are also quite full of themselves. Probably because they're depressed from lack of sunlight. Oh, also. Starting a business here is hard. The increase in cost of living has really emptied people's pockets, and most people can only afford to buy necessities now. If you're trying to sell anything other than cheap food, good luck. So, in summary: The good - High minimum wage, beautiful scenery, plenty of hiking, Portland's culture (if you're willing to bare the traffic to get there), lots of dogs/dog friendly places, healthcare is decent. The bad- Crowding, traffic, expensive, no sunshine, people are grumpy all year except in summer, parking is hard to find and when you do find it, it costs to park, the job market is cutthroat, full time jobs are very hard to come by, very hard to garden here without a greenhouse, employers are often abusive or neglectful, self employment/entrepreneurship/starting a business is nearly impossible, the gloom is incredibly depressing, you have to work all the time to afford to live here and you probably won't have time for a social life or recreation.

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Vancouver is a good place to live. - 3/1/2018

Love the area! There is so much to do here. I do find there is life in the town, hence traffic, but would you rather live in a town with no services. Lots of restaurants, parks, trails, plenty of water for summer sports, and lots of rain! Housing can be a bit pricey, depends on what you want and your definition of reasonable hosing costs. Just remember everyone wants to live in a nice area, so it costs more...

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I love this town - 12/18/2017

Other reviewers are complaining that the city has changed. Guess what. All cities change over time, and they do get busier as the population grows. Are we, who are priced out of other areas, expected to stay in those areas and be homeless so that cities like Vancouver don't change? I remember this town when I was a kid (moved to Bay Area as an adult), and it was once a dump. We came up a few times a year to get things we couldn't in Oregon. Vancouver was such a dump that many people in Portland still think this town is a dirty, gross place and still call it Vantucky. Many, many Portlanders refuse to come here because of how bad it used to be, and it was bad enough they still expect it to be that way. Now we have a safe, clean city with beautifully-built shopping centers. We have better roads. It's just plain a cleaner, nicer place. Yet people are complaining it's changed? Do those people want to go back to the filth? This is a safe city that has changed as all cities do. Yes, it sucks getting priced out. We live at least two states away from our families since we were priced out and refused to go to economically depressed areas to stay in the state we were in. We could love to be back in the coastal city that is home to us. We know what it's like to be priced. We were priced out from the top. No one gets driven into top places like San Francisco or Santa Barbara. You get driven out, move to places like Portland and Vancouver, and it continues on down. We all need to live somewhere, and cities will always, always change. That's just how it is, and we can't stop that. Vancouver is a safe, still relatively affordable place, which is why a lot of middle-class and poor people are still moving here.

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So Sad - 4/13/2017

So got to Vancouver yesterday and was so excited to see old friends and old past homes from 20 years ago. That being said, much time has gone by. I must admit the amount of traffic and people that are in Vancouver today is absolutely shocking. Mill Plain is just as busy as any large city such as LA or Atlanta. There are businesses everywhere. We were thinking about moving back but no more. If we ever do move back, we will try to live an hour away from Vancouver where property is cheaper and less congested. Real estate prices have doubled. Our old ranch home, which is quite small, was bought for 235,000 last year. Incredible! It's not worth that much by far. So sad.

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Up and coming city - 2/8/2016

I've lived and worked in the Vancouver area for 10 years. When I moved here it had a depressed feel. The downtown area was deteriorated, with many empty storefronts. However, over the past five year, Vancouver has really come alive. There are few empty commercial spaces in the downtown and uptown neighborhoods. There are many wonderful restaurants and microbreweries and numerous events throughout the year. My wife and I like to walk and have never felt unsafe walking at any hour of the day or night in Downtown. A few years ago the mall in the central part of the city was virtually abandoned, and had few tenants. Now, it has been remodeled and is very upscale, with every type of store and is home to one of the nicest movie theaters in the nation. East Vancouver has also expanded tremendously, with tons of shopping and new developments. However, traffic in the east side of town has gotten especially bad over the last few years. The city broke ground in 2015 on a huge project at the old Alcoa aluminum plant along the waterfront. Within the next few years there will be numerous housing and business towers, with restaurants and shops, as well as parkland and trails to explore. There are also paved walking and biking trails along the Columbia river and Vancouver Lake and the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail runs for miles throughout a greenbelt in the city. The schools are very good overall, although a few of the high schools are not as good as the others. However, any school in Vancouver is better than the Portland Oregon schools. My son attended Skyview High School in Vancouver and it is the nicest high school I have ever seen. For housing, east Vancouver is full of new developments and upscale apartment complexes. North and Central Vancouver is a mix of many 1960s and '70s style homes, duplexes, modern homes on large lots, and a sprinkling of old original farmhouses from the areas agricultural past. Downtown Vancouver has many interesting older homes. The Hough neighborhood is full of great, well cared for homes, and could be any of the popular neighborhoods in Portland, but less expensive. The Lincoln neighborhood is full of WWII era homes that were built for the workers at the Alcoa plant supporting the war effort. The streets are tree lined and quiet, and the houses are small, but nice. My wife and I love to go to Portland on the weekends for the culture and people watching, but we like the feel and pace of life of Vancouver during the week. Having no state income tax and no sales tax just minutes away in Oregon is very nice, too.

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living in Vancouver - 2/2/2014

very livable; lots of outdoor activities; easy to negotiate; very helpful people.

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Small town living by the big city - 5/23/2013

No income tax in WA. No sales tax in OR. Portland, OR offers all the culture one could seek plus great restaurants. It is a great walking city and weather is quite moderate.

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Much to offer - if one is wealthy... - 4/14/2013

I have lived in Vancouver for most of my 59 years, and am very sorry to see what has happened to what was once a pleasant place to live. As more and more people have moved here, the quality of life has deteriorated, and dramatically. Wealthy people have purchased almost all of the nice properties; this includes those along the many waterfronts, where the public used to enjoy access for recreation. So, there are now only a handful of public access places for river and lake activities; as a result, ever greater numbers of people are crammed into ever smaller areas. Worse still, many of those who flock to the few public places left have no respect for the natural beauty of the area. Instead of picking up after themselves, they litter these places with all manner of trash, and despoil the very beauty they supposedly seek to enjoy. Anyone who has a pet dog, and would like their dog to enjoy some sort of freedom is out of luck here. Leash laws abound everywhere, so the poor dogs have precious few places where they can run free. My own dog died in 1989, and I haven't had one since because of the terribly restrictive rules and regulations that either didn't exist or were tolerantly overlooked when my dog was alive. This is a lousy place for a dog to live - unless it has a rich owner with a huge piece of property. Freedom for the resident people has also become all but non-existent. Big brotherism is rampant, and the local authorities seem determined to put us all in a safety bubble of their design - for our own good, of course. I am only a few years from retirement, and hope to God that I can find a better place where I can actually enjoy the rest of my life.

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Vancouver NOT for drinkers! - 2/17/2013

I have gotten drunk all over the P.N.W. and I can tell you hands down, that it is NOT a good place to get drunk! Cops are VERY hard on being drunk, and also on public pissing, so if you want to wip-it-out, best go somewhere else, cause the cops will beat you. I have been arrested 4 times, all for public pissing, I tell you it's just not worth it.

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