Love this town
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6/17/2022
Moved here from Austin, Texas about three years ago. I've lived in the Bay Area, California, San Diego, Los Angeles and various towns in Central Texas (Georgetown, Taylor, Elgin), Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Spent time in Florida Gulf Coast, Portland, Oregon, mid-coast Massachusetts.
Really what prompted me to write this review are all the Eugene bashers.
Every place has issues. Indeed the cost of living and inflation are high; rents and house prices have climbed. That being said, I would submit that *any* nice town in the US, where you can work and/or go to school, eat decent food, and aren't swarmed by insects in the deep summer, will have the same issues or be worse. Sure you can buy a three bedroom house in Orrville, Ohio for under $200K. And it will be a tidy place to live. But can you get work there? Want to send your kids to school or go to college? Go outside in August and not die from the heat and mosquitos, go outside in January and not wade through snow drifts? That's the trade off you make between livability and cost.
Eugene is the Goldilocks of cities, not too big, not too small, developed but not too developed, mild weather with seasons. Stunning natural beauty. Great local produce and food. Very good bike infrastructure and urban parks are in abundance. Price-wise compared to Austin? Eugene comes off cheap.
There is a substantial homeless population, but again, anyplace that's decent will also have this - homelessness is a *national* problem, not a local phenomenon. It's a sad fact that many people have mental issues and can't take care of themselves. There are ongoing efforts to mitigate ranging from poor to great success.
Eugene is not diverse in terms of race/ethnicity. Population is mostly white and missing middle aged folks - lots of college age and lots of oldsters.
And yes, Eugene is mostly liberal. Personally I love it here.
B | Austin, TX