Looking around Oregon
 

I’m trying to find a place to live in this beautiful State. I’m spoiled and looking for the following:
•Low fire hazard
•Affordable housing
•quiet paved roads where I can ride from my front door without fearing for my life.
The first two are important, I prefer the road but I have no problem with riding Forest Service roads, I like trails but think I will over use them unless they go forever. Thanks to all in advance.

Hmmm....

You didn't mention occupation requirements. Size of city?

Oregon tends to be quite heterogeneous, but could be divided into several distinct regions.

• Coastal region. I'll lump it together as one. A lot of tourism. Quite a bit of traffic on the main highway, as well as on many of the roads going eastward from the coast. More temperate than inland? You should be able to find a few logging roads and roads off of the beaten path.
• Portland/Oregon City/Beaverton/etc. That is the big metro area. There may be a few more outlying satellite communities such as Hillsboro, but a lot of people up there. Nonetheless, they've been working on bicycle infrastructure in the city for the last couple of decades, and are doing well.
• Willamette Valley & I-5 Corridor, south of Portland. A good chunk of the population is in the Willamette Valley. Wet winters, but generally temperate in the winters, and moderate summer temperatures. Forest fire dangers in the forested regions, but so far we haven't had any major valley fires. The hotter and drier the further south one goes. The Willamette Valley ends around Eugene, and then it gets hillier to the south, but maintains some similar characteristics between the Coastal and Cascade ranges.
• Bend. Booming metro area in the East. Good access to skiing & mountains. Tends to be hotter in the summers and colder in the winters. Drier. Outdoor activities is popular in the region.
• Rest of Eastern Oregon (east of the Moutains). Again hot and dry. It does actually vary somewhat with a few mountainous regions. Steins. Perhaps some unique regions along the Columbia or Snake rivers.

Housing prices in Oregon are going up. But, there is a big difference between Oregon affordable housing and say San Francisco affordable housing.

There are a lot of small towns, or rural communities if that is an option for you.

Perhaps a town like Cottage Grove. 20 miles to Eugene. There is a great bike path heading east of the town (Dorena). From there, you can hit some of the hills if you wish. The Loraine area between Cottage Grove and Eugene is very popular for riding, although I tend to be a bit east of that valley.

Plus 1 on Clifford's reply. There are lots of great places to live and ride in Oregon. I'd personally stay away from large cities, but there are many cute smaller towns within the Willamette Valley which would be great places to be a cyclist. You may also want to look at the Roseburg area and the Klamath Basin.

The coastal towns tend to be busy in the summer months and are a bit landlocked with fewer road options. Eastern Oregon also tends to have fewer road riding options.

Out of all the the city’s and towns in Oregon I think Eugene, OR is the the best for bicycle friendly living. Home of Burley, Bike Friday, Co-Motion Bikes, and many other smaller bike builders. I don’t know where you are from but in my mind the home prices are high as is the taxes. But if you are coming from CA it maybe be lower.

Eugene has just one problem: Cycling is dying here. Okay, there are two problems: The fire risk is escalating and smokey summers are likely to be a nearly-unbearable fact of life soon. Also, the state has plans to add nearly a billion dollars of freeway stuff that will add a lot more car traffic via the magic of induced demand, so the current roads we ride on, many of which are just barely tolerable now, will become too awful to bear. I guess that's three problems. Other than that, it's perfect.
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