Where in Oregon would you rather live?

[Kuumo]

Oregon is one of the states I'm more knowledgeable on since I live right next door. I've been to most of these regions, so I'll rank all of them.

1. Portland - one of my favorite cities in the country
2. Eugene - only been there briefly, but it seemed like a good college town
3. Portland suburbs - seemed fine when I visited, but they are still suburbs
4. Central Oregon (Bend) - conveniently close to Newberry National Monument and other mountainous areas
5. Southern Oregon (Ashland) - I liked the town of Ashland when I visited for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
6. Willamette Valley (Salem) - I'm not super familiar with this area but when driving though it, the cities seemed less interesting than Portland and Eugene and the rural areas less scenic than Central, Southern, and Eastern Oregon
7. Coast (Astoria) - I've never really been to the Oregon Coast outside of Astoria, and it seemed a bit too small and rainy for me but at least is relatively close to Portland
8. Eastern Oregon (Baker City) - I like visiting, particularly the area around Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, but it's a bit too isolated for me to live in

[Kuumo]

6. Willamette Valley (Salem) - the rural areas less scenic than Central, Southern, and Eastern Oregon

I gotta *strongly* disagree on that one. It's just that I-5 slashes through an atypically boring stretch of farm fields.

I'll take your word for it. I can't really think of any major ugly parts of Oregon, so I probably just haven't seen the parts of the Willamette Valley that aren't monotonous farmland.