A Gen Xer who moved to a small city in North Georgia from Portland, Oregon said she 'couldn't live there anymore' amid rising costs

• A Gen Xer moved to a city an hour north of Atlanta and feels much more at home than in Portland, Oregon.
• She rents an apartment more than double the size for just $500 more than her apartment in Portland.
• The people in Georgia are friendlier, and she feels safer and more welcomed.

T. D. Larson couldn't live in Portland, Oregon anymore.

She was over the city's skyrocketing cost of living, high taxes, and declining population. She considered moving to Texas or Washington — where she previously lived briefly — but decided to pack her bags and move 2,500 miles southeast to Canton, Georgia, a city of around 34,500 people about 40 miles north of Atlanta.

After around six months of research and planning, Larson — who asked to use the first initial of her first and middle names for privacy reasons — realized Canton would be the "upgrade" she wanted in her life. Larson, who works in PR and is in her mid-50s, got an apartment for double the size in Canton for only a few hundred dollars more a month. The people are nicer, the cost of living is way down, and she feels safer as a Jewish resident, she said.

"It took me a while to save up the money since it cost a lot to move here, and I'm digging out of some credit card debt, but it's worth it," Larson said. "I sleep better at night. I'm not hearing racing cars or anything, even though I'm maybe a mile from the main road."

Census Bureau data from May estimates Portland experienced a population loss of 2.8% between 2020 and 2022, making it the sixth fastest-shrinking city in the US. This city's population fell from 653,294 in 2020, to 635,067 in 2022.

Census Bureau estimates reveal that nearly 158,000 people moved away from Oregon between 2021 and 2022. Of those, just around 1,600 moved to Georgia.

Leaving Portland behind

Larson was born and raised in Portland, though she often moved around for work. She spent a few years in Dallas, Houston, and Seattle, as well as some time in cities throughout Europe and Asia, though she moved back to Portland full-time 11 years ago.

In 2014, she started working remotely for a small boutique firm, during which time she became more involved in local politics. She said she helped elect city officials to try and solve problems of homelessness, drug abuse, and mental health, though she said a lot of proposals were "disastrous." These issues became worse in the years leading up to and including the pandemic, she said.

The city "really took a dive" during the pandemic, she said, which "decimated businesses downtown," making the city lose much of its charm. Portland became "unlivable," she said, as rising rents and costs of daily purchases pushed people out of their homes and hurt middle-class residents. She also said she struggled to focus much of the time in Portland, as it was often very loud and chaotic in her area.

She knew she wanted to move to a more rural area or a smaller city where she'd feel more comfortable. Starting in 2020, she began saving as much as she could and began looking along the East Coast, near where her company has office buildings.

She decided on the Atlanta area, where she knew some people from work, but she didn't want to live anywhere close to downtown. After some searching, she settled on Canton, which is almost an hour north via car.

"Maybe it's just because I'm getting older, but being a single gal, I just wanted to live in a safe place," she said. "I wanted to be somewhere quiet, and that's exactly what I have here."

Canton, Georgia: Pros and cons

Larson moved in June into a newer development in Canton that was double the size of her 800-square-foot, $1,400 a month two-bedroom apartment in Portland.

In Portland, she was paying nearly $200 a month for air conditioning, whereas her 1,800-square-foot, three-bedroom apartment in Canton is $1,900 and her electricity bill never goes above $140. Her Portland apartment had no dishwasher and no washer and dryer, while she has all those amenities in Georgia.

"I'm out in an area that has three sides of my complexes surrounded by forest, and the other side is the main road," Larson said. "I'm a little more than a mile away from the main drag, which has an AMC theater, has all the major chain restaurants and smaller ones, has groceries and craft stores, things like that."

She chose not to move to a suburb that's closer to Atlanta, like Marietta or Kennesaw, which she said were growing fast and becoming more expensive. She knew Canton was becoming more built up but not nearly at the rate of other suburbs.

She's noticed that groceries are a bit cheaper than in Portland, and gas is also down — gas is currently $4.28 a gallon in Portland, compared to $3.07 in her county. The quality of groceries she said is slightly better in Georgia and also around 20% cheaper.

Larson also said that as a Jew, Canton is a safer place to exercise her religion. She said her current city is more accepting and respectful, and the people overall seem much happier and positive.

Still, she said there's little public transportation in her area, coupled with a lack of sidewalks. Temperatures also are quite high in the summer months, she said.

Ultimately, though, she said she hopes to never return to living on the West Coast and wants Canton to become her permanent home.

"I left friends behind, but that's what social media and phone calls are for," Larson said. "It's not like I won't fly back to Portland to visit friends, but really my heart feels here."

Have you recently moved to a new state? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].