Portland is absolutely beautiful; I can't say much about Seattle as I've only been there once.. I've been in Portland for 4 years and moved from Santa Cruz. The rain is totally manageable, it's only somewhat miserable if it's wet and windy. I moved here for the weather, no joke, so I may not be the best reference..

There is a big Subaru scene in the Northwest and way more lax registering/modding requirements. That said, in Oregon there are few roads with limits higher than 60mph and people LOVE to go under.

I always recommend moving to Portland and the city is getting ready for a big influx of people to come in.

 

Thanks for the input, im starting to look into Portland now. There's actually more job opportunities for me in Portland

 

WA is pretty awesome. I would look within 1 hr of seattle rather than right in seattle. Some areas get significantly more rain than others but yea its wet. You can buy in a waterfront house in wa for 1/5 the price as in ca with a mountain view. No income tax, pretty good economy. Spent quite a bit of time there and the drivers really are that slow and ****ty. Western wa is pretty damn liberal as well depending on how you like that.

 

This.