re: Where would you move to in PNW?

Portland is more livable. It's cheaper than Seattle and there is so much water that the traffic gets bogged down on the bridges.

Portland has less traffic AND the public transportation is really good. Seattle waited to long to put the public transportation system in place, and what they ended up with is not very good.

Seattle is more cosmopolitan, but both cities have their share of hipsters. If you stay in the suburbs, you can avoid all the homeless and hipsters, but your commute may be an hour+ each way.

Portland is smaller, but it feels a lot smaller than Seattle. As someone mentioned, you can live in Washington and not pay any income tax and shop in Oregon and not pay any sales tax.

Costco is everywhere in both cities.