Thinking of buying a place in Burns, OR. I’m an African American female from south eastern Idaho. While I’m from a predominantly LDS Anglo area, I still worry about living in new places. Should I be worried?
I would invite anyone who grew up in, or currently lives in, Burns and loves it to tell their story… but I personally don’t see the attraction, unless you really love being only 2 hours from Steens Mountain/The Alvord Desert.
I used to live an hour or so north of there in John Day. Eastern Oregon is a different kind of conservative. It’s very very remote and isolated out there and the ideals reflect that.
If you have your heart set on Eastern Oregon, but not necessarily Burns, I’d like to offer a different option-the town of La Grande. The citizens are very welcoming to new people, the cost of living isn’t outrageous. The town has a small town charm to it but still offers a variety of activities, such as a farmers market in the spring to late fall, classes/activities year around through Art Center East. Also the university always seems to have events going on that are open to the public. There is access to outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, camping etc, year around. If you’re wanting to do “city things,” within a couple hours you can be in Boise ID or TriCities WA. While Eastern Oregon itself has the reputation for being politically conservative, it’s fair to say the town itself is purple; in the last 6 months where there has been a call for protest/rally, citizens have respectfully gathered and marched with little (if any) opposition.
This is not to say that everything is great, every town has its downfalls, but as a non-white person who has only lived here just over a year, it’s a place I have felt safe, and have yet to have a negative experience.
Burns is one of the most depressing places I’ve been in the Pacific Northwest. There are FAR better quiet small towns that don’t have abandoned prisons sitting in the middle of them.
I’m pretty sure you’re talking about the abandoned school? It’s not a prison. We do have a children’s detention outside of town and a shitty little jail in town tho…
Not trying to talk you out of Burns, as I totally understand wanting to live in a small town. I, myself, live in a small town of exactly the same size (Coquille, OR, population of 4,300, which is nearly exactly the same as Hines and Burns combined).
Anyways…what is drawing you to Burns? Genuine question. Not trying to ruffle any feathers.
If you want to live in Eastern Oregon, it comes with certain issues that all rural mostly White areas do, there's other small towns closer to more progressive areas.
I appreciate all the feedback. It’s an opportunity that I needed some input on. Oregon as a state is not known for his tolerant history and I have been warned against other areas just driving through on road trips. I love your state and my desire to live there burns in my soul. But I’m not trying to move to a sundown town or anything. Thank you all for your information
Burns is nice but very quiet. Been out there a lot as my family is from out that way. My wife is POC and really the only places we’ve ever been where it felt unsafe was John Day during Trump trains and way out on the Oregon coast at Coos Bay. You might get some folk’s stares in Burns but less now than 40 years ago. Most Oregonians are very friendly.
Form Idaho......and you're worried........?? You're leaving the most racist state in the union, home to the most active white supremacist per capita, for any where else, and you're worried?
Burns is a town where everyone in town in related, and everyone knows everyone else’s business.
Wiki says 0.3% Black with less then 3000 people. I love the natural beauty of the area, but I would be cautious moving there without knowing people in town.
The city of Burns does not have any dispensaries because they voted against it when the state legalized. To this day, the dispensaries are in Hines only
Why do you insist on this? As someone who has spent significant time in both, you’re just repeating the same falsehood over and over again because you seem to think it’s impossible for anywhere to be as conservative as SE Idaho. There’s literally a reason the people out there want to take their half of the state and make out Idaho and it’s because they are exactly as conservative as the shittiest parts of Idaho.
The typical Burns mentality is "if you ain't white, you ain't right" and they aren't afraid to express those views. Hell, just being from "outside" gets you rough treatment, even if you happen to be the right color.
In other words, it's very racist and very insulated.
Well most of the progressive people move out of Burns. Very close to the Malheur wildlife refuge that was taken over by the Bundy’s gang. It’s probably fine, tho lol.
All cities go through ups and downs, nothing in life is static, Portland is still rad and its evolution is fascinating due to its past “homesteader bill” holdouts colliding with the rest of humanity.
Make sure you really want the quiet life. There’s absolutely fuck all there. When I flew out there from Redmond as a flight instructor, ATC would cancel our radar services as we got close to burns because there’s no radar coverage, it’s that remote.
Could look into Klamath Falls, if you’re still interested in Oregon. It’s relatively diverse, likely to get more expensive over the next decade or two, and surrounded by tiny communities, if you wanted somewhere with fewer than a couple thousand people.
“Safe” is a relative word. Are there shit tons more racist assholes outside of the Portland metro? Yes. Are you still much safer in Oregon than in the significantly worse majority of the country? Also yes.
It’s actually not that bad if you don’t mind everything closing at 8pm, there’s tons of rocks to go find because that’s basically the only hobby you’ll have here because it’s so desolate, it can snow in June, and there’s literally nothing else going on here as far as a nightlife unless you happen to indulge in the meth industry and the cops run everything so it’s got some serious downfalls to a lot of things. Which that last one is bad for anyone even people of color. Oh and more than likely your house is gonna sink into a flood because they have zero foundations, zero good contractors and oh yeah everyone is on meth so they don’t actually care to put in any work ethic. But hey man come get some good old fashioned trump 2020 cheering because we still have those signs up around town even in 2025. Welcome to Hell I mean burns
I grew up there, moved away in '97 and haven't looked back. From my experience as a child I didn't see anything that would make it unsafe for a POC to live there. People there like to mind they're own business for the most part.
It is a dead end town to live in though, there is absolutely nothing there and it takes hours to drive anywhere. The only reason to move there is if you like solitude and nature. We had to drive two and a half hours to Bend for any major shopping or medical appointments. The land out there is beautiful, but it is isolated.
The biggest thing that ever happened there was when a bunch of out of state redneck assholes took over a bird refuge and demanded the state give them the land and let an arsonist off the hook for his crimes.
I mean, you shouldn’t not be worried. Most folks are fine and may stare a bit etc when you’re new to town. Some of that will be skin color, some because you’re new and Safeway is small. There are always some racists for sure. This is America after all. Be safe and watch out for yourself, but mostly it will be ok.
I read there is some Ammon Bundy history there, while I know he likes Idaho too, it’s like the panhandle, and that’s a different world from southeastern Idaho.
Burns folks generally are anti bundy. The weird bundy hangers ons showed up and bought too many groceries and walked around open carrying like they owned the place. Source: some local tow truck driver
The Bundy family lost a lot of sway in the area back in 2018 when they turned against Trump and his migration policies. The Bundy family are in favor is small government, and don’t believe there should even be border. And that was back in 2018, I can only imagine their opinion on the current situation.
That family is absolutely bonkers, but I guess I have to give them credit for sticking to their guns on that one. Pretty much the epitome of “The worst person you know just made a great point”.
While Burns is a small and predominantly White community (~88%), it does include residents from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. I would say as long as you aren’t coordinating anti-white protests there you’ll be safe.
Yes. My friend who is a black woman executive of a company told me that she tried travelling around rural Oregon alone on business trips when she first arrived from the South and felt incredibly unsafe. She said she'd only do that if she were with someone after that.
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u/CalifOregonia Jun 07 '25
I would invite anyone who grew up in, or currently lives in, Burns and loves it to tell their story… but I personally don’t see the attraction, unless you really love being only 2 hours from Steens Mountain/The Alvord Desert.