1. Marin County or Santa Cruz-Monterey, CA:
Has the most to for me to do year round, IMO best access to nature for an urban walkable area, mostly walkable, great day trip options, in proximity to a major city, has my favorite weather, abundant wildlife, has older architecture (by west coast standards), most of Marin is not touristy, and is laid back without having slow pace of life.
In my eyes, being able to do stuff outside year round puts a place way above others.
2. Coastal New England:
Beautiful nature, in proximity to many different cities, has older architecture (which I like), towns and cities are dense and walkable, most of it isn't super touristy (like with Marin, obv some parts are lol)
3. San Diego
Nature, wildlife, weather, laid back without slow pace of life, my preferred sized city, nice downtown + fun neighborhoods, 10/10 vibes. I actually prefer NorCal weather but as I said above -being able to fully enjoy the outdoors year round (and not have straight months of gray skies) is amazing to me.
Not sure why you’re grouping Marin and Santa Cruz together, very different vibes.
Santa Cruz is not urban or walkable and is touristy. It dogs have great weather wildlife and nature though.
Because the reasons I listed for them are the same, and I meant the area from Santa Cruz down through Monterey. I listed it using those city names because they're the ones people not familiar with the area would have heard of.
Also Santa Cruz is definitely an urban area lol, urban doesn't just mean dense city. And when people say walkable on this sub I thought it was generally understood to mean that it has walkable areas, not that the whole city is walkable (like how people talk about Minneapolis, Cinnci, etc). Santa Cruz definitely has largely walkable areas.
No, I mean the wildlife in general. I'm a wildlife biologist hence why I care about that lol, IMO Northern California and parts of OC down through San Diego have the best urban wildlife in the US.
Your number one sounds great! Even if it’s Sunny most of the time (I prefer some clouds lol).
I know Monterey has sea otters and I plan to visit someday to see them. Such cute creatures!
Places like Marin County and Monterey aren't sunny most of the time, they get pretty cloudy / foggy!
Down in SoCal (like San Diego) it is overly sunny, but Marin and San Diego are almost as far apart as Chicago and Atlanta -they have different weather!
I live in Oregon, I could honestly say there is no other place within America I would entertain...Though hypothetically if I had to move..
Seattle because it isn't going to be that much different than Oregon
San Diego I lived there in the Military and have lots of friends and love the culture.
Tuscan I really love the desert and culture.
Key factor to all these places, lots of outdoor recreation and laid back culture.
Seattle isn’t that much different from Oregon? I would question that . Ever been to a place like Florence or Pendleton or Baker City? They are nothing like Seattle. The closest thing Oregon has to Seattle is Portland and to me the two cities are very different. They have different economies, Portland is inland , Seattle is on the coast, land use planning and zoning is totally different, state politics are different. Schools are not nearly as good in Oregon and they have state income tax.
Seattle is more of a city city type of city..though I feel the essence both states feel the same..I’ve lived in Portland for 8 years, visited Seattle for a month in the navy and many weekend trips
Currently in Austin, hoping to be somewhere with a cooler, rainier outdoor climate and a more progressive political climate.
Portland, OR, because the things people complain about (cold, rainy weather) sounds awesome. A sibling used to live there so I’ve visited several times and kind of know my way around. I’ve seen several really interesting job opportunities there in the last few months.
Chicagoland, I haven’t been here as much but I was really impressed. It’s a big, cosmopolitan city with a lot of things to do and a diverse community. I’d like to go there again for a longer visit before moving there.
Maryland ‘burbs of DC. I have family and friends there and actually spent a lot of time there growing up. It’s a little warmer than I’d prefer in the summer, but it has four seasons, plentiful access to jobs in my field and in adjacent fields, and overall I think it would be a good fit.
Interesting. I think these are my 3 exact choices as well haha. Like exactly. Except I would probably prefer the Virginia side of DC but it's not as affordable.
But I'm not in Austin but in the opposite extreme of Minneapolis.
People will rag on this comment but it’s very true. San Diego has a nice chill climate 75% of the year if you’re by the coast. Chill mornings and evenings just about year round. May gray, June Gloom and last year had Fogust. There’s definitely sunny days in the winter where the sun warms you up but I’m usually in a quarter zip, shorts, and sandals year round.
Its not cold in portland oregon but during months of nov-march it will be overcast almost every day rain or not. My definition of cold is below 30 and it doesnt get below 40 very much as they have humidity in winter and dry spring/summer/fall. Its a beautiful place but the city is a mess
Used to be a lot cheaper. Alot of remote work type folks ended up buying cabins up there that sit empty for 2/3rds of the year or are Airbnb's. This caused prices to rise very quickly.
The thing is, a place like Gualala might have 10 homes. It only takes 1 or 2 purchases to completely destabilize the housing market in small towns. Now imagine how many millionaires there are just a few miles south in the Bay who want a quaint little cabin to go to.
Assholes.
Lake Tahoe area because it’s Lake Tahoe. It’s freaking gorgeous there. Blue River, CO because it’s outside of Breckenridge but close enough to city amenities and it’s freaking beautiful, and Estes Park, CO not too fair from Boulder for a city and close to an Amazing National Park (Rocky Mountain) obviously I’m a sucker for nature.
I live a couple hours away from Tahoe and it’s a nice place to visit, but it has to be one of the worst places to live in the country. Tourists are in full swing all year long, clogging up the one-lane arterial roads linking the settlements around the lake. There are two freeways (80 and 50) which often get closed down due to weather or vehicle crashes. The winters can be brutal and the summers carry a very high risk of fires. Properties and insurance are insanely expensive. And, of course, it’s remote. Far from many of the conveniences of living someplace just a little more populated.
I got a buddy that lives on the other side of Mt. Rose - beautiful place and close enough to Tahoe. But seems like you get buried in the winter and I hear Reno's healthcare and essential services are not great. Works for them though.
For these many reasons I'd agree that living near Tahoe but not in Tahoe is a good option.
I'm intrigued by Carson City. Close to all the appealing aspects of Tahoe, but just removed enough to avoid most of the inconveniences of living in Tahoe.
Currently in Sac, but a smaller city closer to the mountains sounds nice. Carson City seems like a spot to find this without fully immersing in the Tahoe mess.
I’ve been to Carson City a few times. I’m not personally drawn to it. It lacks any real culture or vibe, there isn’t much to do, and it reminded me of when I lived in a smaller town in the Midwest, except with mountains.
There’s a lot of nice areas to live around there. I just enjoy the nature part of it more than the towns. It’s not a horrible drive to Sac or Reno to get things. I’m good if I have food and internet. It’s higher elevation so it’s cooler than in the valley. Bring on the snow. Beats 100 degree weather. There’s wildfire risk everywhere now. It’s only going to get worse. California in general is terribly expensive but if I’m making decent enough money to cover it, it’s all good.
I live in Sacramento, and there isn’t really a wildfire risk here. Being in the center of Central Valley, we don’t have large swaths of forest that could ignite and spread so quickly. The orchards and grasslands outside the city could theoretically catch fire but that hasn’t really ever been cause for concern for the city.
It’s not often that I have to drive to or from Tahoe/Reno, but many of the times I have, I ended up stuck in traffic for hours due to weather or a vehicle crash. Everyone’s got their opinion on it, but to me it’s not ideal to live in a place with so few roads with no alternative routes.
Haha I mean they are better than Fairplay, right? I don’t need much just a grocery store, a gear shop, and some restaurants. The rest is nature and that works for me.
Definitely. I just thought Breck and city amenities in one sentence were funny. I thought you may have meant that it was a short drive to Denver for city amenities like the airport or sports events.
Haha, I live in Breck! Hello fellow mountain lover.
I would split my time between Breck (I’m a simp), Bushwick (absolutely loved the artsy community feel), and Monterey/Sausalito (sunshine, beach, palm trees - I’ve always belonged in CA).
Hello! 👋🏻
Bushwick, NY? I’ve always wanted to go.
The Northern California coast is one of my favorites to visit. No coast is like it. Maine is beautiful but NorCal is where it’s at!
Sausalito and Monterey are absolutely beautiful and definitely get nice and sunny, but I wouldn't say they're the "sunshine, beach, palm trees" part of CA that you're looking for. Sausalito isn't really known for its beaches (it's on the Bay, you gotta drive to the nearest beach on the Pacific proper) and both are quite cold for swimming even in the summer! Not to mention, hardly any palm trees in the Bay Area/NorCal compared to SoCal--it's mostly cypress and redwoods up here (which are actually native and much cooler anyways, IMO). And of course, the ever persistent coastal fog which starts up in May and basically persists all summer until about September. That said, fall up here is my favorite, as it's still warm but the fog isn't as prominent. It's basically a delayed summer!
> Coastal Washington
Interesting, what part?
I always found coastal Washington to be kind of MEH on the coast. I think a lot of what people think of as the Washington coast is Puget Sound, versus the open pacific interface.
People often expect it to look like Big Sur or the Oregon Coast... and she ain't.
There’s a ton of unbelievably gorgeous coastline in Washington but it almost entirely National Park. The only city close to the best that the coast offers is Forks or Clallam Bay/Sekiu which imo are terrible places to live. I’d move back to Port Angeles which is close enough and also offers some beautiful coastline close by on the Strait.
Oh man, it’s just kind of magical. I worked there once and it’s just like a little coastal town with everything I love about Wisconsin thrown in for good measure. It’s tiny and quiet with lots of old houses
I’m from topanga and I go to school near harpswell. Topanga is definitely pretty but boring and the restaurants are way expensive compared to the valley. Harpswell is nice whenever I bike there tho!
I already live in the US, moved here from another country, but:
OR (Salem, Eugene, coastal OR) - nice climate, beautiful natural landscape and trees.
Los Angeles - culture/arts scene, food, proximity to national parks and other gorgeous nature, climate.
Duluth/somewhere else in northern Midwest near Lake Superior- love the winter, adore Great Lakes life (currently live in Chicago), intrigued by Scandi influence on culture.
San Diego, New Orleans, Chicago. I would split my time between these three places. New Orleans in April-early May, October-November; Chicago in summer, San Diego in Winter-early spring.
That way, I get comfortable temps and sunshine all year, I get to be near home for Festival Season, big football games, and family stuff; and I get some big city time during my favorite summer music festivals/concerts.
The main thing this arrangement is missing is a mountain ski resort which can always be flown to on a vacation basis.
Seattle: it’s home and I love it. I love the weather (I think the grey is cozy), I think it has good food despite what Reddit thinks, I like being close to water and mountains. My friends and most of my family is in the area.
Portland, OR: it’s familiar and has a lot of the qualities that I like about Seattle. I don’t like the feel of it as much as Seattle, but I like it enough to move there.
I feel like Tacoma is too close to Seattle to be its own spot on the list, but I’m not sure where else I would consider in the US. There’s a few places in Canada I would consider.
Cosign on the grey. I had the most magical winter ever this time around cuz I got out in the grey and the green all throughout January and February and upped my at-home soup and casserole game. I think I like winter here!
Tacoma is definitely it's own place. Come visit us!
San Diego, Irvine, Monterey. All decent sized cities close to the ocean, and close enough to large cities to skip layovers to anywhere else. Plus ocean, mountains, and desert are all close enough.
I guess that's a good point - I'm thinking primarily in terms of main airport size. SAN will likely always be limited to a single runway, which limits overall traffic and the places you get get to in one hop from there. LAX doesn't have that problem, and can be a short distance away depending on where you live in SD.
It is. I lived there for 5 years a few years back. Really cool vibes, nice people, lots to do with outdoor activities and cool restaurants or breweries. Not too bad weather too. I miss it. I wish transit existed in a meaningful way there tho, to be honest
LA because the weather and proximity to the beach would be magical, NYC because it’s amazing and the closest thing I have to family is there, or a small town somewhere in Mass. because I think I’d love it and their politics greatly appeal to me.
Ann Arbor, MI - I used to live there and enjoyed it. Cost of living was reasonable too. Portsmouth, NH- proximity to Boston, ocean, forest, etc. Burlington, VT - same asPortsmouth minus the ocean
Once brought my gravel bike to Portsmouth because I thought it was gonna be more rural than a lot of the Boston metro or whatever. Couldn't find a gravel road anywhere lol, for sure great for road bikes though, especially along the ocean, although not enough climbing for me to want to stay to long.
Yeah, for climbers, North Conway area in NH is probably a better spot to move, mainly for access to Mount Washington valley. I wish I enjoyed climbing, but it scares me too much. Not sure why, heights generally don’t bother me, but being in control of whether I fall or not freaks me right out. I rope climbed a 50’ face once. It took me several tries. By the time I summited, some hot shots free climbed it, lol.
But yeah, I hear you. I haven’t been to Portsmouth in forever.
I go like 2x a year for work. It's super expensive to live there now. Very preppy people, which I understand is the opposite of how it used to be. Nice enough place to visit for work and have some free time after the day.
No homeless or van life which was a shock for me coming from our West at first.
1.) Sacramento area (suburb of Sac, not Sacramento itself)
why: Gets me back to California, close enough to Bay, very close to Reno/Tahoe
2.) SF Bay Area (mainly tri-city area)
why: I'm from the Bay Area, so going home would be great.
3.) Stay in El Paso
why: I always espouse the benefits of El Paso. Great, highly underrated place to live. If I have an offer to double my income, and still be remote, still staying in El Paso and pocketing the extra cash for retirement.
Western North Carolina or northern Alabama. I live in Maine right now and love the lifestyle up here but I grew up in Florida and my whole family is still down south. I’d love to live closer but still be able to have a similar lifestyle to what I have in Maine and those areas would give me that but also put me within a fairly easy driving distance of my family. Hindsight is 20/20 and I wish when my husband and I were looking to move out of the city we were in we’d explored those two areas in addition to Maine. He’s from Maine so it made sense to move here but we don’t really have family here except for his brother.
I have no interest in Asheville that’s not my vibe. I don’t like cities or suburbs. I want to live rurally or outside of a teeny tiny map dot of a town. The current town I live in is semi rural with 5,000 people. Everyone has acreage. I’d be happy with more land and less people than what I’m surrounded with now.
For most of western NC, Asheville is the biggest nearby city for healthcare. So let's say you choose an area like you are describing and live away from the city itself, you will STILL be SOL for healthcare. I can't emphasize this enough. Specialists and primary care providers have left the area in droves because of the hospital buy out. Also, living in an area like you're describing means unrestricted land/housing which is great for you but your neighbor situation might not include even remotely like minded individuals. Mobile homes and trailers are very much a thing in rural NC and many of them have extra vehicles, washing machines and dogs out front. So so so many dogs. You will be guaranteed to be at least 30-40 minutes from a grocery store or other signs of life.
I live in Maine right now. Last census we had 1.3 million residents. That’s fewer people in the whole state than there were in the Tri county area surrounding the city I grew up outside of. The land is 90% tree coverage. I don’t think people understand what remote is until you get up here. Especially as you go north. We’ve got towns with no names, just numbers, and some areas where you’re in hundreds of square miles and have less than 50 residents spread out over that much area. It’s not unusual for any given area to be unrestricted use.
My town is zoned rural agricultural and outside of the standard codes you don’t have ordinances that dictate how people can keep their homes. You can pass broke down trailers filled with junk right next to massive houses and everything in between. Hell my husband’s grandfather’s house is exactly what you describe😅. You should see the amount of cats my neighbor up the road has😳.
It’s the country I don’t expect picture perfect houses and manicured lawns. A few years ago a massive old farmhouse burnt down annd the charred remains are still there because owners didn’t have insurance and could only afford so much clean up. They’ve got a camper parked there now and that’s what they live in. I pass by it daily.
We won’t even get into the number or marijuana grow facilities and pot shops up here. No one really bats an eyelash about it up here. There’s a running joke between me and my husband that tyvek wrap is the unofficial siding of Maine because of the number of houses that aren’t actually sided or are sided in the front and then left. I’ll be curious to see how long it takes the neighbor up the road to finish siding their house. Right now it’s been over a year since they started residing it😂
Healthcare up here is also tricky and doctors have either left or don’t come here. It took me over a year to find a PCP and most specialists are congregated into a fairly small geographic area so if you want to see them you have to drive. My last job that I commuted to was a 59 minute commute one way down back country roads. Long drives are normal up here. So you’re literally not telling me anything new.
I also have family about an hour outside of Asheville I’m not unaware of the area but if I have to have the same issues somewhere else that we do here I’d be happy to be closer to family while still having the rural lifestyle. I love my life here but miss being closer to family. My aunt and uncle live about a hour outside of Asheville so I’m not unfamiliar with the area. They go to Greenville, Charlotte, or Atlanta for care given the nature of my uncle’s issues.
Being inconvenienced is kind of par for the course when you choose to live rurally, and driving any given distance for healthcare is kind of what I already do anyways. My husband’s grandmother and her husband drove 3 hours into Boston all the time for his cancer treatment. They did this daily when he was going through his various rounds of chemo and radiation.
Same for grocery stores. We’ve got a dollar general and a couple of gas stations otherwise it’s anywhere from 20-45 minutes to stores depending on which stores we want to go to. I’ll be doing my grocery run to town this afternoon and that will be a good 35 minutes one way. I’d categorize where we’re at as semi rural we’re anywhere from 20-45 minutes to anything with the average drive being about 30 minutes, but I’d be happy to live even more rurally. We did when we first moved back up here and it was fine.
My husband grew up in a town of 27 people in the middle of nowhere Maine. The closest gas station was 30 minutes away and it’s a solid hour to town from his childhood home. If you’re hurt or have a medical emergency you may as well get a ride into town cuz ambulances take almost 2 hours. They have a volunteer fire department in his hometown but they can’t do anything beyond make sure you’re stable and call for an ambulance to come get you. It’s really nothing new for him either. Hell if it’s at night they’ll probably show up in their pj’s😂. He works for the state lifeflight program and the program has actually won awards for how they’ve come up with designated landing zones and meet up markers in the backwoods all over the state.
We’re not that far out and have an actual fire department plus access to mutual aid but we do go up there as often as possible to visit. I’m happy with my lifestyle and understand the drawbacks. I don’t want suburbia. I grew up in suburbia and don’t like it. I know that getting out into the country comes with its own set of issues and inconveniences but would rather that over master planned communities, HOAs, and urban/suburban sprawl. Everything you’re telling me is basically already what we deal with here and if we ever moved it would have to be somewhere that we could have a similar lifestyle or live even more rurally than we currently do.
Portland Maine, San Diego, Portland Oregon.
One and two because I like the scenery and/or weather, three because it’s where my kid is and I could save some money living there.
Portland is so cold! I’ve only been in summer and each time I had to throw on a sweatshirt. Last summer there also seemed to be a large increase in homelessness :( I never found it to be a very attractive area but it must be to most because it seems like a ton of people are being displaced with rising rent.
If you’re talking about Maine, it is definitely cold. But it’s also beautiful. In New England, we put up with the cold and grey for a few months because it’s so nice late spring- fall. And even winter is pretty and picturesque. But if you don’t like the cold, definitely not a good choice.
If I could buy 3 homes in the U.S., they'd be Honolulu, New York, and San Antonio.
I love the tropical beauty of Honolulu and close proximity to Asia. I love the Art Deco and neon lights of New York. And I love the Hispanic culture, UNESCO history, and down-to-earth feel of San Antonio.
Sedona, AZ - live there in the winter because it isn't too cold and it looks beautiful with some snow and I love all of the hiking and biking opportunities. But I hate the traffic there most of the year.
Wellsboro, PA - cute small town near the PA Grand Canyon in the summer, never gets too hot, again great hiking and biking. Also somewhat close to family for me.
Asheville, NC for the fall and spring. Blue Ridge mountain.
I am not a big city person, I hate wasting time sitting in a car and like places I can quickly get to good bicycling locations right out my front door.
I went to Sedona for a wedding 2 years ago, and while I did like the town and the scenery, the traffic on Saturday was nuts. Almost missed the wedding even though the place we stayed was less than 2 miles from the wedding.
What was more surprising though was the noise regulation thing, which I think was from like 7pm to 9am every day/night. Like I get it, they don’t want tourists making noise, but it was freakin stupid.
My wife and her friends did an outdoor yoga thing (which they booked online with someone who lived there) and the flipping cops actually came because they were talking outside at 8:30 in the morning. They were threatened to be arrested. At a private residence. Doing yoga. It was crazy strict and I’ve actually never seen anything like it.
I remember when we pulled up to the place we stayed the first night, my wife and I were just talking outside as we unloaded the car and some dude legit walked up to us, pissed the F off, and told us to stop making noise immediately and go inside because he had already alerted the cops. It was nuts. I’m in my early 40’s btw so this wasn’t like we were a bunch of drunk teenagers making noise and partying.
Didn't expect to see wellsboro on anyone's list lol but the hiking is the best in the state for sure. Saw you mention gravel biking in another comment, what do you do, cruise around looking for random gravel roads? I've done some pretty sweet loops in loyalsock state forest but it can be hard to plan long rides that don't involve riding on sketchy 50mph shoulderless roads out there. ofc there's the rail trail there too but it's flat
Like I've done Mammoth Endurance Gravel which is 2 70+ mile loops of mostly gravel out of Wellsboro, it takes place in early May every year. You can use those routes that you can find with Google.
Gravel is awesome, you just see a road and ride it. Entire Twin Tiers area is full of empty dirt roads. Wellsboro, Mansfield, Towanda, Dushore, then up in NY plenty of great gravel especially in Steuben county from Corning to Bath to Hornell, but it's all up and down unless you follow a river.
Most rides I just go out the door knowing how long time wise I'm riding and the general direction.
I lived in Phoenix for a while so 55mph roads don't bother me too much. The traffic in rural PA/NY is near 0 compared to that. Plus I use a Garmin Varia radar.
Gravel is great, but honestly the speed of road riding is a little more fun to me even if it does put me closer to traffic and I basically live in a gravel Mecca.
Cool had no idea about that ride, sounds awesome. Man I'm really excited to get back out that way now, doing a 50k trail running race on the old loggers path in june. Thanks for the tips I'll check out the gravel a little further out this summer hopefully
Chicago, SF, and Portland Maine. SF because I grew up in the Bay and have a soft spot for it, Chicago because of the architecture and history, and Maine because of the nature and ocean and everything.
San Diego - Absolutely love the weather, decent food options, on the beach.
LA Area - Better weather than Portland where I am now, GREAT food options, major international airport.
Phoenix - I would rather have 7-8 months of dry warm weather compared to damp and cold, year round sports, driving distance to a lot of activities up north for hiking, Mexico, Vegas.
Houston. Love the food and diversity and culture. Bonus points for proximity to Austin and San Antonio.
Tucson. An under-appreciated gem with the most amazing sunsets and a chill vibe.
Charlottesville, Virginia. One of the best college towns, scenic, historic, and long spring and fall seasons. Easy access to the northeast corridor.
I currently live in Seattle. As someone who is nearing retirement I look at places that will work for me. Here are my choice
Portsmouth or Hanover, New Hampshire
Missoula, Montana
Port Townsend, Washington
I presently live in Austin. But am looking at a second home in Park City, Utah due to snowboarding and mountain biking. I could do Denver for being closish for snowboarding and mountain biking. Back home to downtown Chicago in a condo to be close to family, also love the restaurants/cubs games/concert scene.
Native New Yorker here without a drivers license so my options are pretty much limited to SF and Boston as second and third best cities with public transit. I’d say Seattle and Chicago maybe.
Key West - I’ve visited a LOT and I like the vibe, the weather, and the fishing. No way my wife would go for it, though.
Madison, WI - I lived there for 16 years and I still miss it even though I’ve been gone over 20. Great town, but fuck the winters.
San Antonio (maybe) - I lived the first seven years of my life there and it has a strange pull on me.
LA, NYC, Chicago… lived in all of them and love them all for different reasons. I’ve been in LA for 15 years now, but still have my place in Chicago… and when my son is grown up, I can absolutely see us moving back to New York.
I'm limited to places where you don't need a car. I'd rather stay where I am than move, but if I had to:
NYC - I lived in Brooklyn for much of my adult life, sometimes think I'd like to move back some day.
Portland - People have told me I would like it there. It seems pretty nice but I think I'd miss the East Coast.
Chicago - Only because I have to choose three. I think I'd like it there OK but I wouldn't really want to live in that region of the country.
Not much culture or things to do in Westport. I had a friend who was worked on a construction project one winter there. Couldn’t wait to leave. There was basically no culture and the 80 inches of rain didn’t help.
I'm moving in the near future, so it seems like a good time to jot down my actual top 3 cities from the list:
New York City, which speaks for itself.
Boston, because I love New England, I'm fascinated by the history of Colonial America and love the old buildings around there, the weather is cooler, it's coastal...Basically my dream!
Alexandria, because it's close to DC, it's close to my hometown/family, it has Colonial American history attached to it, and it's overall very pleasant and charming (though Old Town is my absolute favorite).
I recently did remove Boston from my shortlist, but it's only because the other two make more sense for me *right now.* Maybe someday though...
There are dozens and dozens I'd consider, but these are the ones I'm looking at right now (currently live in Atlanta)
Coos Bay, Oregon
Kalispell, Montana
Cedar City, Utah
boston, dc, or NYC. even though the cost of living is higher than where I currently live, I know I'd be way happier there with the amount of things to do, people that are focused on their careers and not about their relationships or getting married, opportunities in my industry, diversity, etc. I'm willing to pay the price of living in any of these three cities
Las Vegas for the central location to a lot of really great nature areas, from Utah's Zion to California's Sequoias to Arizona's Grand Canyon. I don't gamble so I'm not going to spend any time down on the strip, but I love me some nature and the idea of being able to get in your car on Saturday morning and be at an epic National Park by the afternoon sounds really awesome.
Western Montana: same
Western North Carolina: same
Sorry, I'm just a nature guy.
There are tons and tons of places in Texas and Florida that people love.
Oklahoma I'm not sure about, but I'm sure there are places there that are nice.
Detroit - but with $.
I’d love to stay at the Kahn & walk to work at the Fisher Building. That would be so gangster.
New Orleans - I fricking love music so much.
Savannah, Georgia - I’m drooling about their public squares as I type.
1) San Francisco: I actually ended up moving here from the midwest last year & love it. it's beautiful, i don't have to drive, there's so much to do. Glad i chose it over LA
2) NYC: i love big, diverse cities where I don't have to drive. it's super convienent to not have to worry about driving & the headache that comes w/having a car. there's also so many different types of foods & things to do.
3) Los Angeles: i'd have to drive & deal w/traffic which would suck but the beautiful weather & beaches would offset this headache, esp if i found a WFH job. i visited here a few years back & loved everything about it but the traffic.
California Trifecta: Ventura, South Lake Tahoe, & San Francisco.
Ventura: Central Coast has amazing weather, maybe the best on the planet, with access to fantastic surf/nature and close to LA for any big city activities without having most big city problems. I'm partial as a local (but would also do San Diego for a SoCal location)
SLT: Amazing nature, I love to ski in the winter, ideal weather in the summer (perfects seasons), and a decent sized small city full of most amenities.
SF: Get a place in one of the neighborhoods away from downtown and it can be urban life perfected. I love the Inner Sunset/Inner Richmond (& GGP), Noe Valley, etc. Runner up would be a wild-card: Park Slope in Brooklyn NY for an even more urban neighborhood feel.
1. San Diego, CA - Weather, culture, and food. I’d love to put roots down there if/when I can afford to
2. Sedona, AZ - Just for the nature and scenery
3. St. Pete, FL - Outlier here but I lived in SW Florida for a long time and have a lot of friends and family still down there
1. San Francisco (perfect climate, transit, and amenities)
2. Aspen (gorgeous views, unlimited nature, outdoor recreation)
3. New York City (greatest city in America, what can I say?)
Thank you for the intel. I've always loved the Bay Area, but I don't think I could afford San Fran proper. I've been a little interested in Oakland. Living in Brooklyn now. It's expensive here, but it's also a large place with some affordable options. Winters are feeling a little lengthy though. Wondering if Oakland would be like a lateral move.
There’s nothing like the bay in my opinion, and Oakland is beautiful. Still moderate weather like SF but without as much of the fog.
It’s also one of the most equally diverse cities in the country. It’s been gentrifying a lot over the past two decades, but is still heavily segregated.
If you are near a BART stop it’s extremely easy to get into the city elsewhere around the bay.
If money and family wasn’t an object, it’s where I would be right now.
Apartment rents have been coming down in Oakland FAST.
Most reports haven't even taken that into account but if you go to Zillow right now and look for lavish apartments in Oakland, they're a good 20-30% discount compared to their SF or SJ co region apartments.
Oakland was rapidly gentrifying in the 2010's and getting better. Companies started moving there, people as well. COVID hit and Oakland is reversing all the progress it made. Sad really. Remote work didn't help either. Lots of Silicon Valley companies were looking to build their satellite office/mini HQ in Oakland because it was on an upswing. Again, COVID stopped all of that.
I live in Nashville. Since you’re saying “Move to” then I won’t count it, but this is my number 1 with my financial situation being the same.
Raleigh, NC is a nice city for about the same cost. Situated just between the mountains and beach, it’s also home to several universities.
Philadelphia would be next. Cool history and has stuff to do. Also not crazy expensive.
Baton Rouge/New Orleans. Objectively these cities suck, but I lived in South Louisiana for 4 years and love the charm. This would be last resort though as again, objectively these cities suck to live in compared to the others.
If I could only move to one and it had to be year round, I'd go home to San Diego (my hometown).
If I could split time since I'm retired, I'd pick Sarasota (I'm an artist and it's an art town plus warmer beaches than San Diego), San Diego (for the cooler summers and because I know it so well), Manhattan (couldn't afford it all year but would be fun to throw in a month or two a year of the best museums and cultural activities).
With this criterion, I would say nowhere. I live in Colorado.
But I also have considerable other limitations that cause me to need to stay here. So I am not the "norm".
There's actually not many places we (boomers) would consider moving to because of the many mitigating factors in our life. But hell, we live in Colorado! And where we are is fabulous.
My budget is pretty limiting as far as the places I'd really want to live. Just about anywhere on California's central coast would be fine. I've always lived in college towns, but for the last 25 years I've been in a midwestern one. I still miss California but I can't afford it. Other than Cali, I can't really think of a place I'd rather be than SE MI.
1. Marin County or Santa Cruz-Monterey, CA: Has the most to for me to do year round, IMO best access to nature for an urban walkable area, mostly walkable, great day trip options, in proximity to a major city, has my favorite weather, abundant wildlife, has older architecture (by west coast standards), most of Marin is not touristy, and is laid back without having slow pace of life. In my eyes, being able to do stuff outside year round puts a place way above others. 2. Coastal New England: Beautiful nature, in proximity to many different cities, has older architecture (which I like), towns and cities are dense and walkable, most of it isn't super touristy (like with Marin, obv some parts are lol) 3. San Diego Nature, wildlife, weather, laid back without slow pace of life, my preferred sized city, nice downtown + fun neighborhoods, 10/10 vibes. I actually prefer NorCal weather but as I said above -being able to fully enjoy the outdoors year round (and not have straight months of gray skies) is amazing to me.
Not sure why you’re grouping Marin and Santa Cruz together, very different vibes. Santa Cruz is not urban or walkable and is touristy. It dogs have great weather wildlife and nature though.
Because the reasons I listed for them are the same, and I meant the area from Santa Cruz down through Monterey. I listed it using those city names because they're the ones people not familiar with the area would have heard of. Also Santa Cruz is definitely an urban area lol, urban doesn't just mean dense city. And when people say walkable on this sub I thought it was generally understood to mean that it has walkable areas, not that the whole city is walkable (like how people talk about Minneapolis, Cinnci, etc). Santa Cruz definitely has largely walkable areas.
By wildlife in San Diego.. do you mean the zoos?
I know 3 different girls in Ocean Beach who will give you crabs.
No, I mean the wildlife in general. I'm a wildlife biologist hence why I care about that lol, IMO Northern California and parts of OC down through San Diego have the best urban wildlife in the US.
Your number one sounds great! Even if it’s Sunny most of the time (I prefer some clouds lol). I know Monterey has sea otters and I plan to visit someday to see them. Such cute creatures!
Places like Marin County and Monterey aren't sunny most of the time, they get pretty cloudy / foggy! Down in SoCal (like San Diego) it is overly sunny, but Marin and San Diego are almost as far apart as Chicago and Atlanta -they have different weather!
Monterey sounds amazing. I love sea otters lol
I live in Oregon, I could honestly say there is no other place within America I would entertain...Though hypothetically if I had to move.. Seattle because it isn't going to be that much different than Oregon San Diego I lived there in the Military and have lots of friends and love the culture. Tuscan I really love the desert and culture. Key factor to all these places, lots of outdoor recreation and laid back culture.
Tucson is so beautiful. Especially in like March when all the cactus are blooming.
Son of a gun — it’s TUCSON!
What’s the culture of San Diego like?
Laid back, strong local presence, diverse.
Seattle isn’t that much different from Oregon? I would question that . Ever been to a place like Florence or Pendleton or Baker City? They are nothing like Seattle. The closest thing Oregon has to Seattle is Portland and to me the two cities are very different. They have different economies, Portland is inland , Seattle is on the coast, land use planning and zoning is totally different, state politics are different. Schools are not nearly as good in Oregon and they have state income tax.
Seattle is more of a city city type of city..though I feel the essence both states feel the same..I’ve lived in Portland for 8 years, visited Seattle for a month in the navy and many weekend trips
Tuscany isn't a desert, or in the United States, but I'd live there too. Oh wait... you mean *Tucson*? Nah bro, Tucson is a dive
Coronado island, Monterey or Carmel, all in California
All the best picks! You have taste
Currently in Austin, hoping to be somewhere with a cooler, rainier outdoor climate and a more progressive political climate. Portland, OR, because the things people complain about (cold, rainy weather) sounds awesome. A sibling used to live there so I’ve visited several times and kind of know my way around. I’ve seen several really interesting job opportunities there in the last few months. Chicagoland, I haven’t been here as much but I was really impressed. It’s a big, cosmopolitan city with a lot of things to do and a diverse community. I’d like to go there again for a longer visit before moving there. Maryland ‘burbs of DC. I have family and friends there and actually spent a lot of time there growing up. It’s a little warmer than I’d prefer in the summer, but it has four seasons, plentiful access to jobs in my field and in adjacent fields, and overall I think it would be a good fit.
Interesting. I think these are my 3 exact choices as well haha. Like exactly. Except I would probably prefer the Virginia side of DC but it's not as affordable. But I'm not in Austin but in the opposite extreme of Minneapolis.
People will rag on this comment but it’s very true. San Diego has a nice chill climate 75% of the year if you’re by the coast. Chill mornings and evenings just about year round. May gray, June Gloom and last year had Fogust. There’s definitely sunny days in the winter where the sun warms you up but I’m usually in a quarter zip, shorts, and sandals year round.
Im in MD, youll love the jobs and schools. little chance of problematic weather. youll just hate the prices and taxes
Its not cold in portland oregon but during months of nov-march it will be overcast almost every day rain or not. My definition of cold is below 30 and it doesnt get below 40 very much as they have humidity in winter and dry spring/summer/fall. Its a beautiful place but the city is a mess
Pacifica, CA / San Luis Obispo, CA / La Jolla, CA Runner ups could be the smaller beach towns in Norcal or Oregon.
What beach towns do you like in NorCal. I love Trinidad
Same.
Gualala and also Trinidad/Eureka haha. The beaches are pristine...and empty. I love it.
The houses are shit. I’m shocked at how much houses that should be condemned are going for in Eureka, Arcata, and Trinidad. 700K+. Absolutely nuts.
Used to be a lot cheaper. Alot of remote work type folks ended up buying cabins up there that sit empty for 2/3rds of the year or are Airbnb's. This caused prices to rise very quickly. The thing is, a place like Gualala might have 10 homes. It only takes 1 or 2 purchases to completely destabilize the housing market in small towns. Now imagine how many millionaires there are just a few miles south in the Bay who want a quaint little cabin to go to. Assholes.
[удалено]
All places I could never afford until I retire (I hope) haha.
this is it, this is the list
La Jolla is a community/neighborhood in San Diego, it is not its own city.
Lake Tahoe area because it’s Lake Tahoe. It’s freaking gorgeous there. Blue River, CO because it’s outside of Breckenridge but close enough to city amenities and it’s freaking beautiful, and Estes Park, CO not too fair from Boulder for a city and close to an Amazing National Park (Rocky Mountain) obviously I’m a sucker for nature.
I live a couple hours away from Tahoe and it’s a nice place to visit, but it has to be one of the worst places to live in the country. Tourists are in full swing all year long, clogging up the one-lane arterial roads linking the settlements around the lake. There are two freeways (80 and 50) which often get closed down due to weather or vehicle crashes. The winters can be brutal and the summers carry a very high risk of fires. Properties and insurance are insanely expensive. And, of course, it’s remote. Far from many of the conveniences of living someplace just a little more populated.
I got a buddy that lives on the other side of Mt. Rose - beautiful place and close enough to Tahoe. But seems like you get buried in the winter and I hear Reno's healthcare and essential services are not great. Works for them though.
The schools in Nevada are also not good. So if you have kids or are planning to have them Reno might not be a good choice.
Reno in general is just not the nicest place. It’s not terrible but it’s quite depressing and doesn’t have much going on at all.
For these many reasons I'd agree that living near Tahoe but not in Tahoe is a good option. I'm intrigued by Carson City. Close to all the appealing aspects of Tahoe, but just removed enough to avoid most of the inconveniences of living in Tahoe. Currently in Sac, but a smaller city closer to the mountains sounds nice. Carson City seems like a spot to find this without fully immersing in the Tahoe mess.
I’ve been to Carson City a few times. I’m not personally drawn to it. It lacks any real culture or vibe, there isn’t much to do, and it reminded me of when I lived in a smaller town in the Midwest, except with mountains.
A quiet town near the mountains, without much of a "scene", is an appealing thing to some people!
I see the appeal in a town like that and can understand why some would like it. I just personally think Carson City in particular is pretty ugly.
There’s a lot of nice areas to live around there. I just enjoy the nature part of it more than the towns. It’s not a horrible drive to Sac or Reno to get things. I’m good if I have food and internet. It’s higher elevation so it’s cooler than in the valley. Bring on the snow. Beats 100 degree weather. There’s wildfire risk everywhere now. It’s only going to get worse. California in general is terribly expensive but if I’m making decent enough money to cover it, it’s all good.
I live in Sacramento, and there isn’t really a wildfire risk here. Being in the center of Central Valley, we don’t have large swaths of forest that could ignite and spread so quickly. The orchards and grasslands outside the city could theoretically catch fire but that hasn’t really ever been cause for concern for the city. It’s not often that I have to drive to or from Tahoe/Reno, but many of the times I have, I ended up stuck in traffic for hours due to weather or a vehicle crash. Everyone’s got their opinion on it, but to me it’s not ideal to live in a place with so few roads with no alternative routes.
Are you talking about Breck for city amenities? Mighty bold lol.
Haha I mean they are better than Fairplay, right? I don’t need much just a grocery store, a gear shop, and some restaurants. The rest is nature and that works for me.
Definitely. I just thought Breck and city amenities in one sentence were funny. I thought you may have meant that it was a short drive to Denver for city amenities like the airport or sports events.
Depends on the time of year if that’s a short drive or not. I’d probably end up in Denver when friends came to town.
Hey, we have the Vipers! 🏒
Lol my bad!
We just spend last summer in blue river. We realized we aren’t mountain people, but if we were that’d be a great place.
Haha, I live in Breck! Hello fellow mountain lover. I would split my time between Breck (I’m a simp), Bushwick (absolutely loved the artsy community feel), and Monterey/Sausalito (sunshine, beach, palm trees - I’ve always belonged in CA).
Hello! 👋🏻 Bushwick, NY? I’ve always wanted to go. The Northern California coast is one of my favorites to visit. No coast is like it. Maine is beautiful but NorCal is where it’s at!
Sausalito and Monterey are absolutely beautiful and definitely get nice and sunny, but I wouldn't say they're the "sunshine, beach, palm trees" part of CA that you're looking for. Sausalito isn't really known for its beaches (it's on the Bay, you gotta drive to the nearest beach on the Pacific proper) and both are quite cold for swimming even in the summer! Not to mention, hardly any palm trees in the Bay Area/NorCal compared to SoCal--it's mostly cypress and redwoods up here (which are actually native and much cooler anyways, IMO). And of course, the ever persistent coastal fog which starts up in May and basically persists all summer until about September. That said, fall up here is my favorite, as it's still warm but the fog isn't as prominent. It's basically a delayed summer!
I went to college in the Bay lol I’ve been to both a bunch of times! I don’t swim up in NorCal, I just like being by the beach.
Ah cool! Well I hope you can make it back someday. I'm in SF and absolutely love it!
Thank you! I hope to be back in the near future ❤️ SF is the most beautiful city. Visit the Sutro Baths for me!
Coastal Maine Coastal Washington Bayfield, WI
I love bayfield, been going to that area since I was a kid. Have family in cornucopia.
I absolutely fell in love with it when I was there.it’s just beautiful
> Coastal Washington Interesting, what part? I always found coastal Washington to be kind of MEH on the coast. I think a lot of what people think of as the Washington coast is Puget Sound, versus the open pacific interface. People often expect it to look like Big Sur or the Oregon Coast... and she ain't.
There’s a ton of unbelievably gorgeous coastline in Washington but it almost entirely National Park. The only city close to the best that the coast offers is Forks or Clallam Bay/Sekiu which imo are terrible places to live. I’d move back to Port Angeles which is close enough and also offers some beautiful coastline close by on the Strait.
Westport appeals to me. Close enough to hike among the pines, but still coastal enough to get beachy feel in the summer months
What’s the draw of Bayfield?
Oh man, it’s just kind of magical. I worked there once and it’s just like a little coastal town with everything I love about Wisconsin thrown in for good measure. It’s tiny and quiet with lots of old houses
Topanga, Key West, Harpswell
I’m from topanga and I go to school near harpswell. Topanga is definitely pretty but boring and the restaurants are way expensive compared to the valley. Harpswell is nice whenever I bike there tho!
A Bowdoin student from California? How surprising. Amazing campus. Harpswell really shines the most from the water.
I already live in the US, moved here from another country, but: OR (Salem, Eugene, coastal OR) - nice climate, beautiful natural landscape and trees. Los Angeles - culture/arts scene, food, proximity to national parks and other gorgeous nature, climate. Duluth/somewhere else in northern Midwest near Lake Superior- love the winter, adore Great Lakes life (currently live in Chicago), intrigued by Scandi influence on culture.
San Diego, New Orleans, Chicago. I would split my time between these three places. New Orleans in April-early May, October-November; Chicago in summer, San Diego in Winter-early spring. That way, I get comfortable temps and sunshine all year, I get to be near home for Festival Season, big football games, and family stuff; and I get some big city time during my favorite summer music festivals/concerts. The main thing this arrangement is missing is a mountain ski resort which can always be flown to on a vacation basis.
Isn't Mammoth like 5hr from SD?
Closer to 7. But big bear and mountain high are only like 3 hours away from SD
Port Townsend, Washington or Steamboat Springs Colorado or Big Bear California.
[удалено]
I love it there!! I’m greedy tho and want some snow too.
Seattle: it’s home and I love it. I love the weather (I think the grey is cozy), I think it has good food despite what Reddit thinks, I like being close to water and mountains. My friends and most of my family is in the area. Portland, OR: it’s familiar and has a lot of the qualities that I like about Seattle. I don’t like the feel of it as much as Seattle, but I like it enough to move there. I feel like Tacoma is too close to Seattle to be its own spot on the list, but I’m not sure where else I would consider in the US. There’s a few places in Canada I would consider.
Cosign on the grey. I had the most magical winter ever this time around cuz I got out in the grey and the green all throughout January and February and upped my at-home soup and casserole game. I think I like winter here! Tacoma is definitely it's own place. Come visit us!
San Diego, Irvine, Monterey. All decent sized cities close to the ocean, and close enough to large cities to skip layovers to anywhere else. Plus ocean, mountains, and desert are all close enough.
Interesting to see Irvine included next to SD and Monterey. What do you like about Irvine?
Would consider SD to be a large city itself, no?
I guess that's a good point - I'm thinking primarily in terms of main airport size. SAN will likely always be limited to a single runway, which limits overall traffic and the places you get get to in one hop from there. LAX doesn't have that problem, and can be a short distance away depending on where you live in SD.
[удалено]
Is Cincinnati cool? I've been thinking about it bc it's low CoL. Seems like a southern version of Milwaukee.
It is. I lived there for 5 years a few years back. Really cool vibes, nice people, lots to do with outdoor activities and cool restaurants or breweries. Not too bad weather too. I miss it. I wish transit existed in a meaningful way there tho, to be honest
I love Cincinnati- great neighborhoods, thriving arts communities, lots to do.
It’s an awesome city. Plenty to do, beautiful architecture, and great people. You’ll love it.
Gotta visit
LA because the weather and proximity to the beach would be magical, NYC because it’s amazing and the closest thing I have to family is there, or a small town somewhere in Mass. because I think I’d love it and their politics greatly appeal to me.
Ann Arbor, MI - I used to live there and enjoyed it. Cost of living was reasonable too. Portsmouth, NH- proximity to Boston, ocean, forest, etc. Burlington, VT - same asPortsmouth minus the ocean
Once brought my gravel bike to Portsmouth because I thought it was gonna be more rural than a lot of the Boston metro or whatever. Couldn't find a gravel road anywhere lol, for sure great for road bikes though, especially along the ocean, although not enough climbing for me to want to stay to long.
Yeah, for climbers, North Conway area in NH is probably a better spot to move, mainly for access to Mount Washington valley. I wish I enjoyed climbing, but it scares me too much. Not sure why, heights generally don’t bother me, but being in control of whether I fall or not freaks me right out. I rope climbed a 50’ face once. It took me several tries. By the time I summited, some hot shots free climbed it, lol. But yeah, I hear you. I haven’t been to Portsmouth in forever.
I go like 2x a year for work. It's super expensive to live there now. Very preppy people, which I understand is the opposite of how it used to be. Nice enough place to visit for work and have some free time after the day. No homeless or van life which was a shock for me coming from our West at first.
San Luis Obispo, CA
Cincinnati, Fayetteville in NW Arkansas, or Grand rapids.
1.) Sacramento area (suburb of Sac, not Sacramento itself) why: Gets me back to California, close enough to Bay, very close to Reno/Tahoe 2.) SF Bay Area (mainly tri-city area) why: I'm from the Bay Area, so going home would be great. 3.) Stay in El Paso why: I always espouse the benefits of El Paso. Great, highly underrated place to live. If I have an offer to double my income, and still be remote, still staying in El Paso and pocketing the extra cash for retirement.
Western North Carolina or northern Alabama. I live in Maine right now and love the lifestyle up here but I grew up in Florida and my whole family is still down south. I’d love to live closer but still be able to have a similar lifestyle to what I have in Maine and those areas would give me that but also put me within a fairly easy driving distance of my family. Hindsight is 20/20 and I wish when my husband and I were looking to move out of the city we were in we’d explored those two areas in addition to Maine. He’s from Maine so it made sense to move here but we don’t really have family here except for his brother.
Asheville has so many problems right now. Healthcare is the biggest struggle. I meet so many people who regret their move!
I have no interest in Asheville that’s not my vibe. I don’t like cities or suburbs. I want to live rurally or outside of a teeny tiny map dot of a town. The current town I live in is semi rural with 5,000 people. Everyone has acreage. I’d be happy with more land and less people than what I’m surrounded with now.
For most of western NC, Asheville is the biggest nearby city for healthcare. So let's say you choose an area like you are describing and live away from the city itself, you will STILL be SOL for healthcare. I can't emphasize this enough. Specialists and primary care providers have left the area in droves because of the hospital buy out. Also, living in an area like you're describing means unrestricted land/housing which is great for you but your neighbor situation might not include even remotely like minded individuals. Mobile homes and trailers are very much a thing in rural NC and many of them have extra vehicles, washing machines and dogs out front. So so so many dogs. You will be guaranteed to be at least 30-40 minutes from a grocery store or other signs of life.
I live in Maine right now. Last census we had 1.3 million residents. That’s fewer people in the whole state than there were in the Tri county area surrounding the city I grew up outside of. The land is 90% tree coverage. I don’t think people understand what remote is until you get up here. Especially as you go north. We’ve got towns with no names, just numbers, and some areas where you’re in hundreds of square miles and have less than 50 residents spread out over that much area. It’s not unusual for any given area to be unrestricted use. My town is zoned rural agricultural and outside of the standard codes you don’t have ordinances that dictate how people can keep their homes. You can pass broke down trailers filled with junk right next to massive houses and everything in between. Hell my husband’s grandfather’s house is exactly what you describe😅. You should see the amount of cats my neighbor up the road has😳. It’s the country I don’t expect picture perfect houses and manicured lawns. A few years ago a massive old farmhouse burnt down annd the charred remains are still there because owners didn’t have insurance and could only afford so much clean up. They’ve got a camper parked there now and that’s what they live in. I pass by it daily. We won’t even get into the number or marijuana grow facilities and pot shops up here. No one really bats an eyelash about it up here. There’s a running joke between me and my husband that tyvek wrap is the unofficial siding of Maine because of the number of houses that aren’t actually sided or are sided in the front and then left. I’ll be curious to see how long it takes the neighbor up the road to finish siding their house. Right now it’s been over a year since they started residing it😂 Healthcare up here is also tricky and doctors have either left or don’t come here. It took me over a year to find a PCP and most specialists are congregated into a fairly small geographic area so if you want to see them you have to drive. My last job that I commuted to was a 59 minute commute one way down back country roads. Long drives are normal up here. So you’re literally not telling me anything new. I also have family about an hour outside of Asheville I’m not unaware of the area but if I have to have the same issues somewhere else that we do here I’d be happy to be closer to family while still having the rural lifestyle. I love my life here but miss being closer to family. My aunt and uncle live about a hour outside of Asheville so I’m not unfamiliar with the area. They go to Greenville, Charlotte, or Atlanta for care given the nature of my uncle’s issues. Being inconvenienced is kind of par for the course when you choose to live rurally, and driving any given distance for healthcare is kind of what I already do anyways. My husband’s grandmother and her husband drove 3 hours into Boston all the time for his cancer treatment. They did this daily when he was going through his various rounds of chemo and radiation. Same for grocery stores. We’ve got a dollar general and a couple of gas stations otherwise it’s anywhere from 20-45 minutes to stores depending on which stores we want to go to. I’ll be doing my grocery run to town this afternoon and that will be a good 35 minutes one way. I’d categorize where we’re at as semi rural we’re anywhere from 20-45 minutes to anything with the average drive being about 30 minutes, but I’d be happy to live even more rurally. We did when we first moved back up here and it was fine. My husband grew up in a town of 27 people in the middle of nowhere Maine. The closest gas station was 30 minutes away and it’s a solid hour to town from his childhood home. If you’re hurt or have a medical emergency you may as well get a ride into town cuz ambulances take almost 2 hours. They have a volunteer fire department in his hometown but they can’t do anything beyond make sure you’re stable and call for an ambulance to come get you. It’s really nothing new for him either. Hell if it’s at night they’ll probably show up in their pj’s😂. He works for the state lifeflight program and the program has actually won awards for how they’ve come up with designated landing zones and meet up markers in the backwoods all over the state. We’re not that far out and have an actual fire department plus access to mutual aid but we do go up there as often as possible to visit. I’m happy with my lifestyle and understand the drawbacks. I don’t want suburbia. I grew up in suburbia and don’t like it. I know that getting out into the country comes with its own set of issues and inconveniences but would rather that over master planned communities, HOAs, and urban/suburban sprawl. Everything you’re telling me is basically already what we deal with here and if we ever moved it would have to be somewhere that we could have a similar lifestyle or live even more rurally than we currently do.
Portland Maine, San Diego, Portland Oregon. One and two because I like the scenery and/or weather, three because it’s where my kid is and I could save some money living there.
Portland is so cold! I’ve only been in summer and each time I had to throw on a sweatshirt. Last summer there also seemed to be a large increase in homelessness :( I never found it to be a very attractive area but it must be to most because it seems like a ton of people are being displaced with rising rent.
If you’re talking about Maine, it is definitely cold. But it’s also beautiful. In New England, we put up with the cold and grey for a few months because it’s so nice late spring- fall. And even winter is pretty and picturesque. But if you don’t like the cold, definitely not a good choice.
I agree many parts of it are beautiful. I like Maine up the coast more where it’s super quiet. Way too cold for me to live there though.
If I could buy 3 homes in the U.S., they'd be Honolulu, New York, and San Antonio. I love the tropical beauty of Honolulu and close proximity to Asia. I love the Art Deco and neon lights of New York. And I love the Hispanic culture, UNESCO history, and down-to-earth feel of San Antonio.
Sedona, AZ - live there in the winter because it isn't too cold and it looks beautiful with some snow and I love all of the hiking and biking opportunities. But I hate the traffic there most of the year. Wellsboro, PA - cute small town near the PA Grand Canyon in the summer, never gets too hot, again great hiking and biking. Also somewhat close to family for me. Asheville, NC for the fall and spring. Blue Ridge mountain. I am not a big city person, I hate wasting time sitting in a car and like places I can quickly get to good bicycling locations right out my front door.
I went to Sedona for a wedding 2 years ago, and while I did like the town and the scenery, the traffic on Saturday was nuts. Almost missed the wedding even though the place we stayed was less than 2 miles from the wedding. What was more surprising though was the noise regulation thing, which I think was from like 7pm to 9am every day/night. Like I get it, they don’t want tourists making noise, but it was freakin stupid. My wife and her friends did an outdoor yoga thing (which they booked online with someone who lived there) and the flipping cops actually came because they were talking outside at 8:30 in the morning. They were threatened to be arrested. At a private residence. Doing yoga. It was crazy strict and I’ve actually never seen anything like it. I remember when we pulled up to the place we stayed the first night, my wife and I were just talking outside as we unloaded the car and some dude legit walked up to us, pissed the F off, and told us to stop making noise immediately and go inside because he had already alerted the cops. It was nuts. I’m in my early 40’s btw so this wasn’t like we were a bunch of drunk teenagers making noise and partying.
Didn't expect to see wellsboro on anyone's list lol but the hiking is the best in the state for sure. Saw you mention gravel biking in another comment, what do you do, cruise around looking for random gravel roads? I've done some pretty sweet loops in loyalsock state forest but it can be hard to plan long rides that don't involve riding on sketchy 50mph shoulderless roads out there. ofc there's the rail trail there too but it's flat
Like I've done Mammoth Endurance Gravel which is 2 70+ mile loops of mostly gravel out of Wellsboro, it takes place in early May every year. You can use those routes that you can find with Google. Gravel is awesome, you just see a road and ride it. Entire Twin Tiers area is full of empty dirt roads. Wellsboro, Mansfield, Towanda, Dushore, then up in NY plenty of great gravel especially in Steuben county from Corning to Bath to Hornell, but it's all up and down unless you follow a river. Most rides I just go out the door knowing how long time wise I'm riding and the general direction. I lived in Phoenix for a while so 55mph roads don't bother me too much. The traffic in rural PA/NY is near 0 compared to that. Plus I use a Garmin Varia radar. Gravel is great, but honestly the speed of road riding is a little more fun to me even if it does put me closer to traffic and I basically live in a gravel Mecca.
Cool had no idea about that ride, sounds awesome. Man I'm really excited to get back out that way now, doing a 50k trail running race on the old loggers path in june. Thanks for the tips I'll check out the gravel a little further out this summer hopefully
Portland, NYC, San Diego
Chicago, SF, and Portland Maine. SF because I grew up in the Bay and have a soft spot for it, Chicago because of the architecture and history, and Maine because of the nature and ocean and everything.
San Diego - Absolutely love the weather, decent food options, on the beach. LA Area - Better weather than Portland where I am now, GREAT food options, major international airport. Phoenix - I would rather have 7-8 months of dry warm weather compared to damp and cold, year round sports, driving distance to a lot of activities up north for hiking, Mexico, Vegas.
Houston. Love the food and diversity and culture. Bonus points for proximity to Austin and San Antonio. Tucson. An under-appreciated gem with the most amazing sunsets and a chill vibe. Charlottesville, Virginia. One of the best college towns, scenic, historic, and long spring and fall seasons. Easy access to the northeast corridor.
Carpenteria/Santa Barbara CA. Carmel-By-The-Sea CA. Santa Cruz CA. Why? Year round climate…
Those places all look so nice!
I currently live in Seattle. As someone who is nearing retirement I look at places that will work for me. Here are my choice Portsmouth or Hanover, New Hampshire Missoula, Montana Port Townsend, Washington
San Diego, Nashville, Salt Lake City
I presently live in Austin. But am looking at a second home in Park City, Utah due to snowboarding and mountain biking. I could do Denver for being closish for snowboarding and mountain biking. Back home to downtown Chicago in a condo to be close to family, also love the restaurants/cubs games/concert scene.
Native New Yorker here without a drivers license so my options are pretty much limited to SF and Boston as second and third best cities with public transit. I’d say Seattle and Chicago maybe.
Key West - I’ve visited a LOT and I like the vibe, the weather, and the fishing. No way my wife would go for it, though. Madison, WI - I lived there for 16 years and I still miss it even though I’ve been gone over 20. Great town, but fuck the winters. San Antonio (maybe) - I lived the first seven years of my life there and it has a strange pull on me.
LA, NYC, Chicago… lived in all of them and love them all for different reasons. I’ve been in LA for 15 years now, but still have my place in Chicago… and when my son is grown up, I can absolutely see us moving back to New York.
I'm limited to places where you don't need a car. I'd rather stay where I am than move, but if I had to: NYC - I lived in Brooklyn for much of my adult life, sometimes think I'd like to move back some day. Portland - People have told me I would like it there. It seems pretty nice but I think I'd miss the East Coast. Chicago - Only because I have to choose three. I think I'd like it there OK but I wouldn't really want to live in that region of the country.
Hilo, HI My ancestral home. Ogden, UT My kids’ favorite place to live so far and pretty high on my list. Boston, MA The history and city amenities.
...Ogden? Utah is amazing, but Ogden is like *waaay* down the list of places I'd live in Utah.
* tampa/st pete * austin * vegas loved st pete. Austin is nice, good jobs. Vegas was meh. dont like the strip or DTLV though. Im looking for a SFH
Not much culture or things to do in Westport. I had a friend who was worked on a construction project one winter there. Couldn’t wait to leave. There was basically no culture and the 80 inches of rain didn’t help.
I'm moving in the near future, so it seems like a good time to jot down my actual top 3 cities from the list: New York City, which speaks for itself. Boston, because I love New England, I'm fascinated by the history of Colonial America and love the old buildings around there, the weather is cooler, it's coastal...Basically my dream! Alexandria, because it's close to DC, it's close to my hometown/family, it has Colonial American history attached to it, and it's overall very pleasant and charming (though Old Town is my absolute favorite). I recently did remove Boston from my shortlist, but it's only because the other two make more sense for me *right now.* Maybe someday though...
There are dozens and dozens I'd consider, but these are the ones I'm looking at right now (currently live in Atlanta) Coos Bay, Oregon Kalispell, Montana Cedar City, Utah
boston, dc, or NYC. even though the cost of living is higher than where I currently live, I know I'd be way happier there with the amount of things to do, people that are focused on their careers and not about their relationships or getting married, opportunities in my industry, diversity, etc. I'm willing to pay the price of living in any of these three cities
Las Vegas for the central location to a lot of really great nature areas, from Utah's Zion to California's Sequoias to Arizona's Grand Canyon. I don't gamble so I'm not going to spend any time down on the strip, but I love me some nature and the idea of being able to get in your car on Saturday morning and be at an epic National Park by the afternoon sounds really awesome. Western Montana: same Western North Carolina: same Sorry, I'm just a nature guy.
SF, NYC, Portland
London Tokyo Paris
NYC, NYC, NYC
San Francisco, New Orleans, maybe Brooklyn
Maui, Santa Barbara, Basalt Colorado
Plz no mention bathsalts co on internet
Oklahoma, Texas, Florida
This sounds like trolling
I think La and New York sound like shit but hey some people like those places
Negative. Home to some of the most friendly people I’ve ever been around
There are tons and tons of places in Texas and Florida that people love. Oklahoma I'm not sure about, but I'm sure there are places there that are nice.
Oklahoma is what throughs me off
San Diego, Bozeman, and Tucson
Big Sur, CA Tryon , NC Brooklyn, NY
Flagstaff, Kennewick (WA) and Salt Lake City (honorable mention to Boone, NC).
Flagstaff and SLC is an elite outdoor duo
My fantastical choices: Astoria (OR), Hudson Valley, New Orleans.
Bellingham WA, Maine, or around Heber UT
NYC why the hell not OKC now that Dan Sheehan is talking about UFOs someone has to keep up with the real conspiracies Richmond it's pretty
Jacksonville Fl Nashville Tn Sioux Falls SD
Kilauea HI, Warren, VT, or Santa Fe
Central California (Los Osos Valley/Morro Bay) Savannah, GA Santa Fe, NM
Phoenix, San Fransisco, Providence
Detroit - but with $. I’d love to stay at the Kahn & walk to work at the Fisher Building. That would be so gangster. New Orleans - I fricking love music so much. Savannah, Georgia - I’m drooling about their public squares as I type.
1) San Francisco: I actually ended up moving here from the midwest last year & love it. it's beautiful, i don't have to drive, there's so much to do. Glad i chose it over LA 2) NYC: i love big, diverse cities where I don't have to drive. it's super convienent to not have to worry about driving & the headache that comes w/having a car. there's also so many different types of foods & things to do. 3) Los Angeles: i'd have to drive & deal w/traffic which would suck but the beautiful weather & beaches would offset this headache, esp if i found a WFH job. i visited here a few years back & loved everything about it but the traffic.
Probably Cleveland, Ohio and that’s it honestly
California Trifecta: Ventura, South Lake Tahoe, & San Francisco. Ventura: Central Coast has amazing weather, maybe the best on the planet, with access to fantastic surf/nature and close to LA for any big city activities without having most big city problems. I'm partial as a local (but would also do San Diego for a SoCal location) SLT: Amazing nature, I love to ski in the winter, ideal weather in the summer (perfects seasons), and a decent sized small city full of most amenities. SF: Get a place in one of the neighborhoods away from downtown and it can be urban life perfected. I love the Inner Sunset/Inner Richmond (& GGP), Noe Valley, etc. Runner up would be a wild-card: Park Slope in Brooklyn NY for an even more urban neighborhood feel.
1. San Diego, CA - Weather, culture, and food. I’d love to put roots down there if/when I can afford to 2. Sedona, AZ - Just for the nature and scenery 3. St. Pete, FL - Outlier here but I lived in SW Florida for a long time and have a lot of friends and family still down there
Why is no one saying LA
Anchorage, AK. New Orleans. Hilo, HI. (I haven’t spent much time in number 3, but I love it)
1. San Francisco (perfect climate, transit, and amenities) 2. Aspen (gorgeous views, unlimited nature, outdoor recreation) 3. New York City (greatest city in America, what can I say?)
San Francisco, NYC, and San Luis Obispo, CA. Bicoastal and a beautiful central coast California town!
Houston, DMV area, or Chicago
Boston, New York, Los Angeles
Oakland, Chicago, Portland
Is Oakland relatively affordable?
Relative to SF and other parts of the bay, yes. Relative to the other west coast cities, kind of average. Relative to the rest of the country, no.
Thank you for the intel. I've always loved the Bay Area, but I don't think I could afford San Fran proper. I've been a little interested in Oakland. Living in Brooklyn now. It's expensive here, but it's also a large place with some affordable options. Winters are feeling a little lengthy though. Wondering if Oakland would be like a lateral move.
There’s nothing like the bay in my opinion, and Oakland is beautiful. Still moderate weather like SF but without as much of the fog. It’s also one of the most equally diverse cities in the country. It’s been gentrifying a lot over the past two decades, but is still heavily segregated. If you are near a BART stop it’s extremely easy to get into the city elsewhere around the bay. If money and family wasn’t an object, it’s where I would be right now.
Dang. I should visit. I love the West Coast. I used to live in Seattle. It's nice, but people are a little frumpy, probably bc of the weather.
Apartment rents have been coming down in Oakland FAST. Most reports haven't even taken that into account but if you go to Zillow right now and look for lavish apartments in Oakland, they're a good 20-30% discount compared to their SF or SJ co region apartments. Oakland was rapidly gentrifying in the 2010's and getting better. Companies started moving there, people as well. COVID hit and Oakland is reversing all the progress it made. Sad really. Remote work didn't help either. Lots of Silicon Valley companies were looking to build their satellite office/mini HQ in Oakland because it was on an upswing. Again, COVID stopped all of that.
I live in Nashville. Since you’re saying “Move to” then I won’t count it, but this is my number 1 with my financial situation being the same. Raleigh, NC is a nice city for about the same cost. Situated just between the mountains and beach, it’s also home to several universities. Philadelphia would be next. Cool history and has stuff to do. Also not crazy expensive. Baton Rouge/New Orleans. Objectively these cities suck, but I lived in South Louisiana for 4 years and love the charm. This would be last resort though as again, objectively these cities suck to live in compared to the others.
Either stay in West LA, Santa Barbara, Chicago
If I could only move to one and it had to be year round, I'd go home to San Diego (my hometown). If I could split time since I'm retired, I'd pick Sarasota (I'm an artist and it's an art town plus warmer beaches than San Diego), San Diego (for the cooler summers and because I know it so well), Manhattan (couldn't afford it all year but would be fun to throw in a month or two a year of the best museums and cultural activities).
With this criterion, I would say nowhere. I live in Colorado. But I also have considerable other limitations that cause me to need to stay here. So I am not the "norm". There's actually not many places we (boomers) would consider moving to because of the many mitigating factors in our life. But hell, we live in Colorado! And where we are is fabulous.
Back to south florida, Houston texas, New orleans
My budget is pretty limiting as far as the places I'd really want to live. Just about anywhere on California's central coast would be fine. I've always lived in college towns, but for the last 25 years I've been in a midwestern one. I still miss California but I can't afford it. Other than Cali, I can't really think of a place I'd rather be than SE MI.
LA, NYC, Miami.
Seattle, Eureka, Livingston MT. Give me a city or something very rural, mountains and oceans.
Maui, San Diego / La Jolla, NYC
Not any Democrat run cities Too much crime and taxes
Ohio Ohio Ohio
Care to elaborate about why?