Looking to relocate...Where's the BEST place to live in the US?? (1 Viewer)

[Jack Briggs]

Favorite cities and states, if cost of living is not a factor:

San Francisco, CA (the absolute best for me)

Eugene, OR

Seattle, WA

Monterey, CA

Los Angeles, CA

New York, NY

Tucson, AZ

But, most of all ...

Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

[Charles J P]

Omaha, Cant get much cheaper. I dont know about the scenery, but we're the biggest little city in the country. Its convenient, cheap, safe, cheap, oh and did I mention cheap. My fiance and I (both 23) are having a house built that will be finished next month. The people I met from my company from the San Francisco office were floored when they found out I was building a house at 23. Oh, and there are some pretty good medical jobs here too. Pretty good research facilities with UNO and Creighton here in town and UNL in Lincoln

 

[Jason Handy]

Nathan,

1998 Ford Escort ZX2. The first car I ever bought new. She treats me good. My neighborhood is pretty secluded and there is a 0% crime rate. It is pretty sweet.

Jason

 

[Chris]

We've been all over, so to speak; my Wife from Jamaica and Miami, FL; me lower Kansas, Seattle, etc. and I've come to find that I really enjoy Overland Park (a Kansas City subburb) I'll be serious: downtown KC is a disaster.. but cost of living in KC is sickeningly cheap for what's available.. the weather has true seasons and it's free of both earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanos
The other place that I truly enjoyed that I would consider moving to in later life is Savannah, Georgia.
But for the moment, I really do enjoy what KC has to offer; and having been to tons of football games all over the country, even though they still hope for a better team here, there is no experience quite like Arrowhead stadium anywhere I've found in the US.. the fans are there to root on the teams, tend to be rational and not overly beligerent, and the best tailgating in the country

 

[Todd Hochard]

Amsterdam, Netherlands

What's there, 'cept weed and hookers? Oh, wait...
I like Orlando, but don't move here. Too many people have already.
I think Asheville would be on the top of my list.

 

[Keith_R]

Personally I prefer Florida. I live in Gainesville and I know that Shands Hospital here at UF employs alot of medical professionals as well as others. Gainesville is a nice looking place and usually has good weather year round except for winter. It gets cold than. The cost of living I don't think is to bad either.

 

[Grant B]

Favorite cities and states, if cost of living is not a factor:San Francisco

In my neighborhood (which is about mid range) for the city, a 'large' one room apartment rents for $2200 a month; Flats cost $400,000 (Fixer upper) to $1M. Houses start at ~$1.5M (more fixer uppers).

In the 60s you couldn't give them away; now you buy small countries with the profit of selling one

 

[Shayne Judge]

Three suggestions:
1. Use the yahoo search engine and put in the phrase, "best place to live." There are several URL links that ask you a variety of questions on cost of living, health care, extra activities, etc, and it then spits out a list of cities to consider.
2. Consider Tampa. The cost of living is relatively low (my wife and I are buying a 2400 sq foot house for $163,00) and Tampa is in desperate need of medical personnel, especially nurses.
3. If cost of living is a factor, DO NOT move to San Fran, or anywhere in a 200 mile radius. My wife and I left California because of the cost of living and other reasons that cannot be discussed without breaking forum rules on politics

 

[Kwang Suh]

my wife and I are buying a 2400 sq foot house for $163,000

Wow, that's unbelieveable!!!

 

[Jack Briggs]

But we love ya anyway, Shayne!
Grant: For precisely the reasons you've noted I have not picked up my roots and planted them in your town, the greatest city in the U.S. of A. Certainly the most beautiful. Last time I made a serious investigation into the possibilities of moving to the Bay Area was in '98 or thereabouts. Those rents, man. And given what writing gigs are open in SF, forget it. Damn. If I had a job offer and a salary that's up to the challenge, I'd move to San Francisco in a heartbeat. It's the one city that, when I head back home, I truly miss. And it's the only one I dread leaving when the visit is nearing an end.
Man, I love San Francisco. It will be my home some day.

 

[Janna S]

Another thing Jack and I don't have in common! I spent quite a bit of time in San Francisco when I was in law school at UCLA (hey, you can cut classes just as easily in law school as you can in college!) It was interesting, vibrant, beautiful, if a little seedy in spots.

When I went back there for the first time in twenty years last summer, I was flat out horrified. People were bustling, or wandering aimlessly; homeless or arrogantly wealthy; homelessness, drug use, conspicious consumption, sheltered obliviousness, and mental illness were everywhere - driven in no small part by gentrification in response to high real estate costs.

I felt as if I were in a war zone. It wasn't even any better when I was in the upscale, luxurious parts of town - I felt haunted by all the neediness and madness elsewhere. I was horrified, absolutely horrified. I don't know if I could ever go back there. It's not that we don't have gentrification, class stratification, homelessness, or drug use here - it's just that it's all in much, much smaller quantities, and not so extreme in the same city block.

 

[AviTevet]

Wow... I never thought I'd hear so many people recommend east coast/midwest towns!
FYI, many places have high costs of living because they're really great places, like NY and San Fran. Pay typically goes up in those places too. Personally I wouldn't be poor to live in a great city, but I'd rather spend a little more to live in Seattle or Denver than have more money and be living in Des Moines.
So anyway, I would recommend Colorado Springs. It's not *too* expensive, about 1/2 million people and 40 mins from Denver. About 300 sunny days per year, but it definitely gets cold in the winter and can get hot in the summer. You're two hours away from that great Colorado skiing, and it's like an outdoor person's dream location because of all the hiking, 14k peaks, biking, and Garden of the Gods park that has climbing/biking/running/everything outdoors.
Portland, OR can be kinda expensive if you live in the ritzy parts, but you can buy a decent 3 br/2 ba home on the east side for around $120k. 2 hours from Mt. Hood (ski in winter, hike/bike/camp in summer), 2 hours from the Oregon coast, 3 hours from Seattle. There's not much to do on weeknights here except there's a ton of bars and almost all of them have a really small band playing at nights. And in Portland there's OHSU (one of the top medical schools in the nation and located on prime river-overlooking real estate) and Doernbecher (sp) Children's Hospital, the top children's hospital in the nation (located right next to OHSU). I would think it would be one of the top locations in the country for a medical professional, somewhat below Cleveland.
Don't go to Cleveland, though... racial problems, poverty problems, and ugly as any city I've been to. Plus it's not close to any nice major city (4 hours from Buffalo), not close to any major mountains (3 hours to Pennsylvania where there are massive 2000 ft peaks), the lake is polluted and smelly and the river caught on fire in the 60s. It's a city only a local could love. I think the only reason people live there is because the majority of them don't have the money to get out. It's cheap though... you can get mansions of former oil/steel tycoons in decently nice neighborhoods for like $300k or under.
I hear Atlanta's nice if you stay in the nicer areas, but there are parts that you don't go to at night.
Cincinnati has some beautiful areas and its pretty dang cheap to get a really nice home, but they have all those racial problems. Same with Chicago. I guess that's probably true of any 2 million+ city... except maybe Seattle .

 

[Jody C Robins]

I love living in New Orleans. Great music, great food, and there is always something going on. In fact, the next two weekend are Jazz Fest (woohoo!). If you live here, the place to be is Uptown. Don't be swayed by Bourbon St, as no one who lives here actually ever goes there. Just make sure you don't mind the heat.

Stay away from Houston. Huge strip mall. Perpetual traffic. Ugh.

 

[Michael*K]

Cincinnati has some beautiful areas and its pretty dang cheap to get a really nice home, but they have all those racial problems. Same with Chicago.

Be careful what you say. Do you live in Chicago? Yeah, it's a segregated city, but there aren't rampant racial problems.

 

[Derek Miner]

Consider Tampa. The cost of living is relatively low (my wife and I are buying a 2400 sq foot house for $163,00) and Tampa is in desperate need of medical personnel, especially nurses.

I didn't know this area was in need of medical personnel. I guess I'm in the wrong profession.
To add to Shayne's comments, it's pretty nice here in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. In Pinellas county (where I live - on the other side of Tampa Bay) there are more retirees, so things seem a bit slower.
Weather is pretty good. If you hate cold weather, you can't beat our mild winters. Temperatures get up near 100 in the summer, but rarely over. It's a humid heat, though.
In the Tampa area, you've got city conveniences nearby, but there are plenty of developing areas within an hour of the city proper that still seem like the country. Of course, there are LOTS of beaches nearby. Cost of living is pretty good and there's no state income tax.
My personal pet peeves in this area have more to do with my tastes in entertainment. This area (and Florida in general) rarely gets some of the smaller or more unusual concert tours. A lot of people I would go to see perform never come closer than Atlanta. If your taste runs toward people like Barry Manilow or big-name stadium shows, like U2, then you've got no problem. Orlando is less than two hours away, and they do have some interesting shows and concerts now and then.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Eugene, OR, it should be noted, is very easy on the wallet.

"... drug use, conspicious consumption, sheltered obliviousness..."

As I said, great town.
Maybe it's an adjustment thing. Dunno. My "baseline" is Los Angeles. From here, San Francisco seems so natural. The town, though expensive, is beautiful. In fact, I'd like to end up there.

 

[Scott_G]

SF is a great place. I got to San Jose a lot for work but lots of my co-workers out there want to move here (RTP, NC).

Two hours by plane to anything east of the MS. Great college sports and pro hockey. Diversity is increasing yearly and shopping's not bad. Cost is going up but it's all relative. I'd say around $100-125 a square foot.

All in all a good place to live.

 

[Francois Caron]

I'd move to San Francisco in a heartbeat. It's the one city that, when I head back home, I truly miss. And it's the only one I dread leaving when the visit is nearing an end.

Man, I love San Francisco. It will be my home some day.

That's exactly how I felt about Montreal when I used to live in Ottawa just a two hours drive down the 417. I always hated leaving the big city.

However, I was lucky. I was in love with a city that's cheap to live in. I've been here for 17 years and I now live in a 950 sq. ft. loft with indoor parking and an unobstructed view of Mount Royal. My mortgage and taxes are less than half of what it would cost to rent a room in SF based on the prices mentioned in previous posts.

 

[Brian Kleinke]

I'd toss in another nice word for the midwest. Minnesota isn't too hard on the wallet, and the state is big enough and full of areas with way too many people or spots you'd travel for miles to find another human being O and we've got the Mayo clinic, and I know plenty of Medical that make way too much $ Wisconsin is nice... though I've not lived there in a while.
Brian

 

[Dave Falasco]

I don't think I would recommend CT, but it does have its good points. I'm about an hour from NYC, and two hours from Boston, and the area I am in is a nice, typical suburb. Decent yards, friendly neighbors, barking dogs, the whole bit. Still, the best thing about CT is that it's close to more exciting things. There isn't much to see here in the Nutmeg state.
I would actually like to move out of here myself for a few years to see another part of the country, but on my wife's map of the US, there is CT, there is a little bit of Mass and NY, and then a huge blank space between the oceans that says "Here there be dragons..."