next »

[thurston]

I like Savannah and New Orleans but I can't stand the heat and humidity. I'd be better in dry heat which is why I think NM will be ok.

Well, you better stay far away from Louisville, Nashville, and good grief, MEMPHIS. The oppressive heat is inescapable almost everywhere in the South, but if smaller cities are ok, you might look at Asheville, NC, which avoids it somewhat because of its altitude.

But when I left the South I was very enthusiastic about leaving that aspect of it well behind. There are lots of places in the West that get snow but also have a lot of sunny days--the average January high in Boulder, Co., is 47, for example, and it gets 300 days of sun per year--that may allow you to broaden the search past Albequerque. Obviously Boulder is really expensive, but Reno, NV; Boise; Fort Collins; and others provide viable alternatives.

[compdoc]

The RDU triangle is great. Cary, yes, relocated Yankees. Also Chapel Hill, very liberal. Durham, less. Raleigh, even less. Schools suck in NC, so if you might have kids, that's a negative. Note, though, that Cary and Chapel Hill are more expensive than Raleigh and Durham.

Texas has a lot better job market/housing cost than a lot of places, even among those you named. But it's overall flat as all get out. And hot. Very hot.

[barred_owl]

You mentioned Portland was out because of cost of living, but how about other cities along the I-5 corridor?  Seattle (may be higher COL, but there is a lot to do there!), Vancouver (WA), Eugene, Salem...?  Mild climates, and lots of ocean nearby.

[boringmember]

The RDU triangle is great. Cary, yes, relocated Yankees. Also Chapel Hill, very liberal. Durham, less. Raleigh, even less. Schools suck in NC, so if you might have kids, that's a negative. Note, though, that Cary and Chapel Hill are more expensive than Raleigh and Durham.

But if you guys want to start a charter school, that could be a positive!  You just have to make sure that the market isn't saturated there.

[locutus]

Davis, CA (might be too expensive)

These two are cheap:
Madison, WI
Minneapolis, MN

[prytania3]

Davis, CA (might be too expensive)

These two are cheap:
Madison, WI
Minneapolis, MN

Yeah, and it's great there in the winter. Real paradises.

[locutus]

Davis, CA (might be too expensive)

These two are cheap:
Madison, WI
Minneapolis, MN

Yeah, and it's great there in the winter. Real paradises.

The OP didn't mention wanting to avoid winter. Some people like that kind of thing.

[ideagirl]

Well, you said you want to get out of the NE and therefore PA is out, but since not all of PA is actually in the NE, I thought I'd mention that there's great stuff going on in Pittsburgh and it's ridiculously cheap. A couple I know there bought a house in a perfectly decent neighborhood, close to everything, with views of the city skyline and a yard big enough to grow corn in, for under $60,000. And no, it wasn't a foreclosure or a handyman's special, it was just a small old house.

Also, didn't two Pittsburgh charter schools just win national awards? So obviously that must be feasible there.

[dolljepopp]

Berlin.

Brussels.

Maybe Hamburg...


OK, I'll stop.

The RDU triangle is great. Cary, yes, relocated Yankees. Also Chapel Hill, very liberal. Durham, less. Raleigh, even less. Schools suck in NC, so if you might have kids, that's a negative. Note, though, that Cary and Chapel Hill are more expensive than Raleigh and Durham.

[...]

I have close family in the RDU area and from what I have seen personally and heard from them regularly over the last almost twenty years fits with every thing compdoc says above, although the area is way too hot weather-wise for me and my allergies were always much worse in warmer climes, so I'd pass on it for that reason alone. Raleigh and Durham are too conservative for my tastes as well.

But the area is lovely, the people are generally very nice, and the omnipresence of universities is a high plus in my book. The overall cultural and artsy offerings are pretty high -- varies depending on your specific interests, but there is generally a lot available. And it's not too far from both very pretty mountains and very pretty beaches.


If winter is not an issue I very much second Minneapolis, which I think is one of the great places in the US to live.  Across the river, St Paul is great, too -- a tad smaller and a little less easy to navigate (no road grids and alphabetical street names), but great. I love where I am, but still (after ten years) get homesick for the Twin Cities.

[tenured_cat]

I've lived in Hamburg. If you like grey, dreary, rainy ... go ahead. Kitten #1 lives in Minneap ... no, Saint Paul, and loves it. But he's weird.

[spork]

If you are both unemployed or about to be, you need to be looking at places that have not been hit hard by the economic collapse.

As for "not liking conservatism," that pretty much eliminates everything south of MD on the eastern seaboard, the South, most of the Midwest, and the West.  

You're left with Corvalis, OR.

[locutus]

As for "not liking conservatism," that pretty much eliminates everything south of MD on the eastern seaboard, the South, most of the Midwest, and the West.  

I was wondering about this. OP is it you don't want a place that is very conservative or that you want a place devoid of even hint of conservatism.

[songsofexperience]

 

You're left with Corvalis, OR.

Ha! Nice.

Hmmm, I have lived in Hamburg too. My sister was there for 11+ years. Not going back.

I actually really like Minneapolis and both of us like snow but there was some thought about avoiding very snowy places.

I also like Pittsburgh and my husband's best friend lives about an hour from Pittsburgh but I went to Penn State for undergrad so I want somewhere new . . . somewhere I've never lived before.

You'd think, given the size of the country, that it would be fairly easy but when you put in the criteria: not east coast, not humid, not too cold and snowy, decent economy, cheap living, not flat, diverse and cultural etc etc it really narrows it down! Thanks for all the great suggestions though and keep 'em coming!

[songsofexperience]

 

I was wondering about this. OP is it you don't want a place that is very conservative or that you want a place devoid of even hint of conservatism.
[/quote]

Locutus, we'd like to avoid uber-conservatism but a dash of it is fine. I mean, the things that put us off about certain places in the south are racism and conservatism but we can deal with some conservatism. So, Austin might be fine but other parts of Texas not so much, you know? Husband has declared SC an absolute no because of the political climate and I tend to agree with him.

I suppose, in the end, wherever we go might not be forever so if we don't like it we don't have to stay. If we're going to start a charter school though we probably should like it and plan on staying but maybe we could move to the new city/town and check it out before we move forward with that.

I'm trying to research the cost of living, employment/unemployment rates etc of various places to come up with a winning combination.

[thurston]

You'd think, given the size of the country, that it would be fairly easy but when you put in the criteria: not east coast, not humid, not too cold and snowy, decent economy, cheap living, not flat, diverse and cultural etc etc it really narrows it down! Thanks for all the great suggestions though and keep 'em coming!

Songs, I had some friends a few years back who went through this exact same issue. The vast majority of small and mid-size US towns and cities tend toward conservatism because, in part, conservative people (based on the numbers, now) tend to be less demanding about the "quality of life" defined by progressives (arts, culture, politics) and more concerned about more common QOL issues (cost,safety). The progressives tend then to go to places that are expensive because they are in demand or quite touristy (like Santa Fe).

In the end, after looking at Boulder, Austin, Santa Fe, and Portland, my friends chose Portland and have not looked back. They were not too concerned about diversity. But I think there's something telling in this story--You may have to compromise ONE of your criteria out of cost/diversity/climate/culture/politics/size. If you knew which on those was least important this would become a lot easier.

So I say to you: Flagstaff, AZ. You have everything except the size (127,000).