I’m pondering a move, and I’m interested in what things people like and what factors y’all consider important.
Detroit, east side of the river. (Yes, that’s canada)
I don’t live in Chicago, but I work there a lot and have for many years. I love Chicago. People are friendly, it is an active city, it is an interesting blend of old and new. I haven’t run across the douchenozzle vibes that I endured when I worked in NYC and gross ass new jersey. Most people from Chicago have a lovely sense of self. They’re cool if you are. It isn’t perfect and winter is.pretty rough, but there is a lot to like.
I have only been one time, but I really liked Denver. Same friendly vibe as Chicago, mountains are stunning, city is fun, walkable, feels like a very active population.
Minneapolis has to be up there.
I love the Seattle area but I’m biased because I grew up there. Decent public transit including a light rail, great weather, nice-ish people, great culture. Wish I could go back.
(there is a LOT of crime and homelessness though…)
In reality the crime rate in Seattle is still far lower than it was in the 90’s (just like everywhere else in the USA)
Toronto
San Diego/La Jolla if cost is no issue. Perfect weather 24/7/365, beautiful beaches, no slow drivers, a proper walkable downtown area with an actual nightlife, legal weed; what more could one need?
If I could afford it, I would move there and never leave.
Edit: If money is an issue, then I’d pick somewhere in the woods near Boulder/Denver.
Chicago
Beirut
I used https://www.movemap.io/explore/us after moving cross country, and after narrowing all of the criteria I cared about I ended up with only two counties left, one of which I had moved to! All of the confirmation bias in the world in that anecdote, but I stand by it being a good tool.
Thanks!
Currently planning a cross-country move as well and I just put in the criteria I’d like and sure enough the places I’m planning to move to match up too! That’s a neat tool
Depends on what you like.
I’ve ended up in Hampton Roads, VA. Specifically on the Peninsula side, in Newport News.
I like the seasons - it’s hot in summer but not as hot as other places I’ve lived. We get snow basically every year, although not for long. The trees lose their leaves for longer than I like, but we actually have some spring and fall, not just summer and winter. Trees are nice. Being close to water is nice.
We don’t have the international food that NYC has, but how could we? But we do have a pretty good selection here.
Traffic isn’t bad even during rush hour compared to other places I’ve lived, although the bridge-tunnels back up, and there are a few pain points mainly southside, but none that are really bad.
It’s not as blue as I’d like, but it is solidly blue in the cities. We’re considered the southernmost tip of the Northeast Megalopolis. We do have Amtrak here.
I’d also take a gander at Richmond as it’s got a lot going for it as well.
Mountains are not too far to the west - they are accessible.
Thank you, that was a great breakdown. How’s the humidity?
Not as bad as Florida, but definitely worse than semi-dry like DFW and no comparison to very dry like Arizona. :)
I’ve found that shade often makes a strong difference, except when it’s near the peak of our heat. We do get up to 100° but it’s pretty uncommon. Upper 90s is about where we generally top out, with low-to-mid-90s typical for the hottest part of summer.
We are on the Atlantic (and lower part of the Chesapeake Bay), so we do get humidity from being on the coast. But our heat season makes it more bearable than Florida because we’re not at that peak heat for quite as long.
June-July-August is definitely hot, but in Texas, that’s like May-September easily. Here, if anything, this past winter I just got so done with the damn cold, but it was a bit unusually cold with a bunch of days below freezing lows. Usually winter gets cold but it’s bearable.
Of course, it’s all subjective and what you’re used to and what you can get used to. heh
I can’t handle cold weather. I really like where we are in Tampa, because I can walk or bike to work, and my husband works from home, we have great food, a nice downtown, just yesterday went to a free music festival. We are in a house with a yard but still an easy bike ride to downtown, there is a mix of housing inside the city.
The buses suck - I set us up on purpose at a place where we can get most anywhere on one bus but some of them only run once an hour!
Anyway - if you have a car & don’t like winter, Tampa and St. Pete are nice. (ETA: Good to live IN, not near. What people consider ‘suburbs’ here are more properly exurbs, and there is not a train system and again, buses are starved of funding and suck) If you don’t like summer, no way, it’s still summer here and has been since April. I love our typical summer, it’s the rainy season, afternoon thunderstorms then this really cool lightning in the evening. And we see alligators sometimes, that’s exciting. This guy, he lived in a mitigation pond at my work office park, I took a daily picture on my way in, but after he reached 6 feet they removed him :(
One of my kids moved to San Jose in California and loves it so much, she also made sure to live close to her job, and one went to Raleigh in North Carolina and really likes it there.
I do like NYC too, but no way could we afford it. And I would freeze and die.
ETA: where are you now & what do you like and dislike about it? That would probably help people make suggestions.
I grew up just outside of Boston, really enjoyed that. It’s a very small city relative to NYC or sf or the like. It never felt like I was running out of stuff to do there though. Good mix of young people cause of the colleges and rich old people and basically everything in between.
I personally don’t mind owning a car and living in the suburbs though, which isn’t I think the trend. At least not based on what I’ve seen on lemmy.
I like having a big shed and garage to work on cars and other stuff but still being able toget the city life when I’m meeting up with people or going in for dinner with my wife.
Rochester, MN. When you need it, you’ll know why.
Rochester: it’ll cure what ails ya.
Imperial Beach, California. Just for the weather though. COL is out of control, just like every other coastal city on the West Coast.
I chose to move to IB after having lived in 49/50 states.
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