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Choosing a place to live
Calica
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My job ends at the end of December. I live near Milwaukee, but I don't particularly like it here. I'd like to get out of Wisconsin just to live somewhere else for a while and see how it feels. I'm a software developer, so I could theoretically find a job pretty much anywhere. I'd like to live in a walkable city, and it would be nice to have milder weather - here, we have freezing winters and hot, humid summers.
With such vaguely-defined criteria, I have no idea how to even start narrowing it down. Also, it seems like asking what any particular city is "like" is pretty pointless, since cities can vary enormously from one neighborhood to the next.
On paper, Portland seems like everything I'm looking for, but that just makes me wonder what the catch is. Also, Portland as millennial utopia is such a cliche.
I have depression and anxiety, so instead of being excited at the prospect of a new city, I'm paralyzed by fear that I'll move somewhere and hate it.
How do you choose?
With such vaguely-defined criteria, I have no idea how to even start narrowing it down. Also, it seems like asking what any particular city is "like" is pretty pointless, since cities can vary enormously from one neighborhood to the next.
On paper, Portland seems like everything I'm looking for, but that just makes me wonder what the catch is. Also, Portland as millennial utopia is such a cliche.
I have depression and anxiety, so instead of being excited at the prospect of a new city, I'm paralyzed by fear that I'll move somewhere and hate it.
How do you choose?
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Portland and Seattle have really really unhealthy housing markets, both for rental and purchase. My rent has gone up over 400$ a month in the last 3 years. The cost of buying a home has doubled in the last 7.
Otherwise it's a pretty alright place to live.
No law that says you can't just move again in a year or two.
I've lived places I hate, all over the country... you just save money up and move again. I've been in 6-7 states since my mid 20's and I'm 37 now.
Edit: Spent a winter in Hales Corners, right outside Milwaukee... I understand the desire for better winters.
Oddly enough, the summers annoy me more than the winters. They both suck, but it's easier to stay warm in winter than cool in summer. And to add insult to injury, the lakes stay frigid until September :razz:
If you're a foodie there's at least one aspect of Portland you'll enjoy, even if the rest of it doesn't suit you. As for how you choose a city... first thing I'd weigh is how easily you can find work locally (in my case the decision will be entirely based upon whether I have a job there or not, but my field is competitive). Second would be cost of living because I'm shackled to student loans. Third is tied between whether I can enjoy my hobbies there (hiking for example) and how close I am to my family. If your goal is mild weather you'd be happy with any city on the West Coast, I should think, but walkable is a bit trickier.
So, despite the millenial cliche, the PNW is awesome for this. My wife and I are patiently waiting for my career to finish up specifically so her ginger butt can peacefully coexist with humanity up there.
If you find an outlying area with a job and place to live that's close to a major city, that would be your best bet.
Prob not what you are looking for in terms of weather.
Anywhere in northern Europe will be easy as pretty much everybody speaks English, the economy is doing well so most places finding work won't be hard. You'll find pretty much everywhere being friendly to walking not to mention there is great public transport and many cities are also very bike friendly.
Ain't so easy. You need a visa or parents from there so you can get citizenship.
I think the number one thing I'm looking for is a sense of community, which is a large part of why I want to live somewhere walkable. I grew up in a small but vibrant college town where you could walk down main street in summer and run into other people going about their lives or just hanging out. (Some) dense urban areas also have that, but with the added bonus of having a lot more interesting food/shops/events/various other resources nearby. (The nearest Asian grocery to my hometown is a 60 minute drive away, for example.) Right now I live in suburbia on the edges of a commuter town, and it's lonely as hell. Downtown Milwaukee is 30-45 minutes away by car, depending on traffic, but it's hard to justify going there without a specific purpose in mind. I'm the kind of person who feels a little guilty every time I drive my car when it's not absolutely necessary.
As for dealbreakers, I don't want to move to a floodplain or someplace that gets regular forest fires. We get tornadoes here, but knowing that there's always a slight risk of having a tornado level your house is different from knowing that the odds of having your house destroyed by a natural disaster approach 100% over 20 years or less. I don't want to be that far from my family. I loved the cities in New Zealand and I dearly wish I could find something like that here, but I'm not willing to move half a world away to get it. I thought the winters were legendary? Or is that just the locals exaggerating for effect? UM is the only university I know of that has a tunnel system so you don't have to go outside.
Austins summer is basically hell, I can attest, but you do get used to it. Its also basically already bubbled over from affordable to ridiculous, and is like 10% walkable at best.
If it weren't for NC's terrible politics, I'd tell you to look at the Triangle. The State is beautiful, there's tech there, and you can choose what flavor of town you want to be in within a relatively small distance. You want a sorta yuppie and established downtown? Raleigh. You want a green and beautiful city supported by a well regarded college? Chapel Hill. Into gentrification? Durham. You know, all the flavors! Its been a while since I looked but rent is also not super bad down there, there's a lot of space.
Summers are hot and humid, but its not Austin hot, and the winters are mild as heck. It has a lot of red state baggage, if that would concern you.
A huge part of my heart is in Baltimore, if you like the spice that a little crime can add to your life, rents easy there and the city gives you excellent access to other metro areas (DC and New York) without a ton of work. If you live truly downtown its quite walkable, and its not a super expensive city to have a car in. It has a light rail and free buses, but the car is necessary to bridge areas of the city that you could walk but shouldn't. MD is about the point where winters are a lotto on if they are bad or fine, I'd say the weather in general is more variable.
Lovely places with terrible politics soon become just plain lovely places if enough people move in and "gentrify" the political scene.
Intel, for example, is out in Hillsboro. It's a little ways outside the city. There are suburbs there, which to my mind inhibits feelings of community, and living close enough to walk 5 minutes to work sounds problematic.
I don't know, sounds tough.
Maybe looks at companies, see where they are, and see if you want to move to any of those places? I know Amazon is supposed to be looking to make a new big complex somewhere; jumping on in whatever city gets chosen might be a big part of being part of a growing community.
So, not Las Vegas then. Which would be a good fit, otherwise.
If you really can work from anywhere, the Michigan panhandle is very beautiful if a bit cold.
Seacoast NH actually is pretty rad for this, but $$$ and cold.
Seattle is pretty great and it's easy to get into nature,but the grey can get to you. Portland was fine IMO, but both that and Seattle felt a little standoffish?
I've heard good things about Asheville NC, but it's too south for how warm I run.