Cities that were pretty neat in the Midwest when I visited them:
Omaha
Iowa City
I've heard great things about Milwaukee
They're all crappy to get to from major airlines though.
If you want to travel, this is massive. Low volume airports are EXPENSIVE to fly from.
right this is one of the things we're trying to balance between us. if it were up to her we would live out in the middle of nowhere, but I need access to a Good Airport for work, which means we need to be around a city
Yeah, based on that, you're really talking Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle.
Bay area is out as it's way too expensive
LA is out because F LAX
Portland is not quite major enough because the major traffic goes to SF or Seattle.
All the other minor cities are out because transit time/availability is incredibly bad for small regional midwest and western airports.
Only other maybe is Reno? But you'd have to really love the Tahoe area.
I live on the north side of Chicago. I love it here, but you're not going to get single family housing with access to the L (elevated light rail) that close to downtown for your price range. I live on the far north-side (Ravenswood, about 40 minutes to downtown by L) and single family homes around here are a minimum of $500,000 for a 3BD/2BTH. If you are ok with higher density living there are some nice 3/4 BD condos though that can be had much cheaper and are close to parks/restaurants/shopping.
Though, as some of the other people have said, some of the closer, older burbs might be more up your alley as well if you're dead set on single family housing. Oak Park and Evanston are nice, have great little downtown areas themselves, and are about 20 minutes to downtown by commuter rail (Metra), but are still connected by the L as well. Though, one thing to keep in mind though is that the burbs generally have higher property tax rates to off-set the lower housing density.
I live in Spokane Valley, WA. a Large City but not Seattle large. It's near the outdoors. good skiing in the winter. Warm summers in the 80's 90's. Good large lakes in the area for swimming. It's a mornings drive ( 4 hours) to Seattle but 1/4 the cost to live here. We have large city things like an Apple Store as well as amazing restaurants. The NW is top for food as you get the freshest ingredients here. Spokane proper gets a bad rap but living just outside the city limits is really great. Traffic is light too.
St Louis is actually surprisingly great (despite what the news would have you believe). North StL is really nice, milder winters than Chicago, but still the full spectrum of seasons. Its close (enough) to Chicago that trips to family isnt out of the question for a weekend. WAY lower prices than Chicago too.
I'm in midstate Illinois (Bloomington) which is nice but wont have the culture you seek. If i didnt want to move back to Houston eventually, ST Louis would be on the very short list.
I have experience with both Seattle and Portland. Both have decent summers, but with climate change the amount of summer days spent above 90 degrees have increased substantially from no more than a week per year to almost a month in July/August. Plus, because of the historically cool summer temperatures not all housing has air conditioning because it used to be unnecessary. Also, some older housing took advantage of the historically low power costs in the area and used extremely inefficient forms of heating such as ceiling heat (I know, what the ef, heat rises don'tchaknow?), so that's something else to look out for.
Both cities have phenomenal city/cultural centers, with Portland having the edge in a more vibrant and active downtown in the evenings, but it's substantially improved in Seattle. Both cities are closely tied to the information economy. Because of the size of the cities and suburbs, both have lots of choices for schools. As always, the further out you go the more affordable and comfortable the housing tends to be at the drawback of commuting times. Portland's commute is better due to the substantially more well-developed public transportation system (seriously, everyone and their mom rides the MAX light rail into town from the suburbs). When I worked in Portland it was either a 30-60 minute drive in traffic or a 45 minute train ride during which I could read a book. But both cities have issues with traffic, although Portland's is better and you won't get that common Seattle phenomenon of traffic jams at any random hour of the day.
Portland's airport is smaller, so it gets less traffic, but it's really a nonissue because you just end up flying to Seattle which is a 45 minute flight at most.
Seeing as how Portland and Seattle are only 3 hours away from each other, they end up sharing access to large parts of the Pacific Northwest. Oregon has better beaches than Seattle, and they're only an hour away from Portland. Seattle has the better half of the Cascade Mountains, the islands in Puget Sound, and the Olympic Peninsula. Both states have really good camping.
Portland arguably has a lower cost of living than Seattle, but you pay state income tax in Oregon wherein Seattle only has the sales tax.
I live in Spokane Valley, WA. a Large City but not Seattle large. It's near the outdoors. good skiing in the winter. Warm summers in the 80's 90's. Good large lakes in the area for swimming. It's a mornings drive ( 4 hours) to Seattle but 1/4 the cost to live here. We have large city things like an Apple Store as well as amazing restaurants. The NW is top for food as you get the freshest ingredients here. Spokane proper gets a bad rap but living just outside the city limits is really great. Traffic is light too.
Probably the one real problem with Spokane is that it's large enough to have specific job niches that smaller cities can't support, but small enough that those niches are only relevant to one or two employers.
I see Denver's already been mentioned a few times. This is another recommendation for the same.
Don't worry about the snow. We do get some good storms but normally the snow is off the major roads in a day or two, and side streets a few days later.
We don't tend to get the high temperatures, but when we do it's low humidity so even our hottest days aren't oppressively muggy.
Housing is a bit nuts at the moment. Lots of new development though. Looking at Realtor.com shows some fairly good availability around your price per square foot budget. Maybe not in Downtown Denver, but some surrounding locations.
Light rail is expanding, which is nice if you want to go downtown but don't want to drive there. Still doesn't reach everywhere though.
does it really get that hot in Minnesota? I mean, hey, if it gets hot that's OK, but understand in Florida, you get your first 90 in April, and it's 90-97 every day until pretty much October, even when it rains. thats mostly what has got to end
It does get hot here. I live further north in Duluth, but lived in the MSP are my whole adult life. You get a few stretches of upper 90s with humidity, but they're not very long for the most part. Winters are brutal though.
I live on the north side of Chicago. I love it here, but you're not going to get single family housing with access to the L (elevated light rail) that close to downtown for your price range. I live on the far north-side (Ravenswood, about 40 minutes to downtown by L) and single family homes around here are a minimum of $500,000 for a 3BD/2BTH. If you are ok with higher density living there are some nice 3/4 BD condos though that can be had much cheaper and are close to parks/restaurants/shopping.
Though, as some of the other people have said, some of the closer, older burbs might be more up your alley as well if you're dead set on single family housing. Oak Park and Evanston are nice, have great little downtown areas themselves, and are about 20 minutes to downtown by commuter rail (Metra), but are still connected by the L as well. Though, one thing to keep in mind though is that the burbs generally have higher property tax rates to off-set the lower housing density.
I wouldn't mind living in a town house personally, but we do have a large dog so at least some sort of a private outdoor space is... I dare say almost mandatory, even if it's modest.
Having family around is always nice, especially if it's family you actually enjoy spending time with!
It's fairly easy to get downtown from most of the surrounding areas, as you're either close enough to the metro to be around a CTA station that takes you around downtown, or around a Metra line that can drop you at one of the major stations. I'm about 25 miles due West of the city, and the milk-run trains on the weekend that make every intermediate stop only takes an hour to get there.
Huh. I'm in Naperville, are you nearby?
Jasconius, sounds like you'd be well-informed for the Chicago area with family here, but if you ever have any questions about the western suburbs I'd be happy to help. I lived just outside Chicago in Oak Park for most of my life, and moved further out west to Naperville about 2 years ago. The Oak Park/Forest Park area would be one of my top choices near Chicago - you have multiple L lines that run from there to downtown, and a Metra line available, good housing, a nice variety of restaurants and grocery stores, good schools, and while they are suburbs they feel more like some of the nicer Chicago neighborhoods thanks to their denseness and high walkability in most areas.
Naperville isn't a bad place - I've been there several times (the division I work for in my employer is headquartered out of there, and I've had to go to the main office for business.) Both Midway and O'Hare are reasonable drives away as well.
I have experience with both Seattle and Portland. Both have decent summers, but with climate change the amount of summer days spent above 90 degrees have increased substantially from no more than a week per year to almost a month in July/August. Plus, because of the historically cool summer temperatures not all housing has air conditioning because it used to be unnecessary. Also, some older housing took advantage of the historically low power costs in the area and used extremely inefficient forms of heating such as ceiling heat (I know, what the ef, heat rises don'tchaknow?), so that's something else to look out for.
Both cities have phenomenal city/cultural centers, with Portland having the edge in a more vibrant and active downtown in the evenings, but it's substantially improved in Seattle. Both cities are closely tied to the information economy. Because of the size of the cities and suburbs, both have lots of choices for schools. As always, the further out you go the more affordable and comfortable the housing tends to be at the drawback of commuting times. Portland's commute is better due to the substantially more well-developed public transportation system (seriously, everyone and their mom rides the MAX light rail into town from the suburbs). When I worked in Portland it was either a 30-60 minute drive in traffic or a 45 minute train ride during which I could read a book. But both cities have issues with traffic, although Portland's is better and you won't get that common Seattle phenomenon of traffic jams at any random hour of the day.
Portland's airport is smaller, so it gets less traffic, but it's really a nonissue because you just end up flying to Seattle which is a 45 minute flight at most.
Seeing as how Portland and Seattle are only 3 hours away from each other, they end up sharing access to large parts of the Pacific Northwest. Oregon has better beaches than Seattle, and they're only an hour away from Portland. Seattle has the better half of the Cascade Mountains, the islands in Puget Sound, and the Olympic Peninsula. Both states have really good camping.
Portland arguably has a lower cost of living than Seattle, but you pay state income tax in Oregon wherein Seattle only has the sales tax.
Hope that helps a bit.
I would no longer consider Portland as a reasonable place to buy a single family home unless youre willing to live in Hillsboro or farther away.
I have experience with both Seattle and Portland. Both have decent summers, but with climate change the amount of summer days spent above 90 degrees have increased substantially from no more than a week per year to almost a month in July/August. Plus, because of the historically cool summer temperatures not all housing has air conditioning because it used to be unnecessary. Also, some older housing took advantage of the historically low power costs in the area and used extremely inefficient forms of heating such as ceiling heat (I know, what the ef, heat rises don'tchaknow?), so that's something else to look out for.
Both cities have phenomenal city/cultural centers, with Portland having the edge in a more vibrant and active downtown in the evenings, but it's substantially improved in Seattle. Both cities are closely tied to the information economy. Because of the size of the cities and suburbs, both have lots of choices for schools. As always, the further out you go the more affordable and comfortable the housing tends to be at the drawback of commuting times. Portland's commute is better due to the substantially more well-developed public transportation system (seriously, everyone and their mom rides the MAX light rail into town from the suburbs). When I worked in Portland it was either a 30-60 minute drive in traffic or a 45 minute train ride during which I could read a book. But both cities have issues with traffic, although Portland's is better and you won't get that common Seattle phenomenon of traffic jams at any random hour of the day.
Portland's airport is smaller, so it gets less traffic, but it's really a nonissue because you just end up flying to Seattle which is a 45 minute flight at most.
Seeing as how Portland and Seattle are only 3 hours away from each other, they end up sharing access to large parts of the Pacific Northwest. Oregon has better beaches than Seattle, and they're only an hour away from Portland. Seattle has the better half of the Cascade Mountains, the islands in Puget Sound, and the Olympic Peninsula. Both states have really good camping.
Portland arguably has a lower cost of living than Seattle, but you pay state income tax in Oregon wherein Seattle only has the sales tax.
Hope that helps a bit.
I would no longer consider Portland as a reasonable place to buy a single family home unless youre willing to live in Hillsboro or farther away.
It's not great, but tremendously better than Seattle.
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Element BrianPeanut Butter ShillRegistered Userregular
So Salt Lake City
+ Growing Tech Industry
+ VERY reasonable cost of living and housing
+ Pretty Good Schools ( Sex Education might depend on school, kinda comes with the territory however)
+ Plenty of stuff to do outdoors, tons of hiking and sports in the summer, winter plenty of nearby skiing, winter sports.
+ All the perks of a normal large city w/ decent airport
- Culture. Obviously this is a big one with Salt Lake. However, being a metropolis, the mormon influence is a lot less heavy handed in the city. Your children aren't going to be ostracized for being non-mormon if they are going to school in SLC (or anywhere else really).
- Weather. This good be a plus or minus. Summers are hot, but it's very dry, so you're not dealing with muggy humidity that you get in the south. 90 degrees in SLC feels very different than 90 in Florida. Winters are gonna be cold though, usually with lots of snow. If that's something you're not used to, then you might want to consider that.
- Air Pollution. Especially during the winter. SLC suffers from inversion which traps pollution in air above the valley during the winter. It's never really bothered me, but if you have children with asthma, then it's definitely something to aware of.
- Income Tax
Overall I think it's a great place to live, especially for cheap. Being in middle america, you're not going to get a lot of culture, especially compared to other cities like Seattle or SF. There is a very low amount of crime however. Great Schools. I mean, if the cons don't seem too bad to you, I really think it's just a solid place to live and raise a family.
I realized I didn't put a real plug in for Minneapolis. It really does have a lot going for it.
Compared to most large, urban areas the housing costs are actually pretty low. It has really wonderful parks, lots of trails, and has gotten quite bike friendly. The winters are a bear, but they're actually better if you have any interest in outdoor activities or even just hobbies where you can stay inside (large tabletop community around there for some reason). There's a ton of culture—much more than most people would expect for a city of its size. Concerts, really solid art galleries, a very good theatre culture, and a pretty kick ass restaurant scene.
Yeah, during the summer there are more bugs than on the West Coast, but it's really gorgeous for most of the late spring, summer and early fall. And, again, winters can be tough (climate change is helping though!). But, the schools are by and large very good and the people are slightly nicer than other communities of its size. They are quite passive aggressive though, which has it's ups and downs.
If you've not already ruled it out cincinnati may meet your requirements. Has the airport access (cvg and dayton), cultural options, and reasonable housing costs. Chicago is very drivable distance, you get all four seasons (sometimes all in one day....) but nothing too extreme.
Denver is great but pushes some of your criteria a bit
while the city center is neat and I love living in the heart of it, it's more of a neighborhood oriented place. the Highlands, LoDo/Rino, SoBo/Santa Fe, and Cherry Creek are all very different and far enough apart to be distinct areas
housing 15-20 minutes from said city center is on the upper bound of your price range unless you want to live in a suburban wasteland like Reunion or Northglenn or Parker. affordable cities like Longmont or Castle Rock are further out
there's a tech sector for sure but it's not Bay Area, Seattle, or Austin. pretty robust though
summers do mean a few weeks above 90 with little rain during July and August. but it's dry enough to feel much nicer than Florida 90
school system is wildly divergent. Cherry Creek is great, Douglas County is a hellhole of privatization and demonized teachers unions, rural districts are Mad Max. the others are a roll of the dice
it has a huge ongoing growth of young people thanks to legal weed
don't get me wrong I love this area and recommend it but you should know that there are some things that might drive you crazy
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FaranguI am a beardy manWith a beardy planRegistered Userregular
Having family around is always nice, especially if it's family you actually enjoy spending time with!
It's fairly easy to get downtown from most of the surrounding areas, as you're either close enough to the metro to be around a CTA station that takes you around downtown, or around a Metra line that can drop you at one of the major stations. I'm about 25 miles due West of the city, and the milk-run trains on the weekend that make every intermediate stop only takes an hour to get there.
Huh. I'm in Naperville, are you nearby?
Jasconius, sounds like you'd be well-informed for the Chicago area with family here, but if you ever have any questions about the western suburbs I'd be happy to help. I lived just outside Chicago in Oak Park for most of my life, and moved further out west to Naperville about 2 years ago. The Oak Park/Forest Park area would be one of my top choices near Chicago - you have multiple L lines that run from there to downtown, and a Metra line available, good housing, a nice variety of restaurants and grocery stores, good schools, and while they are suburbs they feel more like some of the nicer Chicago neighborhoods thanks to their denseness and high walkability in most areas.
been looking around, it seems like a lot of townhouses in the midwest have yards, so that's good. sometimes in Florida you don't get one. So I can add townhouses to da list (as long as they have SOME grass somewhere)
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JohnnyCacheStarting DefensePlace at the tableRegistered Userregular
+ Growing Tech Industry
+ VERY reasonable cost of living and housing
+ Pretty Good Schools ( Sex Education might depend on school, kinda comes with the territory however)
+ Plenty of stuff to do outdoors, tons of hiking and sports in the summer, winter plenty of nearby skiing, winter sports.
+ All the perks of a normal large city w/ decent airport
- Culture. Obviously this is a big one with Salt Lake. However, being a metropolis, the mormon influence is a lot less heavy handed in the city. Your children aren't going to be ostracized for being non-mormon if they are going to school in SLC (or anywhere else really).
- Weather. This good be a plus or minus. Summers are hot, but it's very dry, so you're not dealing with muggy humidity that you get in the south. 90 degrees in SLC feels very different than 90 in Florida. Winters are gonna be cold though, usually with lots of snow. If that's something you're not used to, then you might want to consider that.
- Air Pollution. Especially during the winter. SLC suffers from inversion which traps pollution in air above the valley during the winter. It's never really bothered me, but if you have children with asthma, then it's definitely something to aware of.
- Income Tax
Overall I think it's a great place to live, especially for cheap. Being in middle america, you're not going to get a lot of culture, especially compared to other cities like Seattle or SF. There is a very low amount of crime however. Great Schools. I mean, if the cons don't seem too bad to you, I really think it's just a solid place to live and raise a family.
seriously
I am in an outlier (37 minutes from downtown SLC) and I have an apt that is 675 for a 1200 square foot 2 bedroom.
I think the best apartment in SLC is probably 2500
Pittsburgh's got cheapo cost of living for now (call again in 15 years and we'll see) and is emerging in the information economy. Far enough from the Great Lakes that it doesn't get too screwed up by the Lake Effect either.
yea pittsburgh is a great place to live. cost of living is reasonable, but culturally it isn't that huge a hotspot.
but coming from florida it might be. winters can be brutal though.
For a city our size we have a lot of great cultural "things" thanks to all the steel tycoons. Word class museums, a solid theater district, top sports teams if you're into that. Only thing really lacking is food, but it's been getting better over the years.
I think what really kills Pittsburgh for OP though is teaching opportunities for his wife. She'll never find anything. The market is so over saturated due to all the teaching colleges near by. Most of the people I know who went into teaching had to move away to find jobs.
I live on the north side of Chicago. I love it here, but you're not going to get single family housing with access to the L (elevated light rail) that close to downtown for your price range. I live on the far north-side (Ravenswood, about 40 minutes to downtown by L) and single family homes around here are a minimum of $500,000 for a 3BD/2BTH. If you are ok with higher density living there are some nice 3/4 BD condos though that can be had much cheaper and are close to parks/restaurants/shopping.
Though, as some of the other people have said, some of the closer, older burbs might be more up your alley as well if you're dead set on single family housing. Oak Park and Evanston are nice, have great little downtown areas themselves, and are about 20 minutes to downtown by commuter rail (Metra), but are still connected by the L as well. Though, one thing to keep in mind though is that the burbs generally have higher property tax rates to off-set the lower housing density.
I wouldn't mind living in a town house personally, but we do have a large dog so at least some sort of a private outdoor space is... I dare say almost mandatory, even if it's modest.
One nice thing about Chicago is that there's parks everywhere, especially once you get north of Irving Park Rd. Personally, I live about a 1 minute walk from a 40 acre park featuring baseball diamonds, soccer fields, tennis courts, and lots of just plain open and tree-lined space, even better they have weekly farmers' markets here as well. In the city proper, though, private space might be a little hard to come by though if all you want to do is let the dog out rather than take it for a walk.
Pittsburgh's got cheapo cost of living for now (call again in 15 years and we'll see) and is emerging in the information economy. Far enough from the Great Lakes that it doesn't get too screwed up by the Lake Effect either.
yea pittsburgh is a great place to live. cost of living is reasonable, but culturally it isn't that huge a hotspot.
but coming from florida it might be. winters can be brutal though.
For a city our size we have a lot of great cultural "things" thanks to all the steel tycoons. Word class museums, a solid theater district, top sports teams if you're into that. Only thing really lacking is food, but it's been getting better over the years.
I think what really kills Pittsburgh for OP though is teaching opportunities for his wife. She'll never find anything. The market is so over saturated due to all the teaching colleges near by. Most of the people I know who went into teaching had to move away to find jobs.
yea, teaching will be tough especially in the good districts. Pitt does have a ton of pretty good museums and is an awesome place to raise a family. Agree about the food. considering how much they love primantis will tell you a lot.
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dresdenphileWatch out for snakes!Registered Userregular
Perhaps one of the many suburbs of St. Louis? It fits most of the criteria, and it's not terribly far from Chicago. Our weather is weird, but not months of extreme heat weird. Our Zoo is ranked in the top three consistently (and it's free!). Mass transit is turble, but our airport is fine.
Adding another vote for Denver. You have to be in the surrounding suburbs if you want somewhat decently priced housing, but I'm not sure what's so onerous about a fifteen minute drive downtown. *shrug* Otherwise, nifty city with lots of urban life stuff and nearby outdoor activities in the rockies.
If you're looking for a LOT cheaper, I really enjoyed my time in Iowa City, but it is a college town through and through for better and worse if that's not what you're looking for.
Pittsburgh's got cheapo cost of living for now (call again in 15 years and we'll see) and is emerging in the information economy. Far enough from the Great Lakes that it doesn't get too screwed up by the Lake Effect either.
yea pittsburgh is a great place to live. cost of living is reasonable, but culturally it isn't that huge a hotspot.
but coming from florida it might be. winters can be brutal though.
For a city our size we have a lot of great cultural "things" thanks to all the steel tycoons. Word class museums, a solid theater district, top sports teams if you're into that. Only thing really lacking is food, but it's been getting better over the years.
I think what really kills Pittsburgh for OP though is teaching opportunities for his wife. She'll never find anything. The market is so over saturated due to all the teaching colleges near by. Most of the people I know who went into teaching had to move away to find jobs.
yea, teaching will be tough especially in the good districts. Pitt does have a ton of pretty good museums and is an awesome place to raise a family. Agree about the food. considering how much they love primantis will tell you a lot.
Don't you hate on Primanti's! I loved that place, really miss it since moving to the Midwest.
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Blameless Cleric An angel made of sapphires each more flawlessly cut than the last Registered Userregular
Austins not a bad market to buy a house in, especially if you are up near round rock. If we weren't probably about to move, I'd consider buying property here. The summers are hot but its not Florida, these people don't know what humidity actually feels like. Even stupid hot days can yield pleasant evenings.
If you are considering raising a family, might not be a bad idea to think of your school system now (I guess this is in the OP, but low on your list). I'm not actually sure how our public schools fair, but I think north Dallas rates better. If I had kids I'd probably hightail it back to a blue state out of principal.
As someone who's got some experience with living near to Austin (Pflugerville) I'd say our schools are pretty good. I graduated from a charter, but the public school in my area is pretty solid, especially the elementary ones, and also LASA, a magnet school in Austin, is the best high school in Texas and fun to work for (many of my HS teachers moved there over the last few years and we're still in contact)
If you're thinking really long-term, if you live in the Austin area you get a special discount at UT Austin that makes it really, truly affordable to go to school there for many people and it's a great place to be
The 'burbs surrounding Austin are generally an easy drive from the city itself and not too expensive, from what I understand, with big backyards. It's also a very liberal area.
The one thing is it's definitely hot as balls from May - September. Also the cedar allergies are crazy. But the heat isn't humid and personally I prefer it to what I've experienced of humid Massachusetts summer. Plus there's plenty to do to get out of the heat, and the nights are usually pleasant. Plus thunderstorms
If you're interested at all in living near-ISH Boston (1.5 hours away heh) in a place with a good school district and lovely weather (other than a month or two of horrible humidity) and culture, I'd say Amherst or Northampton. Currently adore living and going to school there.
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Yeah, based on that, you're really talking Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle.
Bay area is out as it's way too expensive
LA is out because F LAX
Portland is not quite major enough because the major traffic goes to SF or Seattle.
All the other minor cities are out because transit time/availability is incredibly bad for small regional midwest and western airports.
Only other maybe is Reno? But you'd have to really love the Tahoe area.
but the ones we've discussed are definitely plenty to start advanced scouting, thanks
Though, as some of the other people have said, some of the closer, older burbs might be more up your alley as well if you're dead set on single family housing. Oak Park and Evanston are nice, have great little downtown areas themselves, and are about 20 minutes to downtown by commuter rail (Metra), but are still connected by the L as well. Though, one thing to keep in mind though is that the burbs generally have higher property tax rates to off-set the lower housing density.
I'm in midstate Illinois (Bloomington) which is nice but wont have the culture you seek. If i didnt want to move back to Houston eventually, ST Louis would be on the very short list.
Both cities have phenomenal city/cultural centers, with Portland having the edge in a more vibrant and active downtown in the evenings, but it's substantially improved in Seattle. Both cities are closely tied to the information economy. Because of the size of the cities and suburbs, both have lots of choices for schools. As always, the further out you go the more affordable and comfortable the housing tends to be at the drawback of commuting times. Portland's commute is better due to the substantially more well-developed public transportation system (seriously, everyone and their mom rides the MAX light rail into town from the suburbs). When I worked in Portland it was either a 30-60 minute drive in traffic or a 45 minute train ride during which I could read a book. But both cities have issues with traffic, although Portland's is better and you won't get that common Seattle phenomenon of traffic jams at any random hour of the day.
Portland's airport is smaller, so it gets less traffic, but it's really a nonissue because you just end up flying to Seattle which is a 45 minute flight at most.
Seeing as how Portland and Seattle are only 3 hours away from each other, they end up sharing access to large parts of the Pacific Northwest. Oregon has better beaches than Seattle, and they're only an hour away from Portland. Seattle has the better half of the Cascade Mountains, the islands in Puget Sound, and the Olympic Peninsula. Both states have really good camping.
Portland arguably has a lower cost of living than Seattle, but you pay state income tax in Oregon wherein Seattle only has the sales tax.
Hope that helps a bit.
Probably the one real problem with Spokane is that it's large enough to have specific job niches that smaller cities can't support, but small enough that those niches are only relevant to one or two employers.
Don't worry about the snow. We do get some good storms but normally the snow is off the major roads in a day or two, and side streets a few days later.
We don't tend to get the high temperatures, but when we do it's low humidity so even our hottest days aren't oppressively muggy.
Housing is a bit nuts at the moment. Lots of new development though. Looking at Realtor.com shows some fairly good availability around your price per square foot budget. Maybe not in Downtown Denver, but some surrounding locations.
Light rail is expanding, which is nice if you want to go downtown but don't want to drive there. Still doesn't reach everywhere though.
It does get hot here. I live further north in Duluth, but lived in the MSP are my whole adult life. You get a few stretches of upper 90s with humidity, but they're not very long for the most part. Winters are brutal though.
I wouldn't mind living in a town house personally, but we do have a large dog so at least some sort of a private outdoor space is... I dare say almost mandatory, even if it's modest.
Naperville isn't a bad place - I've been there several times (the division I work for in my employer is headquartered out of there, and I've had to go to the main office for business.) Both Midway and O'Hare are reasonable drives away as well.
I would no longer consider Portland as a reasonable place to buy a single family home unless youre willing to live in Hillsboro or farther away.
It's not great, but tremendously better than Seattle.
+ Growing Tech Industry
+ VERY reasonable cost of living and housing
+ Pretty Good Schools ( Sex Education might depend on school, kinda comes with the territory however)
+ Plenty of stuff to do outdoors, tons of hiking and sports in the summer, winter plenty of nearby skiing, winter sports.
+ All the perks of a normal large city w/ decent airport
- Culture. Obviously this is a big one with Salt Lake. However, being a metropolis, the mormon influence is a lot less heavy handed in the city. Your children aren't going to be ostracized for being non-mormon if they are going to school in SLC (or anywhere else really).
- Weather. This good be a plus or minus. Summers are hot, but it's very dry, so you're not dealing with muggy humidity that you get in the south. 90 degrees in SLC feels very different than 90 in Florida. Winters are gonna be cold though, usually with lots of snow. If that's something you're not used to, then you might want to consider that.
- Air Pollution. Especially during the winter. SLC suffers from inversion which traps pollution in air above the valley during the winter. It's never really bothered me, but if you have children with asthma, then it's definitely something to aware of.
- Income Tax
Overall I think it's a great place to live, especially for cheap. Being in middle america, you're not going to get a lot of culture, especially compared to other cities like Seattle or SF. There is a very low amount of crime however. Great Schools. I mean, if the cons don't seem too bad to you, I really think it's just a solid place to live and raise a family.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
Compared to most large, urban areas the housing costs are actually pretty low. It has really wonderful parks, lots of trails, and has gotten quite bike friendly. The winters are a bear, but they're actually better if you have any interest in outdoor activities or even just hobbies where you can stay inside (large tabletop community around there for some reason). There's a ton of culture—much more than most people would expect for a city of its size. Concerts, really solid art galleries, a very good theatre culture, and a pretty kick ass restaurant scene.
Yeah, during the summer there are more bugs than on the West Coast, but it's really gorgeous for most of the late spring, summer and early fall. And, again, winters can be tough (climate change is helping though!). But, the schools are by and large very good and the people are slightly nicer than other communities of its size. They are quite passive aggressive though, which has it's ups and downs.
while the city center is neat and I love living in the heart of it, it's more of a neighborhood oriented place. the Highlands, LoDo/Rino, SoBo/Santa Fe, and Cherry Creek are all very different and far enough apart to be distinct areas
housing 15-20 minutes from said city center is on the upper bound of your price range unless you want to live in a suburban wasteland like Reunion or Northglenn or Parker. affordable cities like Longmont or Castle Rock are further out
there's a tech sector for sure but it's not Bay Area, Seattle, or Austin. pretty robust though
summers do mean a few weeks above 90 with little rain during July and August. but it's dry enough to feel much nicer than Florida 90
school system is wildly divergent. Cherry Creek is great, Douglas County is a hellhole of privatization and demonized teachers unions, rural districts are Mad Max. the others are a roll of the dice
it has a huge ongoing growth of young people thanks to legal weed
don't get me wrong I love this area and recommend it but you should know that there are some things that might drive you crazy
@Ketar I'm in Lombard
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I am in an outlier (37 minutes from downtown SLC) and I have an apt that is 675 for a 1200 square foot 2 bedroom.
I think the best apartment in SLC is probably 2500
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I think what really kills Pittsburgh for OP though is teaching opportunities for his wife. She'll never find anything. The market is so over saturated due to all the teaching colleges near by. Most of the people I know who went into teaching had to move away to find jobs.
One nice thing about Chicago is that there's parks everywhere, especially once you get north of Irving Park Rd. Personally, I live about a 1 minute walk from a 40 acre park featuring baseball diamonds, soccer fields, tennis courts, and lots of just plain open and tree-lined space, even better they have weekly farmers' markets here as well. In the city proper, though, private space might be a little hard to come by though if all you want to do is let the dog out rather than take it for a walk.
yea, teaching will be tough especially in the good districts. Pitt does have a ton of pretty good museums and is an awesome place to raise a family. Agree about the food. considering how much they love primantis will tell you a lot.
If you're looking for a LOT cheaper, I really enjoyed my time in Iowa City, but it is a college town through and through for better and worse if that's not what you're looking for.
Don't you hate on Primanti's! I loved that place, really miss it since moving to the Midwest.
As someone who's got some experience with living near to Austin (Pflugerville) I'd say our schools are pretty good. I graduated from a charter, but the public school in my area is pretty solid, especially the elementary ones, and also LASA, a magnet school in Austin, is the best high school in Texas and fun to work for (many of my HS teachers moved there over the last few years and we're still in contact)
If you're thinking really long-term, if you live in the Austin area you get a special discount at UT Austin that makes it really, truly affordable to go to school there for many people and it's a great place to be
The 'burbs surrounding Austin are generally an easy drive from the city itself and not too expensive, from what I understand, with big backyards. It's also a very liberal area.
The one thing is it's definitely hot as balls from May - September. Also the cedar allergies are crazy. But the heat isn't humid and personally I prefer it to what I've experienced of humid Massachusetts summer. Plus there's plenty to do to get out of the heat, and the nights are usually pleasant. Plus thunderstorms
If you're interested at all in living near-ISH Boston (1.5 hours away heh) in a place with a good school district and lovely weather (other than a month or two of horrible humidity) and culture, I'd say Amherst or Northampton. Currently adore living and going to school there.
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