US Places to Move to

In my blog about Underrated US Cities I've Visited, I mentioned the possibility of somewhat revisiting the topic as I enter the peak of my "job application" season. Seeing as that time has come, and that I've been on reflecting over where I would want to get a job and live, I figured it was time to make the continuation that I suggested.

I want to start off by saying that this is completely based on my personal opinion and preferences. For instance, one of my biggest talking points will be about cost of living. That means living in a city like New York would be seen as quite undesirable for me. On the other hand, obviously millions of people love (or at least tolerate) the idea of living in NYC.

The plan for the structure of this blog is to look at each of the major regions within the US, and talk about my opinion of living there. I will delve into some certain cities in each location, with more of a focus on the cities in which I have applied to jobs. Sorry, I won't be considering Hawaii & Alaska.

It's no secret that I currently live and have family in Ohio. This means that the West Coast is going to be one of the least desirable places for me to move to. Not only is it as far away as I can get without leaving the country (besides Hawaii & Alaska), but the cost of living is quite crazy compared to Ohio. I personally love my current one bedroom apartment monthly rent of $435.

On the other hand, I haven't completely ruled out the possibility of moving out this way. I've applied to jobs in Washington and California, with even receiving a final round interview offer for a job in eastern Washington. Ultimately, given the timing of the interview and other details, I decided to decline this offer. The thought of moving so far away and starting my life over from scratch is admittedly somewhat appealing, but at the end of the day not right for me if I don't think I could even afford to buy a house off of the salary I'm offered.

What I will say is that the West Coast has plenty to offer in terms of large hubs, which means I'd have a greater chance at developing a community/friends. This also means flights to visit family or travel would likely cost less/be easier. There's also a lot to do in this area as opposed to some other regions.

This is one area that has a lot of diversity. There are some job opportunities I've seen where I could end up in a bigger city such as Denver or Salt Lake City...or end up in the middle-of-nowhere Wyoming. For this reason, it's hard to give a big blanket statement about the entire region, so let me talk about a few cities.

Colorado Springs. I was surprised when I met someone over the summer who lives in Colorado Springs with a large family, and said it's affordable. At least, this is compared to Denver. In comparison to where I currently live, Colorado Springs is significantly more expensive.

Denver. I know of many people who have moved out to Denver (shocker), and they seem to really enjoy it. They end up meeting their future spouse, finding great community, and being happy. It also has a nice airport for easy access to other parts of the country and diverse natural features. As an avid runner, I also personally wouldn't mind being up in altitude for training purposes.

Salt Lake City. This is one place I really haven't given much thought to. The one job I had marked down as having a desire to apply to, I ultimately didn't. I think SLC would have a lot of similarities to Denver, but I don't talk to anyone that's lived there, nor have I ever been there myself.

I will end my city side quests there. Overall, I think I would consider living in the more populated areas of this region, provided the job compensation was commensurate to the city's cost of living. I would most likely turn down living in more remote places that are a 45+ minute drive from a 100k+ metropolitan area. I ain't meeting my future wife out there.

This region is also quite far from home, so I would have to rank it as less than ideal. However, I have enjoyed the times I've spent out that way in the Phoenix area and in New Mexico. I think it would be a totally different living experience than Ohio, and even though the freezing cold can suck, living without the full seasons would be odd.

That being said, I think I would probably have a higher preference towards living in New Mexico, as Phoenix seems to be growing so much and (water supply issues aside) would certainly have a higher cost of living. Though something about Arizona is more attractive to me than New Mexico. Based on my visits, I think it seemed to cater to my lifestyle better than New Mexico. So I'm not so sure which I would prefer.

However, I haven't touched on Texas yet. I have Texas grouped in this region, though it's quite a bit different than the other three states. I think a lot would depend on what area of Texas I'd be moving to. Some parts would probably be too crowded for me or be too hot/humid or too expensive. On the other hand, some parts would be too secluded (e.g., the panhandle). I imagine building community and travelling would be harder in somewhere like Amarillo. In general, I think some other areas of Texas would provide a nice medium. For instance, I am applying to a job in Brownsville. I haven't done extensive research, but this could potentially be a good medium.

Possibly a sleeper region here?? Oklahoma seems to really be on the up, and Kansas and Nebraska would feel Midwestern enough to be great, especially around regions like Wichita, Omaha, or Lincoln. The downside is that there are tons of little towns/cities that are quite secluded out here that I don't think would be good for my life in the long term. The same especially goes for North and South Dakota, as much as it would be cool to live in those areas.

One thing I will point out though it the possible proximity in some of these states to bigger metro areas, such as Kansas City or maybe even Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, and Minneapolis.

I have applied to just a few jobs in these states, and provided they aren't in the middle of nowhere, like, say, Valentine, NE, I'd move there for the job.

And here were are, my most ideal region to end up. Decent cost of living, including housing prices, nice drivability, (mostly) tolerable weather, close proximity to friends/family, plenty of nearby metro areas. People always joked about leaving Ohio growing up, but I was shocked to see how many of my former classmates didn't move or moved back home at my high school reunion.

But enough glazing the Midwest, there are still plenty of negatives for me: Chicago traffic (living right around Chicago might be a nightmare, I'm not sure. Driving through is always a pain) or also living in the middle of nowhere. One prospective job would place me in a town in Iowa that is over an hour from any large metropolitan area, which would be nice if I was settling down with a family, but I'm not there yet.

Some of my preferable metro areas in the Midwest to end up in would be: Cleveland, Milwaukee, Twin Cities, Cincinnati, Detroit, Columbus, Toledo, Quad Cities, ... I could go on, but these are the first that come to mind. At the end of the day, I'd be happy anywhere that's a day's drive from my friends/family and has reasonable housing prices.

This is possibly the biggest sleeper region, but I'd say that more so applies to states like West Virginia, Alabama, or Louisiana. This large region also includes North Carolina and Florida, which tend to be more popular destinations for people to move to. Either way, I think living in this region would be nice as it tends to not be as costly (especially in places like West Virginia), it's not so far from home, the people are fairly friendly, and, oh, they have Cook Out. It's possible that I would end up in some tiny backwater town, especially somewhere like West Virginia or Arkansas. Some sleeper cities in this sleeper region: Louisville, Memphis, Charleston (SC or WV), Huntsville, Baton Rouge.

A big drawback is of course the risk of hurricanes in some regions, though I'm not sure if this is worth completely taking living somewhere like Florida off the table. Many people think Florida is pretty crazy with wild people and too many retirees, but I'd live there if the right job opportunity arose.

In sum, provided I'm not completely cut-off in some secluded town, I'd enjoy living in most parts of these states. For my preferences: the further north, the better.

This is another region that would be more preferable given its proximity to Ohio and the fact that my brother and two close friends of mine live in Philadelphia. I also have friends in Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre. So Pennsylvania would be quite preferable. On the other hand, somewhere like Maryland, New York, or New Jersey less-so. The rest of the so-called "Northeast megalopolis" might be too much for me, especially if it's closer to Boston or NYC. But living somewhere more removed such as South or Central Jersey might not be too bad.

In general, I don't have too much to say except that I personally wouldn't mind a Pennsylvania move. The other states I wouldn't mind too much, especially if it's somewhere in closer proximity to a larger city, providing opportunities for community or access to a larger airport.

I somewhat started to touch on this region in mentioning Boston. I'm personally not such a huge fan of living in New England, but that may just be because I've never been there (except for some time spent crewing at the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Race several years ago). I would be open to living here, but my impression is that it seems to be a bit crowded and expensive. One plus is that Catholicism seems to be quite prevalent there, which would be nice as a Catholic.

Another negative would be that I don't really know anyone living around there, and the seemingly hurried lifestyle might make it hard to integrate myself into the area. But regardless, if the right job came up, provided the salary was apt, I wouldn't need to wonder about moving out here, unless it's too far north (and hence away from "civilization".

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my (obviously) subjective preferences about where to live. Writing this blog has been nice to reflect on my preferences for where I end up as the chilling possibility of moving very far away approaches.

What do you think? How much do you disagree with me? I know everyone will have different perspectives because we all have different opinions. As you read, a big part of this is the location of the community of friends and family that I've worked to build my entire lifetime. Each reader will have a different location of the "home(s)" they have had, so everyone's tier list will be different.

I'd also love to here about your experiences and opinions to help inform me as I potentially consider moving to your state!