Why not back to San Diego? If I didn't have to worry about employment location, I would live in San Diego, and I have been through SF/Palo Alto, Los Angeles, San Diego. There are enough variations/characters within San Diego (Pacific Beach, Gaslight district, Downtown, La Jolla, etc) to choose from, and the whether is simply Purrfecct.
i've seen a large part of the US. the only 2 desirable places in the entire country for me is the denver-boulder metroplex, and seattle-tacoma.
i also grew up in california, so i have an idea of where you're coming from. denver snows, but the winters are extremely mild, and the housing is much more affordable than seattle.
lots of nice and pleasant towns in the carolinas, etc, but everything there is just way too small-timey for me. ann arbor, madison, etc... great places to go through school, but not for settling down. austin wayyy too hot. etc
Why not back to San Diego? If I didn't have to worry about employment location, I would live in San Diego, and I have been through SF/Palo Alto, Los Angeles, San Diego. There are enough variations/characters within San Diego (Pacific Beach, Gaslight district, Downtown, La Jolla, etc) to choose from, and the whether is simply Purrfecct.
Mainly because of budget. Diego's more affordable houses ($250K ish) aren't exactly in nice neighborhoods, or so I'm told by the folks at city-data forums.
Thanks for the suggestion. I've used Wikipedia and city-data.com to look up lots of information, and I was astounded by how complete and wide-ranging the data was (especially city-data.com).
i've seen a large part of the US. the only 2 desirable places in the entire country for me is the denver-boulder metroplex, and seattle-tacoma.
i also grew up in california, so i have an idea of where you're coming from. denver snows, but the winters are extremely mild, and the housing is much more affordable than seattle.
lots of nice and pleasant towns in the carolinas, etc, but everything there is just way too small-timey for me. ann arbor, madison, etc... great places to go through school, but not for settling down. austin wayyy too hot. etc
Snow and rain are two things that would bum us out, because they actually can become safety hazards during driving and walking, and will restrict your freedom (from walking around unaffected, or keep you indoors). With heat, at least it's much safer.
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I've Heard upstate New York is [oh wait it's cold]
Charlestown SC is a fast growing city, culture wise it's as VERY diverse and there is a nice mix of Old Southern living with New Modern life styles. So you could live in the new'r modern parts of town and still enjoy the Old Southern food and hospitality.
I wouldn't worry so much about snow in the Denver MSA - you can thank global warming for that (in the last few years, there haven't been any legitimately scary snow storms, and everything is melted or gone within 48 hours - also remember that DOT in CO is equipped to handle snow conditions, unlike some other places in the US; the roads do get cleared). Alternately, if you're in a "downtown" area (Denver, Boulder, etc), the BIDs will always have it cleared out within hours. Housing prices have been on an upward slope - if you track the demographics of migration you find that California is the largest exporter of people to Colorado, and vice versa; it goes in surges depending on which region is up and which region is down due to housing prices. California hasn't been doing so great lately, so they're all moving to Colorado (it's a very weird relationship, and it does sometimes make it into papers in both states (cf Denver Post and San Jose Mercury)). Aside from the Denver MSA, I'd consider Utah (if the religiosity doesn't bother you (and wow, huddler doesn't have an issue with that word)), or Wyoming (if legitimate inclement weather doesn't bother you - oh yeah, and they're not going broke). It's cheaper, smaller, and doesn't want to be California. You will also get packages from Amazon and other retailers based on the left-coast faster (especially from LVNV).
If you're really scared of snowy weather, that rules out huge swaths of the US. Basically strike the four-corners region, anything north of it (you know, the legitimate snow states, like Montana), and a huge chunk of the midwest from your list. That leaves Texas, the South, California, and Hawai'i. My guess is that Hawai'i is too humid for you, as is most of the inland sound; Texas can get blisteringly hot, and the large MSAs have been getting more expensive in recent years (hasn't everything?), also (depending on your family choices), the schools there have been getting...interesting...in the last couple of years. The midwest is doing all sorts of weird things now, and many of the large cities are not what they used to be (like Detroit, which I won't even joke about). So now you're back to where you started - California. Why not pick out something nice in the IE or NorCal? (Or Oregon). It's rural-ish. And you can still trek into a big ol'city when you feel like it.
And yeah, I've been a little bit of everywhere.
::EDIT
Should've said with Utah - don't get too far outside of the SLC.
Tornado areas are actually some of the safest places to live. Here in Oklahoma we have no natural disasters but tornadoes to deal with, and by their nature they deal damage in a surgical area, unlike a hurricane, wildfire, or earthquake, which devastates large areas. Some are larger than others, but still the damage is minor, and death is easily avoidable with basic awareness. Weather forecasting here is to a point where they actually predicted a day in advance the string of tornadoes in northwestern Oklahoma and southern Kansas a week or two ago. If you want to be ultra safe you can have a tornado shelter built into your home or buried in your yard. This costs a bit, but not as much as one might think.
There was a few years ago a tornado that hit near my work place on one side of our building destroying a few storage buildings, hopped over our building, then destroyed a mower repair shop on the other side. Our building had almost zero damage. There was damage to a few buildings in the area, but even the homes next to the mower repair place only needed new shingles on the roof and some windows replaced. This is why I say tornado areas are relatively safe. The odds you get targeted by one are astronomical.
Right now, we're looking at the Solano and Sacramento counties. Sacramento county is probably a bit too hot for us during the summer, but that area does have houses we can afford, and the nicer areas like Roseville and Rocklin are pretty much the kind of suburb we're looking for. Solano county is much less populated, so there aren't nearly as many houses for sale, and the prices are a bit higher too, not to mention there's an air force base, so you have to listen to jets take off and land all day long.
I'd have to vote against Denver.
I was there last year after not being there for over 15 years and urban sprawl was seriously depressing and unattractive. Apartment complexes as far as the eye could see.
I used to like it, but a lot has changed.
Personally the ultra dry climate and lack of oxygen was bothering me quite a bit.
The mountains West of town are much better, but then you might be getting too far from civilization for your comfort level.
I liked Seattle.
We were in Northern Michigan last week around Traverse City and really loved it up there. Too much snow for you probably, but the summer weather was beautiful as was the scenery and the town has a lot going on.
We're going to retire somewhere in that area if possible.
The nicest place I've ever been was just outside the US, Victoria BC, Canada.
Good grief. I'm sorry - but anyone recommending Denver is completely out of their mind. (Sorry!) I can't even tell you how many times flights that connect through Denver have been delayed due to weather. I won't connect through Denver in the Winter. For me, if it snows - EVER - it's out. Likewise, if it hits 100 deg - EVER - it's out. Of course, the problem is that if you are looking for houses at $250K, then all the areas that are left (ie the California coast or Hawaii) are also out. Good luck...
Sacramento is way too hot in the summers, and not exactly low in crime. I would seriously consider Bellingham, Washington. It's one of the most picturesque places I've ever been to, with mild weather although it gets its share of rain. It's not far from the Vancouver and Seattle metro areas, as well as a great ferry system for the further exploration of Pacific NW beauty. Up the coast of CA from the bay in Mendocino County is nice, but California has serious fiscal problems these days.
Laguna Beach would be more to my preference down there, but if the Bay Area is too expensive just wait until you get a load of how much Newport and Laguna Beaches co$t. Encinitas is very nice, and about halfway between that area and San Diego.
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