Your ideal living location/environment

So I'm sitting here on spring break and it's 34° and raining on top of 12" of snow we got yesterday. Naturally I can't help but think of "better" places to live. I think back to the winters I spent in Costa Rica and Charlotte NC, and I realize how much better health I was in mentally.

I'm going to come up with a complete hyperbole of somewhere I'd like to live. It would be fun if you did too. Additionally, if someone's hyperbole actually exists, post up where you think that might be!

I'd like to live in a 750k+ population area. It would be densely populated in the center (where I would be living) with satellites of suburban housing around it. It would be very diverse in terms of income, heritage, and political beliefs.

Public transportation would be good enough that I could easily live with just a bicycle, but shop rent would have to be cheap enough that I could own a project car for giggles.

The motorsports / car scene would have to be alive and well.

Weather would be 80* avg in the summer, probably 3/4 days sunny, and a brisk winter. It would be amazing if there was a 1-2 month long snowy season, or mountains nearby that got snow. Seasons would be a must.

The people would be friendly and helpful, and of course crime would manageable.

Ideally near the ocean.

Oh, and I'd want to be able to ride my longboard in comfort at least 10 months out of the year. (Comfort means no rain and > 45°f)

Except for the 80 degree average in the summer, sounds like Piedmont NC to me! Come on down!

That sounds pretty good to me too!

As long as the cost of living is low enough........

Whatever the weather on Maui is! My perfect world has me living beach side.

I've lived in Kentucky, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, St. Thomas, Florida. What I like is the 300 days/year of sun in Denver, winter in south florida, the race tracks near chicago and atlanta. As far as costs go - where it's cheaper to live, it's harder to make more so that just seems like a floating scale unless you can separate your income from your physical location.

Sounds like you want Orange County, maybe inland from Huntington Beach or so.

motomoron wrote: Sounds like you want Orange County, maybe inland from Huntington Beach or so.

i lived in charlotte for a bit. if all goes well after nursing school we are going to move back there.. thinking chape hill area.

I think your list is pretty good, but two factors that really play into m y determination is cost of living and family. I live in a 200k town in Texas, houses here are so cheap compared to most of the country that it really frees up cash for other things. Here I paid 175k for a 3100 sf house, on a little over half an acre that I'm getting ready to put a large shop on.

With 2 little kids having family around is both a sanity and money saver that lets us really enjoy other things. I don't have to pay for daycare because family can get the kids after school, and provide weekends off, and free babysitting.

My utopia:

An actual job market (RI job market lol)

Winter lows of 50 degress, but I might still have to deal with snow, since my wife desires that in her life

A place where I could build a modernist house cantilevered into a hill and not have an HOA prevent it from happening

Roads that are bicycle friendly

low crime rate (i.e. as far from the 'hood as possible)

Near a freeway

10 minutes from conveniences (markets/stores)

near good restaurants

If I ever win the lottery, I'm going home.

If I could do it, I'd take September in Central Vermont, all 12 months of the year. Weather is just about perfect. Warm days, cool nights. I also enjoy the summer months around the san juan islands in Wa.

I'm not big on dense populations, but I like good restaurants and other conveniences that come with heavier populations. A resort area works well for me in that respect.

I live in the Seattle area and it misses just about everything you are looking for. But if you change your mind and are looking for dark and expensive then come on up to the northwest!

sachilles wrote: If I could do it, I'd take September in Central Vermont, all 12 months of the year. Weather is just about perfect. Warm days, cool nights. I also enjoy the summer months around the san juan islands in Wa. I'm not big on dense populations, but I like good restaurants and other conveniences that come with heavier populations. A resort area works well for me in that respect.

I am getting to the point in my life that I am over living in big cities. I am considering the north east like Vermont/New Hampshire/Maine area. I would love to live in a more rural area with a cooler climate and NO TRAFFIC!!! I think I have lived in Atlanta too long. I want the exact opposite of Atlanta.

Climate wise I am pretty happy with where I am in the NC Mountains. Rural but close enough that I can go into the city if I need and get to Charlotte or Atlanta in a few hours. The beach is a little farther but doable. VIR, Road Atlanta, CMP are all a few hours down the road.

I must admit the two weeks I spent in Hawaii almost made me stay. It was amazing warm but not really hot and the only downside I see is there isn't exactly any motorsports that I know of.

Anti-stance wrote: I am getting to the point in my life that I am over living in big cities. I am considering the north east like Vermont/New Hampshire/Maine area. I would love to live in a more rural area with a cooler climate and NO TRAFFIC!!! I think I have lived in Atlanta too long. I want the exact opposite of Atlanta.

I don't have any traffic lights within 15 miles of my house. My commute to work is about 8 miles, and takes me 10 minutes. In our busiest city Burlington, I'm willing to bet you'd find the traffic pretty mediocre even at it's worst. I can get to the Burlington Airport from my house about 50 minutes and 8 traffic lights.

I'd stay out of southern NH if you are anti traffic, but most of the rest of the area listed would work well for you. As for cooler climate, we've got that. For at least two months out of the year, you run the risk of it being cold enough to flash freeze the boogers in your nose.

I kind of like upstate SC.

South Delaware is nice. Four seasons but not extreme. Not far from Dover. Great beaches.

As previously stated, don't bother with SoNH. I've lived here my whole life, and it's going down the tubes quickly. Not much work, scads of transplants and tourists from other states, terrible road network for the size of the population, property taxes are getting ridiculous, Old Man in the Mountain fell down so the license plates are redundant, etc. Central and Northern is still nice if you can supply your own employment and entertainment.

If you'd like to see what NH is supposed to be about, move to Oregon. <My ideal environment is there. HUGE deserted beaches, plenty of population when you want it, solice when you don't. Fantastic scenery, days drive from the coast to snowboarding country, nearby redwoods, etc etc etc. Haven't been since '98, would move in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose.

ValuePack wrote: If you'd like to see what NH is supposed to be about, move to Oregon. <My ideal environment is there. HUGE deserted beaches, plenty of population when you want it, solice when you don't. Fantastic scenery, days drive from the coast to snowboarding country, nearby redwoods, etc etc etc. Haven't been since '98, would move in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose.

Actually, now that you brought Oregon up. I visited my step brother out in Bend, Oregon about 4 years ago before he moved back to Alaska. Bend is incredible! If I could find a good job there, I'd relocate in a heart beat.

Id probably go with a small town in new hampshire on lake winnipesaukee, although the property prices have become crazy, damn bostonians.... or a place out in colorado near the mountains.

Knoxville, Tennessee.

But baltimore is ok for now.....

In reply to fritzsch:

I thought people up there referred to Bostonians as Mshiny happy people. (dang filter) Its M in front of "shiny happy people"

Mshiny happy people << haha

I'll settle for Martha's Vineyard. There, I would be secluded. Maybe write, look over the ocean and taste the salt. Ease my mind.

Somewhere besides here farther south like here.