[Machinebuilder]

Get a job that allows you to travel and see what appeals to you. Then plan a move when you have some general idea where you want to be.

[P1]

Originally Posted by Machinebuilder

Get a job that allows you to travel and see what appeals to you. Then plan a move when you have some general idea where you want to be.

Always good to see common sense being used. Agree with this. We had a fella from South Africa join our company. We moved him around the US every three months so he could get a feel of each city. Then after a year, we let him make a decision.

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Charlotte, NC area
Ashville, NC area
Greenville, SC area
Charleston, SC area
St. Augustine, FL area (work in Jasksonville)

I've spent significant time in all of these areas and if my kids weren't already in amazing public schools in Kansas City, I wouldn't hesitate to move to any of these areas noted above.

Short of Austin, TX is a disaster, especially Houston.

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Charlotte, NC area
Ashville, NC area
Greenville, SC area
Charleston, SC area
St. Augustine, FL area (work in Jasksonville)

I've spent significant time in all of these areas and if my kids weren't already in amazing public schools in Kansas City, I wouldn't hesitate to move to any of these areas noted above.

Short of Austin, TX is a disaster, especially Houston.

Why is TX a disaster?

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by GERMAN M3

Man, that ATL traffic is awful. Not sure I could sit in that for a few hours just to get home. Seems to be getting worse and worse. But, as you stated the northern suburbs or Atlanta are really nice.

I was born / grew up in Atlanta and just recently moved to Florida. Mega change of pace. But if Atlanta is on the list and you can swing it, live on the north end and get a job on the north end. Living north and commuting south is brutal. Most recently lived in Atlanta and commuted north to Suwanee for work. Plenty of miles, but I'd arrive at my destination in less minutes than miles.

We live in the Big Bend area now which has been great for the most part. Slow city that I can get from one corner to the other in less time than it took me to get to Piedmont Park when I lived a few miles away. We're closing on a house in horse country east of town. Tons of outdoors stuff to do with a surprisingly fantastic infrastructure to promote it, too. Parks galore. No tourists, just FSU fans that stay on the west side. Can get to the beach in under an hour and a really nice one just a little over. No income tax! Careers tend to focus between state / guvment jobs, law, and healthcare.

Sounds to me that you're not completely focused on changing location but more interested in a career change that brings you somewhere new. What do YOU want?

[NickyC]

I moved to Miami a couple months ago from St. Louis, and I have one thing to say: if you don't like overcrowding, massive congestion, and taking 45 minutes to travel 3 miles or less during rush hour times stay far clear of this city. I purposely chose my apartment to be around three miles from my office thinking traffic would not be an issue, lol was I wrong. Last night it rained, and it took me 78 minutes to go the 3 miles from my office to my apartment (6PM-7:18PM). Insane.

If this town had 80% less people, it would be absolute paradise. I'm living in Doral by the way, gorgeous area but holy crap the traffic/overcrowding is epic. I'm told it gets better from late April-October due to snowbirds going home, schools being out for the Summer, etc. We shall see!

I do love the temperatures in winter though, wow is it nice here now.

[Crimson92]

Plenty of suburbs/non city living in California. That being said please don't come here we have too many people as is.

[qba335i]

+1 on LA => I will eventually move there

0 on Dallas => was traveling there pretty often, but after a while it was just too small and boring

-1 on Chicago => the city/state is not going in the right direction

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by detroitm2

Depends on where you go. I lived in Alpharetta for a number of years. Really nice up there. The city is just like any other large city in the US. Traffic sucks, melting pot of people from all over the place.

I hear the greater Atlanta area is growing a lot in population, but I've also heard it suffers from the same "blandness" that Dallas and Houston have. In the sense that the downtown is pretty mediocre, life is pretty suburban and sprawling, and overall there's not a lot of "culture."

Of course this is a generalization and depends on individual tastes. As far as warm weather metros go, it's one of only a handful without the insane living costs of California.

[colorado.e9x]

Don't come to Colorado, horrible horrible place, no one likes it

[shockin330i]

Texas.

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by FuriouslyFast

So what cities/states should I look at?

FL west coast, anywhere between Tampa and Naples. Weather is incredible, especially during the winter. Gulf is awesome in the summer. You're less prone to hurricanes versus being on the east coast. Cost of living is very, very reasonable. Moved to Tampa Bay from DC in 2006, it's a great place to live.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by NickyC

I moved to Miami a couple months ago from St. Louis, and I have one thing to say: if you don't like overcrowding, massive congestion, and taking 45 minutes to travel 3 miles or less during rush hour times stay far clear of this city. I purposely chose my apartment to be around three miles from my office thinking traffic would not be an issue, lol was I wrong. Last night it rained, and it took me 78 minutes to go the 3 miles from my office to my apartment (6PM-7:18PM). Insane.

If this town had 80% less people, it would be absolute paradise. I'm living in Doral by the way, gorgeous area but holy crap the traffic/overcrowding is epic. I'm told it gets better from late April-October due to snowbirds going home, schools being out for the Summer, etc. We shall see!

I do love the temperatures in winter though, wow is it nice here now.

i can echo similar thoughts about Miami-

1) weather is great and that's probably the #1 plus albeit this Dec and Jan have not been nearly as nice as last year
2) the people here suck, its extremely unfriendly and rude
3) traffic is unlike anything else as you effectively only have 2 highways (I95 and turnpike)

I would always recommend FL... no state income tax, overall lower cost living etc... perhaps this is why it's the state that most people are moving to... but I would probably steer clear of the Miami area unless you are looking for a hectic lifestyle. If my job offered remote work capabilities, there is no chance I would live in this part of FL.

[P1]

Originally Posted by Chihuahua

FL west coast, anywhere between Tampa and Naples. Weather is incredible, especially during the winter. Gulf is awesome in the summer. You're less prone to hurricanes versus being on the east coast. Cost of living is very, very reasonable. Moved to Tampa Bay from DC in 2006, it's a great place to live.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Tampa impressed me. Really good food scene also.

[NemesisX]

Austin is incredibly expensive and has terrible traffic now. No more compelling reasons to move to Austin.

To get the best public schools in Austin you’ll be paying a 2-3% surcharge on property taxes versus locations with mediocre schools.

Would not recommend austin.

[dsad1]

If you like suburbs (first person I have ever heard say that), try the Dallas area. Lots of suburbs, lots of growth, lots of jobs.

[grocerylist]

Originally Posted by Sl0W.n54

Texas or Florida fosho man . The weather is always nice and has a big a car scene

Weather is always nice? What about the multiple times per year that parts of Texas are experiencing 500 year floods? Or when it's 100F and 95% humidity?

I lived in Houston for over 30 years. The only two good things that I can say about Houston is that it'ss generally affordable to live there (though property taxes are silly expensive and unless you're working oil&gas the pay is pretty low) and the food is good. The flooding is getting worse and worse and the city isn't doing anything to mitigate it.

If not for the multiple severe floods every year, excessive heat and humidity that lasts 7-8 months of the year, nonstop ridiculous traffic, and the ugly concrete jungle it wouldn't be a terrible place to live.

With the recent repeated occurrences of major hurricanes and storms that hit Southern Texas, I wouldn't recommend anyone move to the South with the increasing size of the storms.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by Now_Rudi

There used to be a great rave scene (as in underground warehouse parties) there in the 90’s….but I don’t anything about that.

A rare photo of Now_Rudi from one of his '90s raves...

[Emilime75]

Originally Posted by Now_Rudi

There used to be a great rave scene (as in underground warehouse parties) there in the 90’s….but I don’t anything about that.

Yeah, well, my underground house and rave days were experienced while living in Chicago. Gonna go on a whim here and guess that scene was better.

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

A rare photo of Now_Rudi from one of his '90s raves...

that guy is clearly doing it wrong. He pizza'd when he should have french fry'd. Had he done it right, the picture would have depicted him being peeled off the ceiling.

Originally Posted by Emilime75

Yeah, well, my underground house and rave days were experienced while living in Chicago. Gonna go on a whim here and guess that scene was better.

Yeah, well....of course it was. Spoken like a true Chicago house fan. I'd rather sit in a quiet room than listen to that garbage. Funny; I agree with your sentiments of life in Nashville and you pick up on one thing I say and talk about your experience was better.

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

Truly terrible. Don't come.

Originally Posted by dsad1

If you like suburbs (first person I have ever heard say that), try the Dallas area. Lots of suburbs, lots of growth, lots of jobs.

Dallas is great. Specifically the northern suburbs like Plano, Frisco, Allen, and McKinney. Fort Worth is also a cool city in its own way. Both are recommended and if you move here I can help you find a house
Car scene is also good. Big meets every weekend, large BMW presence in both owners and local Indy-shops. Plus, multiple racetracks to drive on within a short radius

[Emilime75]

Originally Posted by Now_Rudi

Yeah, well....of course it was. Spoken like a true Chicago house fan. I'd rather sit in a quiet room than listen to that garbage. Funny; I agree with your sentiments of life in Nashville and you pick up on one thing I say and talk about your experience was better.

Why so sensitive?

[Run Silent]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Texas, FL, NC, SC, TN-Nashville, specifically.

As far as wages go, since you are in sales, get a job at a national or international firm and they pay wages based on national data. You won't be lowballed because you live in a low-expense area. That's what I did in sales and it worked out quite well.

Run Silent would be a great person to provide advice to you on this as he is closer to the pulse on this than I.

Northeast TN, where I live, is fantastic if you don't mind a smaller town vibe. My metro area is about 300,000. The great thing, though, is that I can get to major metro areas in a few hours, so it's there if I want it.

No state income tax, insanely low property taxes, little to no government interference in the economy or general public at large. Growth is amazing here as well. FWIW, I just helped hire a new VP of sales at my company and he is making more here than he was in ATL.

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

Interested in this as well, since CT is only getting worse. I went to Asheville, NC this past summer and it seemed pretty nice.

I love Asheville - I live less than an hour away. Fantastic place, but extremely hard to find meaningful employment there. It's like Hawaii - everyone wants to live there, so COL is high, but wages are low and most employment offers are taken within minutes.

That place really should be a model politically for the rest of the country. It's probably about 2/3 extremely far left (think as left or more so than San Francisco). The remaining 1/3 is extremely right wing. They all get along and everyone seems so at ease and welcoming to discuss anything with. They understand that it's just politics and that it doesn't mean you should hate anyone. I am amazed every time I visit there (several times a month) at how friendly and welcoming everyone is of each others differences.