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Native NYer here with a wife and kids. I love love love NY and it will always be home but I'm sick of insane taxes, insane home prices, overbearing regulatory climate that stifles my dreams of opening a business, and a state legislature that doesn't represent my views. We aren't holy-rollers, we are catholic and socially moderate but fiscally/policy wise lean rightward. Things that matter to me are low taxes (especially income and property tax), right to work (don't want a state that is held upside down by its balls by unions), and shall issue CCW/a state that respects the right to keep and bear arms.
Likely, we wouldn't live IN the city in any of these places because of schools and stuff, but a close suburb with good schools and quality of life.
Besides the aforementioned areas, we are also considering parts of MI (Oakland County, metro Detroit) because although MI seems to be a bit "bluer" than the other states, it seems to be quite balanced in its legislation with good (in our opinion) gun laws, RTW legislation, and very attractive prices. Additionally I have heard good things about NW Indiana which has the benefit of being in a state that shares our views, with access to the amenities of Chicago just across the state line.
We considered more traditionally conservative spots in the USA like DFW Texas, Phoenix, Huntsville but we are all cold weather people and I don't know if I could handle the heat. My favorite season by far is the middle of winter and 25 degrees and snowing is my favorite type of weather.
We have been to visit family and friends who had moved to Atlanta (Roswell) and the SC suburbs of Charlotte (Lake Wylie, Fort Mill) and we didn't like it. It all seemed very new like everything was built yesterday and not much history. And although we don't need to be able to walk everywhere and we use cars, I didn't like how everything was in "subdivisions" built on former farm land instead of regular city blocks on a grid or something where you could walk to the corner to buy milk or my sons can potentially walk to their school or their friends' house instead of driving EVERYWHERE.
If anyone has any suggestions on other places that fits what we need, I'm all ears. Keep in mind that although we live in NYC, we live in the most suburban part of it with no subway access and just buses and most people drive and live in either single homes or attached houses, not apartments.
What about areas like Cincinnati and Louisville, as both would seem to fit what you are looking for too? You can find most/many of those things in other parts of NY State, but I would think that "older" Midwestern areas would be the way to go.
Gonna go all-out booster here. StL has been named a good city to start a business multiple times in the last few years and is a good center for Entrepeneurship. Housing is relatively cheap compared to the rest of the country. It's heavily (and I mean heavily) Catholic, so you should have no problem in that area. The only criteria it doesn't meet is the Right To Work thing: StL has a pretty solid Union presence, and it and most of MO aren't fans of Right-To-Work, so RTW hasn't been passed in this state.
Gonna go all-out booster here. StL has been named a good city to start a business multiple times in the last few years and is a good center for Entrepeneurship. Housing is relatively cheap compared to the rest of the country. It's heavily (and I mean heavily) Catholic, so you should have no problem in that area. The only criteria it doesn't meet is the Right To Work thing: StL has a pretty solid Union presence, and it and most of MO aren't fans of Right-To-Work, so RTW hasn't been passed in this state.
Looks like it passed. MI has unions too but all that RTW is, is that you cannot be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. An example of that is my son got a part time job at Costco making $8.50 per hour and he had to join their union and pay $150 per month Union dues which is a nice chunk of his salary.
Otherwise, STL looks nice. Crime is an issue but from what I understand it's in North County and North City, not where we would live. Lots of nice and really cheap suburbs close to the city in South County, and I like that you guys have lots of real "ethnic" neighborhoods like the Hill which reminds me of NY.
I think the Cleveland suburbs or NW Indiana may be the best bet for you. Not too sure about NW IN but there are a lot of great suburbs in the Cleveland area to live in and you would enjoy the climate (western suburbs get less snow than the east with how the lake effect works). The Cleveland area would also give you a more established and old feel of the area. I think you wouldn't like the climates of STL and Indy, especially St. Louis. St. Louis is a very hot and humid city in the summer and doesn't have too much snow (Indy as well but not as much). Have you thought about the Pittsburgh area as well? It is a fairly politically moderate metro area and is closer to NY than any of the cities you listed when you want to go home for a visit.
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