Decision Anxiety: NC vs Cali vs FL vs Seattle! (chapel, home)
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Choosing where you live is one of the most important decisions, and I can’t seem to make it!
I’m looking to relocate from my hometown for the past ten+ years of Rochester, Michigan. I’m in my mid 20s and just graduated from optometry school. I’m sick of the long, cold winters and lack of cool, fun cities (except for my undergrad location in Ann Arbor, and I’ve heard Grand Rapids), instead suburbia and small town America which pretty much rule in Michigan.
So I am going to maybe be a little location picky as I start my job search. You can’t always get everything you want but you can try, right?
I’ve narrowed it down to these states:
-Florida- I did an internship in the Fort Walton Beach/Destin area and loved being close to the beach, the weather, of course fish tacos. There were also lots of young people around, and everyone was really friendly! It is harder to get licensed there, so I was also considering Southern Alabama since it is close to the area too. I’m not set on FWB/Destin but while I am NOT a small town girl I would like to avoid super crowded cities like Miami because I do love nature! Any other favorites in Florida?
-Washington/Seattle- while not as sunny as Florida, the winters are definitely milder and it seems like you get the best of both worlds with coastline and mountains! Plus you never really seem to hear anyone complain about the area…
-North Carolina + Cali: never been there (well for one day but that doesn’t count!)…but they are sunny and areas like Raleigh/Chapel Hill or San Diego “seem” nice…though the traffic + home prices in Cali are a bit scary
Any suggestions/insight/comments would be greatly appreciated!
The weather in Seattle is definitely an issue for a lot of people. Unless you can handle eight months straight of near non-stop cloudiness, you shouldn't even consider living in Seattle.
It seems everyone wants to move to Seattle. As the first poster noted, it really is overcast for 8 months out of the year. You might not mind it initially but endless days of drizzle will eventually get to you. Seattle and its 220 overcast days ranks as the cloudiest major city in the U.S. and only ranks a little behind Forks and Astoria, Ore.
I used to live in Florida and if you like the beach, there's really no better place. The water is warm year round, the weather is obviously great, no state income tax and low cost of living. Seattle is EXPENSIVE
Ha! We just left Destin/FWB and after 3 years I was SO happy to get out of there. The only endearing thing for me was the beach. Okay the people were nice too. I didn't like the humidity, skeeters, distance to a big city or nearby wildlife. Where we lived, there were bears roaming our neighborhood. I've determined that I'm a city girl and prefer west coast cities which are more diverse, lack the heat&humidity, and offer more opportunities.
Florida may be the place for you if it is similar to where you came from. California is too expensive for someone starting out in my opinion. If you could benefit from professional growth or gain valuable connections, then that would be a different story. If Seattle seems like it would be doom and gloom have you considered moving to a neighboring state?
My spouse is from NC and we visited often while we were in Florida. I wanted to move there but he did not. I'm glad we didn't as I'm sitting on our patio in Las Vegas not looking about for flying vampires or slithering reptiles :-)
In all seriousness, you should consider other factors in your determination. Cost of living, taxes, access to things you deem important, professional growth and connections, traffic, weather (hurricanes or tornados).
Also consider travel access, ie. an airport. If you pick a city with a good airport such as FWB the world is your oyster. You can fly anywhere if you make a good living in a reasonable city.Good luck and let us know!!
Last edited by MAXIALE02; 05-10-2013 at 02:44 PM..
Reason: add stuff
Ah yes the bugs and reptiles are one thing that scare me in terms of moving south to FL or NC..
Maxiale02- you are right about the airport- so many nearby airports to the FWB/Destin area it was easy to have family and friends visit when I was living there. I didn’t think of that, but it is a really nice advantage to have in an area. About living in northern FL is I've been told outside of the more touristy areas it gets very rednecky…but it there is Panama City and Pensacola nearby- are these both pretty nice cities? I’ve only been to the Pensacola airport…
I also probably wouldn’t move to Cali w/o a job lined up…though doesn’t your salary increase there to compensate for the cost of living somewhat?
Ah yes the bugs and reptiles are one thing that scare me in terms of moving south to FL or NC..
Maxiale02- you are right about the airport- so many nearby airports to the FWB/Destin area it was easy to have family and friends visit when I was living there. I didn’t think of that, but it is a really nice advantage to have in an area. About living in northern FL is I've been told outside of the more touristy areas it gets very rednecky…but it there is Panama City and Pensacola nearby- are these both pretty nice cities? I’ve only been to the Pensacola airport…
I also probably wouldn’t move to Cali w/o a job lined up…though doesn’t your salary increase there to compensate for the cost of living somewhat?
More bluntly, salary increases to compensate for taxes. Working class people are leaving the state in droves (almost like roaches.lol) But the same is happening in the Carolinas (New Jersey is the other California). But you being in a professional career field with no family to support may still be able to support your lifestyle. I'd say do it while you're young and single if you so choose.
I didn't mind the redneckishness. I made some good friends, though it was a rude awakening being from California. (I'm an African-American). I think that's what makes our country so great, the diversity from region to region.
Oh yeah, I don't mind the people, just find the rednecky areas more boring which is why I want to avoid them. I think I've narrowed it down to NC or FL so far, which is a mixed blessing b/c those are two states out of the only three states that require additional state boards...but it's long been my dream to move south
I miss living in North Carolina so much. The state has just about everything and the Raliegh/Durham area is a great place to find employment. I lived on the Outer Banks for 4 years & feel like that is my "home" even more so than the state I grew up in.
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