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Start your search within New England. New England is THE epitome of liberal culture. I have lived here all my life and it feels way different from the rest of America. New Hampshire and Vermont are the least religious states in the country. Religion is not important to the average New Englander. Among the 6 U.S. states that allow gay marriage, 4 of them are in New England. The highest taxed states are in New England (CT, VT, MA). Connecticut even has a law that allows men to use women's restrooms and vice versa, to accomodate for various gender identities.
The absolute most liberal cities I would say are Northampton MA, Burlington VT and Boston MA. The only downside is that New England has long, cold winters.
I moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Seattle, Washington. You will love it here if you do not mind a lot of drizzly and cloudy weather. It is somewhat expensive, but there is no state income tax, and you can live cheaply if you are flexible in what kind of house and area you want to live in.
Yes, I think you're not going to be happy until you're in Oregon. I agree with you that a move out to the West Coast would be tough, and you'd better secure jobs before you do it. But you need Oregon.
Start your search within New England. New England is THE epitome of liberal culture. I have lived here all my life and it feels way different from the rest of America. New Hampshire and Vermont are the least religious states in the country. Religion is not important to the average New Englander. Among the 6 U.S. states that allow gay marriage, 4 of them are in New England. The highest taxed states are in New England (CT, VT, MA). Connecticut even has a law that allows men to use women's restrooms and vice versa, to accomodate for various gender identities.
The absolute most liberal cities I would say are Northampton MA, Burlington VT and Boston MA. The only downside is that New England has long, cold winters.
Politically - perhaps. Socially - not so much.
On another point, the weather and cost of living may not match what the OP is seeking...
You definitely sound like Boulder people, but it's expensive. Denver is quite liberal and you'd probably like it, but the actual city itself is kind of expensive too. But you could probably find someplace around Denver in a reasonably liberal neighborhood. Just avoid Highlands Ranch/Douglas County. That's the only true conservative area of metro Denver (far southern/SW suburbs)
Denver is not liberal. The city itself is only marginally liberal--more like libertarian, to be exact--and the most of the suburbs are quite conservative. You won't meet many people from the coasts who come to Denver and believe that it is comparably liberal.
I know there have been a million of these threads, but I'm kind of going crazy and can't figure out where my family should live. We hope to move sometime in the next 5 years, so we have time to consider/visit several places and to really make a solid plan.
My husband and I are ultra-liberal/progressive/social libertarians who do NOT fit in in the conservative area of Pennsylvania where we live. I have long dreadlocks and my husband has long hair as well (not that this matters, but we get "looks" here about it). We moved back here from Madison, WI to be near my family after my son was born, but have been really unhappy with the social vibe here (especially compared to Madison, which is an ultra-liberal college town). At any rate, if you think of the most liberal person you know and kind of double it, that would probably be us. My husband is into sacred geometry and sticking feathers in his hair to talk to the crows outside.
We would really like to move to the west coast, but feel like this might be a stupid move financially. My husband is an electrician, and I work in a library, so we're not going to be making huge money wherever we live. We LOVED the social/political scene in Madison, and it's a friendly town (because of the midwestern thing?). Also really interesting and fun - lots of street musicians and artists, a fantastic weekly farmers market, block parties, co-ops, etc. And not a terrible cost of living. But it's so so so cold.
We are both gardeners, so I think the southwest is out.
Can anyone point us in a good direction? I've been checking out Asheville or Chapel Hill, NC, maybe Athens, GA, perhaps Boulder or Denver? We don't want to be in a giant city. Somewhere warmer than Wisconsin would be great. With decent schools and a reasonable cost of living for working-class folks. Hoping someone has an awesome secret they could let me in on. Or do people think we should just chuck it all and move out to the west coast, economics be darned? We'd like to buy a house, but are really aware that if we move to the west coast we'd probably be renting for 10-15 years with the cost of buying out there being what it is.
THANK YOU for taking time to read this and think about any suggestions. Like I said, I'm on the verge of tearing my hair out, not wanting to make a big mistake for our family!!
You realize, of course, that you are wanting two mutually incompatible things. You are wanting an ultra-progressive approach to governance, but you want a low cost of living. However, the high tax rates that give you one pretty much rule out the other.
I think it is also a supply and demand issue. "Progressive" cities with good weather are kinda scarce - so that drives the price up. If the OPs could tolerate more political diversity they'd have many more options.
OMG I just discovered this on netflix a few days ago - hilarious. The whole show is just comical - I've never been to portland, but it reminds me a lot of Madison anyway... All the characters are there...
Is Eugene constantly rainy?
Pretty dry summers, but the rest rainy and overcast most of the time
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