Creating Find-Our-New-City checklist/spreadsheet (job market, school districts, universities)

[yakimono]

Trying to get organized about identifying our own little paradise (at least for the next several years, all else being equal).

We're currently working up our list of needs/wants. For each item we'll then figure out acceptable ranges, criteria, and ways to rank our candidate cities. Does anyone know of an already-in-existence application or a really good list?

Here's what we've come up with so far - what other factors might we want to consider?

• population
• density/city layout
• temps
• crime
• percent with college degree or higher
• COL index
• housing
• (individual hobby/interest communities)
• sunshine
• humidity
• snowfall
• allergies
• water supply
• farmer’s markets/supermarket produce quality
• public transportation

[DubbleT]

You don't give an indication of your age so different things might apply.

-Job market/unemployment rates?
-Medical? In our area we've had complaints that it can be difficult to find doctors accepting new medicaid/medicare patients.
-Availability of continuing education courses (for fun or to further your career)?
-Good airport?

[daydreamin71]

You don't mention whether you have kids, or if they are in your future, but if so you should consider:

Quality of local school districts
Public/private school availability
Availability of any specific activities that they currently enjoy or want to try

Also may want to consider whether there are any 'must haves'. For example if you 'must' be on the coast, etc.

I don't know of any tool that exists that would help with this, but if you find one please post it!

[DubbleT]

This might get you started, or at least give you a few more things to think about, well assuming it's allowed to post the info. Google find your. spot. and take the quiz.

[yakimono]

Adding

• medical facilities
• higher education (colleges/universities)
• economic climate
• local (state on down) taxes

Kid considerations not necessary for us, but perhaps we'll want to add something about spread of age ranges...hmm

Once we have a pretty thorough list, we'll group items into 'must haves', 'would be nice', 'icing on the cake'-type categories. And we'll add parameters such as acceptable ranges, optimal targets, or other specificity.

For example, temps is going to be a 'must have' as it's a major reason we are looking. And optimal temps would be a certain range while acceptable would be a little broader.

I'm hoping this kind of matrix--what are the parameters and how important does each rank--will help us get a clearer picture of where we need to be visiting later this year to check out in person.

Can't afford unlimited time/$ for travel'n'research, so getting as close as we can beforehand will be helpful, as long as it doesn't weed out good candidates.