Cities under 75k population with decent weather on West half of U.S. (real estate, buy)

[RQ7]

My husband and I are looking at possible places to move down the road when we are ready for a slower pace of life with the following criteria:

• the town is large enough that there are jobs to be found (they do not have to be white collar professional high-paying jobs)

• the weather is not extreme (snow is okay a few days out of the year and it’s not above 90 degrees more than 30 or so days out of the summer months)

• there is topography and physical beauty to the landscape (e.g., mountains, hills, and/or trees)

• real estate is not too expensive (e.g., you can buy a 5 acre parcel of land under $100k)

• there are lots of sunny days (which rules out a lot of WA and OR)

I know this may be asking a lot, but hey, doesn’t hurt to aim high, right?

So far, we have come up with Prescott, AZ and are looking for other options to consider. Any ideas out there?

[BeauCharles]

Medford OR maybe? Gets less rain on average than where I live in the Sacramento Valley. Think its a little cooler in the summer too.

[RQ7]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

Medford OR maybe? Gets less rain on average than where I live in the Sacramento Valley. Think its a little cooler in the summer too.

That is a great suggestion - thank you!

[kyle19125]

Chico, California could be a good option as well. It's a tad over your population max of 75,000 (86,000), but it isn't by much.

Chico Chamber of Commerce | Chico Chamber of Commerce
Home | Downtown Chico, CA

[IndieIndy]

There are plenty of cities in Eastern WA that fir that criteria. Spokane is larger, but still a great city. There is also Richland, Pasco, or Yakima.

[Taynxtlvl]

Murrietta California. Gorgeous Place http://www.city-data.com/city/Murrieta-California.html

[jtur88]

Lewiston Idaho. It never snows, but it's further north than Minneapolis.

[tfox]

Southern New Mexico, maybe? Look into Silver City, Las Cruces (might be a hair over 75k), or Alamagordo. All of them have sunny weather -- SC is cooler than the desert locations but all 3 are at elevation. Nearby Cloudcroft and Ruidoso are mountain locations if you really want to escape the heat but be prepared for more snow there.

Be warned -- high paying jobs are not plentiful anywhere in the SW outside of major cities.

There are other towns in the Mogollon rim in Arizona other than Prescott you could also look into as well. Again -- few jobs, but nice places to live.

[RQ7]

There are a lot of great suggestions so far...thank you!

[Melanzana92]

Look into Grand Junction, CO (city is under 75K but metro is around 120K or so) and Santa Fe, NM.

The Front Range of Colorado could be a good fit as well, there are smaller cities like Loveland that are set apart from Denver, but still close enough. The weather along the Front Range changes rapidly though. For example the highs this week were something like 60, 70, 30, 45, 55.

I see you said snow a few times a year is okay - how fine are you with the cold in general? In Bozeman, MT it might not snow an extreme amount during the winter, but it's cold enough that it sticks around (to my knowledge).