Fresh start for small family in the west (amusement park, crime)

[Wheretoraisemyson]

Hello everyone! A little intro, I am a 30 year old woman with a young baby, and hopefully more in the future. My husband is a little younger than me, hardworking man who has done mostly manual labor from floors to wood working ect. We have been in Reno NV for a few years and both a little burnt out on it. We don't have much keeping us here and we're thinking about moving to a new medium/small sized city to invest our savings in, for a house to raise a family. We would consider most any state Texas and to the west, because that's where we're from and what we've seen and like. Husband won't do TX anymore, breaks my heart because I loved it there. I want a livable safe city for my son to grow up in like I did. A good zoo, libraries, parks, maybe a good amusement park. Husband wants rugged outdoors, mountains, lakes rivers. We both like sunny weather. I don't think we will do OR or WA or CA. I'm thinking ideally, somewhere in ID, MT, WY, CO. Or try to convince me on OR, Bend in particular sounds good to husband. Sorry if this post is all over the place, we're just at a point in our lives where we want to find somewhere we want to settle long term, and as of now we can move easily. Please don't be harsh or negative! Not really looking to be criticized that we don't have careers already to move to or with, I'm confident my husband can find work, and I can find some part time job if I must. So maybe that eliminates any small towns that truly don't have many jobs available. Just looking to see if I can find any tips on family friendly areas I can look into! Thank you!

[kyle19125]

For a safe, livable area for families with a low cost of living and plenty of jobs you can't go wrong with the Logan-Ogden area in northern Utah which has very low unemployment rates around 3%-4% depending upon location.

[Plenus]

Bend is beautiful. Especially just outside the town. Some of the VERY best rock climbing in the world, is close by. The Cascade mountains are west of town, running north-south. Extremely attractive. Good parks. Tons of lakes and rivers (also beautiful) for fishing, camping, and boating. The area is also a mountain biking mecca in the desert, mountains, or open Ponderosa pine forests (all within 30 minutes of each micro-climate). Rock hunting (agates, fossils). Open air zoos and interpretive centers like the High Desert Museum. Hunting, ATV's, skiing, golfing, resorts, and just about any other outdoor activity you can think of. Bend is in a VERY sunny region of Oregon...nothing like the west (wet) side of the Cascade range. Negatives? Traffic isn't very good during rush hour times. Some crime is apparent in poor neighborhoods. The average working wages are rather low...yet a skilled tradesman can do well enough. A very non-union area (odd, since Oregon is mostly a liberal state...yet not generally so on the east side of mountains where Bend is). A good amount of Mexican migrant workers during picking season...not a bad thing. Some native cultural influence as well.
Summers are sunny and warm to hot. Short growing season due to late frosts. The air is crisp and fresh at night. Never muggy. winters are pretty much dry and sunny...yet cold. Not abnormally cold like Minnesota or anything though. Very little snow in the city.
I would say for a family, with a good job, the area is great. Some smaller cities not as troublesome (traffic, noise, crowds) very near Bend are Redmond, Prineville, Sisters, Madras, and Terrebonne.

If I had a choice though I would consider Wyoming. It probably doesn't fit very much of your criteria....yet places like Sheridon are very nice if you don't mind freezing winters. I have no idea about job prospects...probably not good.