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I'm finishing up my grad degree this fall in Iowa City, IA and looking for places to move to. I'm a 25 year old single guy with a large dog, and I love being outside hiking, biking, geocaching, fishing, hunting, etc. I come from a small town in the Upper Midwest and feel very at home where I'm at right now, but there won't be any jobs in my field here. What I really enjoy about this area is that I'm around young, educated people, but I never feel like I'm not "sophisticated enough" to live here. I lived in the Northeast before and felt like I didn't fit in. Here I can drive for 10 minutes and be out amongst corn fields and open space and it's great, but I'm still around a lot of "profession" young people.
I'd say I'm middle of the road politically (leaning towards being liberal), and attend church regularly. I'm also not terribly interested in extensive cultural offerings or diversity. Please don't judge that; I'm just trying to explain where my priorities lie.
With that being said, I've thought a lot about Denver, but I don't like all of the talk of the male/female ratio there. The West has a lot of cool career opportunities because of the type of career I'm looking for, though. I'm looking to make a semi-permanent move because I'm sick of moving around and would like to find a place to settle down for a while. Anyone have any suggestions?
I think it depends a lot on what your definition of 'small feeling' is-- Denver, for instance, wouldn't feel small to me.
Given your priorities, I think the spot you are in (Iowa City), is great. When I think of other small cities that would fit, I would think Omaha, Madison, Des Moines, maybe Rochester, Duluth, Sioux Falls. I'm sure Grand Rapids would be good too. But if Denver is on your radar, maybe a step up to places like MSP, Milwaukee, St. Louis, KC, Indy, Cincy, Cleveland or even Detroit would be in order? The ease of getting out to nature/cornfields in places like those (MSP and Detroit, particularly) is going to be a lot tougher than you're used to anywhere in Iowa.
Do you just want to move for a change of scenery? Do you want a step up in terms of size, or does Iowa City feel like a good size right now? Are there job considerations?
I'm finishing up my grad degree this fall in Iowa City, IA and looking for places to move to. I'm a 25 year old single guy with a large dog, and I love being outside hiking, biking, geocaching, fishing, hunting, etc. I come from a small town in the Upper Midwest and feel very at home where I'm at right now, but there won't be any jobs in my field here. What I really enjoy about this area is that I'm around young, educated people, but I never feel like I'm not "sophisticated enough" to live here. I lived in the Northeast before and felt like I didn't fit in. Here I can drive for 10 minutes and be out amongst corn fields and open space and it's great, but I'm still around a lot of "profession" young people.
I'd say I'm middle of the road politically (leaning towards being liberal), and attend church regularly. I'm also not terribly interested in extensive cultural offerings or diversity. Please don't judge that; I'm just trying to explain where my priorities lie.
With that being said, I've thought a lot about Denver, but I don't like all of the talk of the male/female ratio there. The West has a lot of cool career opportunities because of the type of career I'm looking for, though. I'm looking to make a semi-permanent move because I'm sick of moving around and would like to find a place to settle down for a while. Anyone have any suggestions?
In the type of cities you're looking for, the ratio of male to female is going to be higher due to the nature of the city involved (i.e. lots of outdoorsy activities which tend to draw more men). Besides Denver you might look at Boulder or Fort Collins which are college towns that tend to be a bit younger and offer pretty much everything else you're looking for.
Just to set something straight, you can live in areas in the Northeast where you can be out in the country within 10 minutes or so and still have things to do in that city. So, the Interior Northeast may be an option, depending on what type of work you are looking for.
Indy meets most of your criteria and the city is a HUGE magnet for young professionals. both from within Indiana coming from IU and Purdue and beyond.
Indianapolis has the nations most affordable housing market and lowest cost of living of any major US city and is the fastest growing city/metro in the midwest. Taxes are also VERY low too. Other large cities cant compete on tax structure and affordability.
Also Indy has a wonderful down to earth culture and is ranked as one of the best cities in the country to raise a family and settle down too.
Downtown Indianapolis also has many great amendities.
From Wikipedia: Both Forbes and Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed rank Indianapolis as one of the best downtowns in the United States citing "more than 200 retail shops, more than 35 hotels, nearly 300 restaurants and food options, movie theaters, sports venues, museums, art galleries and parks" as attractions.
not to mention the many great sporting events Indy host all the time. Final Fours every 5 years. the only city with a contract with the NCAA to do that. but then again the NCAA is headquartered here. Indy 500 the largest sporting event in the world is held every may. Brickyard 400 Super Weekend. Gen Con which is going on this week. MotoGP motorcycle racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Super Bowl 46 and possibly Super Bowl 52 if our city wins the bid.
Colts games/Pacers games and Baseball with the Indianapolis Indians. Olympic trials. Big Ten Tournaments for football and basketball and the Drum Corps International contest at Lucas Oil stadium.
Plus Chicago is only a 3 hour drive away if you need a weekend gettaway.
I think you will like Indy's culture
I think it depends a lot on what your definition of 'small feeling' is-- Denver, for instance, wouldn't feel small to me.
Given your priorities, I think the spot you are in (Iowa City), is great. When I think of other small cities that would fit, I would think Omaha, Madison, Des Moines, maybe Rochester, Duluth, Sioux Falls. I'm sure Grand Rapids would be good too. But if Denver is on your radar, maybe a step up to places like MSP, Milwaukee, St. Louis, KC, Indy, Cincy, Cleveland or even Detroit would be in order? The ease of getting out to nature/cornfields in places like those (MSP and Detroit, particularly) is going to be a lot tougher than you're used to anywhere in Iowa.
Do you just want to move for a change of scenery? Do you want a step up in terms of size, or does Iowa City feel like a good size right now? Are there job considerations?
I like Iowa City, but I'm going to have to move for work. There isn't anything here in my field, unfortunately.
Thanks everybody for the suggestions. I'm keeping these cities as a list of some of my top choices for my job search.
I've always like Flagstaff, AZ. Maybe I just didn't read the OP close enough but I didn't notice what your field is. Flag has NAU which brings a lot of jobs to the area plus it's proximity to the valley makes it good for air travel and pro sporting events. On top of that it really breaks the mold for what one typically considers as AZ...it has tons and tons of ponderosa pines and snow. I don't recall the population off hand but it is small, leans on the liberal side, has tons of locally owned small businesses, and I think the job market isn't awful. Again, I apologize if I just missed it in your OP buy if you are in the science field in any capacity the company WL Gore is based out of Flag. They are a medical device and industrial manufacturer. I have a buddy that is a sales rep for them and he loves it. He makes some serious bank and has great flexibility...so I would consider Flag if the west is an area you're seriously entertaining.
I think it depends a lot on what your definition of 'small feeling' is-- Denver, for instance, wouldn't feel small to me.
Given your priorities, I think the spot you are in (Iowa City), is great. When I think of other small cities that would fit, I would think Omaha, Madison, Des Moines, maybe Rochester, Duluth, Sioux Falls. I'm sure Grand Rapids would be good too. But if Denver is on your radar, maybe a step up to places like MSP, Milwaukee, St. Louis, KC, Indy, Cincy, Cleveland or even Detroit would be in order? The ease of getting out to nature/cornfields in places like those (MSP and Detroit, particularly) is going to be a lot tougher than you're used to anywhere in Iowa.
Do you just want to move for a change of scenery? Do you want a step up in terms of size, or does Iowa City feel like a good size right now? Are there job considerations?
My guess would have been Stillwater, MN or Makinac Island, MI.
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