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I'm currently living with my parents in southern New Jersey. They're moving in August, and I'm just now looking into getting a new place ...
I've been working an entry level retail position, with savings to match. I've never had a credit card, so prospective land lords won't see bazillians in debt, they won't see much of anything at all, which is also a strike against me. I also need to buy a car ...
I'm looking for a city where the ~$500 apartments can get an internet connection, aren't going to be built of particle board and fairy wishes, and where the neighbors won't be kicking down my door every other week and wreaking havoc to feed their drug addiction. A low cost of living is a must.
I'm not a social person, my ideal Saturday night is fluffy pajamas and Netflix. Once in a blue moon, I'll go out to eat with family at Olive Garden or similar, and I like the Kohls conveniently located next to my place of work.
I could probably get a transfer to pretty much anywhere in the country through my job, so job hunting will hopefully not be an issue.
I don't like heat or humidity, if I could find a cheap state with relatively cool, dry summers, that would be great.
I have family in Kansas City, so living within a days' drive would make attending important family functions easier. I would prefer not to actually live in Kansas City, as that would make it easy for them to drop by.
I've probably only ruled out a few places in the country. I'm probably going to have to look into getting a roommate. Urgh.
Central or Northern New York (Syracuse, Utica, Binghampton, Watertown) is inexpensive and has cooler summers. Winters are gloomy, but you're close to a lot of outdoorsy things. Plattsburgh, New York has very cool summers, and is right on Lake Champlain.
Spokane, Washington; Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Missoula, Montana; or Billings, Montana could work too.
It's the not the most exciting in terms of topography, but North Dakota is inexpensive and safe, and has very low unemployement and pretty good education.
Check out Kalamazoo, Michigan. It's in a beautiful area of the state and offers a very low cost of living in a fairly safe environment with plenty to do, as well as having the cooler summers you're looking for. It's within a day's drive of the Kansas City area also.
You stated you would like to be within a day's drive of Kansas City. I would suggest Omaha. It's a great mid-sized city with low unemployment, and you can do a round trip in a day. The summers get hot, but that's pretty much what you get in the Midwest (within a day's drive of KC).
For a smaller city, check out Columbia, MO, It's a college town (Univ. of Missouri) so has the benefits and drawbacks that come with that. But it has other things going for it as well. It's two hours from KC.
If you could deal with the heat I would recommend Tucson.Cheap cost of living. Tons of apartments some even rent without a lease .Lots of retail and food and beverage jobs. They have so many restaurants a person could literally eat at a different one each day for a year. Over 300 days a year of sunshine. About 8 hours from LA ,San Diego and Vegas.
Omaha,Cincinnati ,Columbus OH and Louisville Ky .are also cheap but, will have hot and humid summers. You should check out this book called Places Rated Almanac it has all sorts of info about 300 cities. Leaving the east coast will be a big adjustment things are so different in the mid and south west. I have traveled and lived in a few different places and I'm still searching for my dream city. I wish you the best of luck it's a big decision.
You can't have it all. So, a compromise: Redding, CA - very hot but great shopping. Crescent City, very cheap, not much in the way of big box shopping (has Walmart, Home Depot, Big 5, bowling alley, girl's roller derby, fair grounds...), Eureka, CA pretty affordable, lots of shopping, arts, entertainment, as well as homeless people.
Best weather will be CA coast. The farther north you go, the more affordable, but the less shopping and entertainment options.
Personally, I love it here. Never snows, never gets too hot. But, the normal weather pattern so far (moved here in Nov) is several days of rain, then several days of sunshine. Small town area (about 5,000 people in town), not a lot of shopping, but the ocean is here, as is the redwoods, and the traffic is nothing.
Sioux Falls is dirt-cheap. It's a little bit drier than most Midwestern cities, and the summers are more warm than hot (70s and 80s). It's probably the least urban stand-alone city of its size in the country (~200K) but it's also far from run-down. And it's a straight shot to KC on I-29, probably 5 or 6 hours away depending on traffic.
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