Smallest town that has blue collar work and a 24 hour gym (lease, houses)

[775]

You ever seen that movie I Am Legend? That's pretty much my fantasy, sans the nocturnal mutants. Sadly, this will never be reality and I will have to continue dealing with people. Best I can do is find the least populous place to live that still has what I need.

The must haves: blue collar work and a 24 hour gym.

I go to the gym when most people are sleeping (to avoid human contact of course) so the 24 hour gym is an absolute must. And I would prefer a real gym and not a corporate big box style gym (24 Hour Fitness) or one of those cupcake soccer mom gyms (Anytime Fitness). If you have to ask, "So what's a real gym?" all I can say is if you don't know, you don't need to know. 24 Hour Fitness is tolerable, however, as it's where I currently go.

Warehouse jobs or similar will likely be a must since that is the line of work I've been in the majority of my life.

I can't picture myself living on the east coast, so that's immediately out. I think west Texas would likely be as far east as I'm willing to move. I find it very bothersome when the landscape is totally flat so I would prefer to be near mountains or at least some hills. The plains states and areas frequented with tornadic activity are immediately out.

To get a better idea of what I'm NOT looking for I'll make note that I'm moving from the Reno, NV area. If you're not familiar, this area is overrun with liberals and drug addicts. Reno itself has a fairly small footprint and there simply isn't room for the amount of people here. I've been here just over 2 years and the population increase has been quite drastic. Traffic has become a pain, and I'm from Houston originally and know bad traffic and overpopulation very well. The influx of people isn't going to stop any time soon, thanks to Tesla and countless other big name companies that are flocking here in droves. It's really quite a shame since the weather here is great, and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. If I could just exterminate all the people I'd be in heaven.

So that's about it. Don't care about any artsy fartsy liberal BS, museums, clubs, bars, restaurants, events, etc. Just need a place where I can find work, a place to lift weights during the witching hour, and where I'll have to deal with the least amount of a-holes. Does such a place exist? Probably not. Either way I'm leaving this sh*thole when my lease is up and I have to go somewhere.

[IndieIndy]

Franklin, Indiana

[IndieIndy]

Oh, I just read the part where you don't want to go east of Texas. I've always wondered what Billings, MT is like. I've seen pictures and it looks blue collar and kind of gritty with the old brick buildings and railyards. They definitely have 24hr gyms, I just looked it up.

[augentier]

McPherson, Kansas...my hometown. Population ~14k

There's all sorts of warehouse jobs, the refinery, a Pfizer plant, etc..you can make decent money for the cost of living here. Clean, safe, quiet, conservative, boring. Does have a 24 hr gym though. It's a small gym and it is on main street and most other gym goers go to Genesis or the Y. The 24 hr one is called CT Fit.

[grega94]

I know you said you want to avoid Liberal areas, and WA is definitely liberal but I think Anacortes, WA meets most of your requirements. It's got a population of about 16,000 and its a port city with oil refineries so it's bound to have warehouses and other blue color jobs, and there are several gyms there, though they may not be what you are looking for.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/An...4d-122.6126718
http://www.city-data.com/city/Anacortes-Washington.html

Also if you go to Eastern WA it's not as liberal and most people there vote republican. Since the area is dominated by agriculture there are a ton of warehouses storing all the fruits that are grown over there, particularly Wenatchee, WA the apple capital of the world with a population of about 33,000.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/We...4d-120.3103494
http://www.city-data.com/city/Wenatchee-Washington.html

If you go even further east there is Lewiston,ID the furthest inland port city in the western US with a population of about 33,000.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Le...4d-117.0011889
http://www.city-data.com/city/Lewiston-Idaho.html

the smallest port town in WA I think would be Shelton, WA with a population of 10,000 though it's primarily a lumber town, so I don't know if that's exactly what you are looking for but there are some gyms over there too.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sh...4d-123.1007066
http://www.city-data.com/city/Shelton-Washington.html

Astoria, OR is also another small port town in Oregon with about 9,000 people.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/As...4d-123.8312534
http://www.city-data.com/city/Astoria-Oregon.html

[waycar66]

I like this post, well said!! Would love the same thing, maybe throw in a couple good restaurants, I'm still looking, hopefully be able to make a move in the next 6 months!!