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I'm finally getting serious about moving out West. I'm from Maine and have lived in New England most of my life. I have traveled around the US twice on extended trips (5 months the first time, 3 months the second time) and went to a bunch of places out West. I'm trying to figure out where to move to. So I have a little bit of an idea about a lot of places, but not a good enough of a feel for anywhere to feel confident in moving.
I feel kind of pulled in two directions - half of me wants to be in the wilderness, and the other half wants to be around a ton of young creatives, who seem to generally congregate in the cities.
I'm having trouble figuring out what I absolutely need in a place, and what I can let go.
I definitely need access to nature - like I can go running from wherever I'm staying and be in a forest/park.
I am also not a city person, at least not the types of cities we have on the East Coast, like Boston or NYC (super dense, all huge old factories, garbage all over the place-that may be a bit of an exaggeration). I worked as an extra in LA, and for some reason I did okay there with the crazy 8 lane highways and traffic (Although most of the work was in Burbank).
I live in Portland, ME right now, which is around 60,000 people, and I could go smaller than that I feel like.
The issue is that I also am interested in acting/filmmaking, and I'm naturally drawn to Los Angeles - my plan at one point was to meet people by taking improv lessons there.
I also would like to be around people my own age - 20's and 30's, which seems to be mostly in the cities.
I'm hoping to leave the snow behind, but also not deal with temps in the 90's in the summer. 70's is ideal for me, although maybe if it's dry heat it would be easier to handle higher temps.
Job-wise, I have done temp office work, which must be available in any city, but I'm also interested in doing work in parks/forests (I have a biology bachelors). I also have experience working in libraries and schools (library ed tech).
I have like $4,000 saved up and am very good at saving money. On my last trip I slept in my car 99% of the time and would expect to do that (or camp) in the new city/town as I looked for jobs/apartments. I would be expecting to live with roommates.
I was looking at possibly living in LA, or on the edge, in places that feel less urban. So I could still try the acting/improv stuff but not be in the middle of the concrete jungle. I feel like my ideal job would be to somehow work in the Angeles National Forest, and commute in to LA. I'm also definitely aware that improv/acting/filmmaking can be done in any city of a certain size.
Some places I'm considering (Kind of a long list) - Boise, Salt Lake City, Austin, Berkeley, Denver
Ventura, Ojai, Bend, Albuquerque, Boulder, Fort Collins, Santa Fe, Santa Barbara, Tuscon
Moab, Los Alamos, Crescent City,
I'm also thinking I could possibly just go for it with a place (like without having one place I feel is the perfect match), and from there it would probably be much easier to research other places if it wasn't a good fit.
So I know this is kind of rambling, but thanks for any advice you can give. I've read a lot of threads about moving, so if your advice is "Move where you can get a job" or "Don't move unless you have a job lined up", thank you, and I'm definitely keeping that in mind, but no need to reiterate it here.
If West, young people (20's, 30's), nature, creatives, affordable living, mild climate, possibly small-ish population, suggests a place that I'm not already checking out, I'd love to hear about it!
$4000 saved up will be gone in a flash, even with roommates, unless you have a job already. Sorry you refuse to take that advice seriously. You will when...or is it IF...you do some serious studying of rents in some of your listed cities. You have to eat and buy gas, too. Sleeping in your car won't get around that requirement.
Sounds like all you've worked is temp stuff, most of it probably not high-paying, either.
You know how many washups post Craigslist ads that are thinly-disguised solicitations for prostitution? Seriously.
Sometimes a bigger city would let you ditch the car entirely. You'd get the direct savings plus avoid choosing your location based on parking.
So would a college town. Based on your climate preferences, Bellingham would fit that bill.
Some cities have hiking within walking distance of the core, or at least easily reachable by bus or ferry. Cities in the wet half of the Northwest tend to be like that.
I feel kind of pulled in two directions - half of me wants to be in the wilderness, and the other half wants to be around a ton of young creatives, who seem to generally congregate in the cities.
I'm having trouble figuring out what I absolutely need in a place, and what I can let go.
I definitely need access to nature - like I can go running from wherever I'm staying and be in a forest/park.
The issue is that I also am interested in acting/filmmaking, and I'm naturally drawn to Los Angeles - my plan at one point was to meet people by taking improv lessons there.
I also would like to be around people my own age - 20's and 30's, which seems to be mostly in the cities.
I'm hoping to leave the snow behind, but also not deal with temps in the 90's in the summer. 70's is ideal for me, although maybe if it's dry heat it would be easier to handle higher temps.
Some places I'm considering (Kind of a long list) - Boise, Salt Lake City, Austin, Berkeley, Denver
Ventura, Ojai, Bend, Albuquerque, Boulder, Fort Collins, Santa Fe, Santa Barbara, Tuscon
Moab, Los Alamos, Crescent City,
If West, young people (20's, 30's), nature, creatives, affordable living, mild climate, possibly small-ish population, suggests a place that I'm not already checking out, I'd love to hear about it!
That is a list of radically differing requirements as well as places to live that require a varied means of employment, costs of living, social amenities, opportunities and challenges, and demographics.
I think you need to do a bit more internal searching to create a list of things you must have, want to have, negotiable to have, and don't care to have help narrow that list because some of your things are in direct conflict with each other.
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