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Native Californian here, who is currently residing in Portland Maine. I LOVE Portland (great size, great people, close to lots of outdoor activities), but am looking to move back West. CO, UT, OR, or maybe CA most likely. I am having a really hard time finding a town which fits my criteria, so figured I'd see if anyone else have any ideas.
Here is what I am looking for:
-Smallish town (<100k population)
-Not too far (a few hours) from a larger city.
-Lots of hiking, skiing, mountain biking, and water activities (river or lake) near by... (preferably a ski resort within an hour or so (and backcountry skiing opportunities).)
-Active young person community (late 20's/early 30's).
-Dog friendly.
-I don't mind cold temps or snow, but do want a place with plenty of sunshine....
-Job Opportunities (financial services or HR).
-Good quality of life.
Places I'm researching are:
Bend, OR
SLC, UT (bigger than I want, but an option)
Ogden, UT
Boulder, CO
Park City, UT
Truckee or Incline Village, CA
Any advice on these places? Any other places you could recommend that I have not thought of? I'm going to take a trip to check out potential towns, but need to narrow it down a bit more.
Try Chico, CA. It's 90 minutes from sacramento, about 85k people. Lots of young people since it's a college town. However, if you don't want to live too close to the university then there are plenty of very nice neighborhoods all around the city. Relatively inexpensive compared to most other places in the state. It's an absolutely gorgeous place, especially in the spring. No snow here, it rains between november and early march, but snow is only a 20 minute drive away since the city is seated in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Tahoe, the bay area, Oregon, and Reno are all within about a 3 hour drive. An awesome town for outdoors activities since we have Bidwell park, one of the largest municipal parks in the U.S.
90 minutes from Seattle, 40 from Vancouver, BC. An hour to Mt. Baker Skiing, 2&1/2 HR to Whistler, 3rd largest College in the State (WWU), on the water, near the San Juans. 60 minutes to north Cascades National Park.
You could check out Bozeman Montana which is growing at a pretty rapid pace, although its not very close to any large cities.
I lived there for the while I was in college and it is a very young and active community with great outdoor recreational activities that everybody takes advantage of.
There are two ski areas, Big Sky which is about 45 minutes away which is the typical big mountain resort but its a fun mountain and then there is Bridger bowl which is about 15 minutes north of town and is more of a locals mountain with in my opinion better terrain, but there are no high speed lifts.
ITs very dog friendly.
The only reason I left is because I couldn't concentrate on school while I was out there because of all awesome things to do and moved back to my home state while get a degree before I can move back out there in year.
Try Chico, CA. It's 90 minutes from sacramento, about 85k people. Lots of young people since it's a college town. However, if you don't want to live too close to the university then there are plenty of very nice neighborhoods all around the city. Relatively inexpensive compared to most other places in the state. It's an absolutely gorgeous place, especially in the spring. No snow here, it rains between november and early march, but snow is only a 20 minute drive away since the city is seated in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Tahoe, the bay area, Oregon, and Reno are all within about a 3 hour drive. An awesome town for outdoors activities since we have Bidwell park, one of the largest municipal parks in the U.S.
I forgot to mention that Mt. Shasta is less than 90 minutes away, an excellent place to ski, as well as Mt. Lassen national park less than an hour away. Chico is really at the center of eveything in Norcal
Here is what I am looking for:
-Smallish town (<100k population)
-Not too far (a few hours) from a larger city.
-Lots of hiking, skiing, mountain biking, and water activities (river or lake) near by... (preferably a ski resort within an hour or so (and backcountry skiing opportunities).)
-Active young person community (late 20's/early 30's).
-Dog friendly.
-I don't mind cold temps or snow, but do want a place with plenty of sunshine....
-Job Opportunities (financial services or HR).
-Good quality of life.
Places I'm researching are:
Bend, OR
SLC, UT (bigger than I want, but an option)
Ogden, UT
Boulder, CO
Park City, UT
Truckee or Incline Village, CA
Bend is isolated but in a beautiful area. I've heard that of late their economy has been suffering but who's hasn't?
SLC is a smallish quiet city with an extremely large suburban culture, but it fits most of your criteria. It falls really short in the river requirement but has a beautiful mountain back drop.
Ogden is somewhat gritty, many parts of town run down, small but near SLC.
Boulder, of the cities you listed, Boulder is probably the one you would enjoy the most and is a complete opposite to say Ogden.
Park City is an attractive mountain town, probably the most normal town in Utah. It is in a high desert mountain valley with some forested slopes rising behind it but Park City is not nearly as alpine or deep in the mountains as some are led to believe.
I've never been to Truckee or Incline Village.
Other options in the West you might consider that fit your criteria better than any city you listed except for Boulder are Coeur d'Alene, ID, Boise, ID (larger than your want ) and Spokane, WA (also larger than you want) or the Wood River Valley in Idaho where Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley are located. Boise and Spokane are bigger cities than you are looking for but they have smaller metro areas than SLC but Boise is much more outdoorsy in nature, its an active little city and fits your wish list almost perfectly except the population of Boise is well over 100K
Maveric22 have you moved yet and if so where? I myself am looking to move out west somewhere with very similar criteria. Would like to be in driving distance some population but looking to live a little more remotely and higher up in elevation(above 8,000 ft) more snow and not as hot in summer! Thanks for any input
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