Anyone considering leaving NYC for a more rural area or small town? Where and Why? (Charlotte: money, county)

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by Trailrunner79

I initially came just to have some fun for a couple months, but then decided to stay, mainly to obtain more exposure for professional running/athletics.

have u ever ran the nyc marathon?

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by middle-of-nowhere

But among the places you mentioned, I have lived in Burlington, VT for one year and there seemed quite a bit of former New Yorkers around. For a small town, the food was very sophisticated. Obviously not like NYC, but I dare you to find another city of 40,000 people with the food choices you get in Burlington. Montreal is just less than 2 hours to the north. At least 5-10 ski resorts within an hour's drive!

Had a possible opportunity to move from southern Westchester County to Burlington this spring and based on what I say I wholeheartedly agree! I couldn't believe that I found real good Vietnamese food there, for example! Also, the politics are more like NY or Boston than they are a "small town", "rural" area. Didn't end up doing it, but an interesting side note, one time during all this I was driving up on a Sunday late afternoon to stay over for a job interview the next day, and I took I-87 to US 4 then went up VT 22 instead of US 7 for the final stretch. Looking at the other side of the road at the cars passing south, I was somewhat surprised at the number of cars with NY plates (only somewhat since it was near the state border and they could be from around there) but shocked at the number of NJ and CT cars I saw "going home".

Regarding the OP, my vote for you is Burlington!

[Trailrunner79]

Vermont & State College are my East Coast finalist! Thank you so much for the great information!

I love Vermont, but would rather live in Lake Placid if given the choice. However, the economy isn't the best there right now.

State College is doing very well, economical.

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

Had a possible opportunity to move from southern Westchester County to Burlington this spring and based on what I say I wholeheartedly agree! I couldn't believe that I found real good Vietnamese food there, for example! Also, the politics are more like NY or Boston than they are a "small town", "rural" area. Didn't end up doing it, but an interesting side note, one time during all this I was driving up on a Sunday late afternoon to stay over for a job interview the next day, and I took I-87 to US 4 then went up VT 22 instead of US 7 for the final stretch. Looking at the other side of the road at the cars passing south, I was somewhat surprised at the number of cars with NY plates (only somewhat since it was near the state border and they could be from around there) but shocked at the number of NJ and CT cars I saw "going home".

Regarding the OP, my vote for you is Burlington!

[tech2enable]

Have you run the NYC marathon as the previous poster had mentioned?

Note that Vermont's cost of living in Burlington is high, and property taxes are high, i am not sure how you figured lake placid, there are plenty of other college towns Ithaca, Binghampton, albany but again the whole

argument about towns like Pittsburgh, lake placid, and state college having something besides being more outdoorsy still isn't true, I doubt a small college is what meets that profile, but there are hundreds of towns even small towns such as bath,ny near the finger lakes region.


There are a variety of options in the tri-state area from orange county and rockland counties or parts of the long island near the railroads, there is also Sussex county in new jersey and if you want to be a bit more distant warren county,nj in the lehigh valley.

[tech2enable]

By the way centre county and allegheny county voted for obama in the last election, the latter winning nearly 60% of the vote or 50% more democrat votes than republican votes, it has never voted republican except in 1972 and before the 60s. Centre is more republican but is trending democrat more competitive.

Property taxes in both places are a bit high as percentage of the home's value, Allegheny more so.

Just keeping the readers informed. Also, state college tends to have more low-paying jobs.

[tasha43055]

I don't really like any of those choices. I live in a small town in Ohio and it has nothing! I mean nothing. I just graduated college with a paralegal degree and looking to move to New York City (Queens) The city has so much to offer. I looked into some smaller towns but none had such a strong legal market. Good luck with whatever choice you make. South Carolina had been on my list until I seen their unemployment and heard about how hard it is there. New York is New York. People either love it or hate it.

[Trailrunner79]

I don't know much about the other towns you mentioned in the Finger Lakes Region. I have spent a lot of time in Lake Placid, Stowe, Jay, Burlington, Conway, State College and other parts of PA (in regards to the North East). I've been to Rockland and Orange, and like both a lot, especially the Catskills, but don't know much about living in that region. Not sure if that's what I really want.

As for State College pay rates, it depends on what you do. The average homes in State College are in the 225-310 range, which is very high for most of Pennsylvania. Incomes are pretty strong in that region, and some of the highest in the state. About 20k a year higher than in Pittsburgh and Philly. I believe State College is 55k average year and Philly is about 38-40k and Pittsburgh is about 37k/year. I could be wrong, but I saw this information published a couple of years ago.

Originally Posted by tech2enable

Have you run the NYC marathon as the previous poster had mentioned?

Note that Vermont's cost of living in Burlington is high, and property taxes are high, i am not sure how you figured lake placid, there are plenty of other college towns Ithaca, Binghampton, albany but again the whole

argument about towns like Pittsburgh, lake placid, and state college having something besides being more outdoorsy still isn't true, I doubt a small college is what meets that profile, but there are hundreds of towns even small towns such as bath,ny near the finger lakes region.


There are a variety of options in the tri-state area from orange county and rockland counties or parts of the long island near the railroads, there is also Sussex county in new jersey and if you want to be a bit more distant warren county,nj in the lehigh valley.

[tech2enable]

Originally Posted by Trailrunner79

I don't know much about the other towns you mentioned in the Finger Lakes Region. I have spent a lot of time in Lake Placid, Stowe, Jay, Burlington, Conway, State College and other parts of PA (in regards to the North East). I've been to Rockland and Orange, and like both a lot, especially the Catskills, but don't know much about living in that region. Not sure if that's what I really want.

As for State College pay rates, it depends on what you do. The average homes in State College are in the 225-310 range, which is very high for most of Pennsylvania. Incomes are pretty strong in that region, and some of the highest in the state. About 20k a year higher than in Pittsburgh and Philly. I believe State College is 55k average year and Philly is about 38-40k and Pittsburgh is about 37k/year. I could be wrong, but I saw this information published a couple of years ago.

No, incomes are not strong in the state college region they are low, of course that could be in part because of the many college students having low pay jobs in the region, just like Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh income is about 48k , now low but not high when you take out the retirees and the students, if you include them the income drops to the 20s.

Regional Insights: Students and seniors make city seem poor

Because many people have left Pittsburgh also due to low paying jobs (the adjunct professor at carnegie mellon said he would place another comment about that), retirees who make up a large portion and tend to stay also put a dent in the median income.




A person who is native and grew up from state college confirmed this on another post (the poster doesn't hate state college and isn't biased against it, she said people were friendly there but you will find snobs everywhere you go like a few bad apples in many, herself was looking to move to oregon)

http://www.city-data.com/forum/penns...ml#post9651444

about the rising cost of living in the area mainly due to students and retirees often from NY and NJ, she mentioned a lot of jobs being lost, but the state college unemployment rate has not been in near double digit territory in part because of student employment, and it being a college town, also don't forget education and it being government jobs. High paying jobs are more likely to be in education. State college's economy is based highly on that.

Government jobs especially education are a bit more stable in a recession although not immune due to funding cuts and layoffs.

[Tioga]

Thought I would add a thread to the NYC forum(see "Citi Field"). So what the heck, while here, I went through all the posts on this "thread". Well.....I'd add that there has been a small-but-steady influx to our area (Tioga County) of those from the NYC, NJ, L.I. area either buying/moving here..or..for a 2nd home(esp. since 9/11). One reason a number of these folks have given me for their purchase here is the proximity to downstate(~3-4hr drive). I've found in my travels over the years(work,vacation,military) that you can find some not-so-good-things to say about ANY area of the U.S., if you look deep enough(and that includes my county of residence). I guess each person will look at a given area through his/her own perspective on life. Now..to that thread I planned to do.

[atf487]

I've been to State College. As a town, you could have a lot of fun there. The downtown area is planned in city blocks, and there seems to be some stuff to do. The problem for me is, if you want to get to a city, it's 2 and a half hours to Pittsburgh, and 3 and a half to Philadelphia. In some areas, that'd be OK, but there is pretty much nothing around the town. Literally nothing. Take a drive down there, see if you wouldn't mind being relatively isolated. My brother hates it there, but he's used to everyone being liberal like MA, and generally has a problem with Pennsylvania. It really is Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Alabama in the middle.

I'd recommend Burlington over it, it has some advantages of a city in a smaller town environment. Not too far from Montreal, close ski resorts, and full of charming New England quaintness