Where Should I Move?? (Irvine, Orange: best city, apartments, for rent)

[MichelleSquibb1985]

My husband and I currently live in Orange County CA. He is 30 and has a degree from ITT in computer security but currently works a low paying retail job since he hasnt been able to find a good job with the economy the way it is. I am 25 and I work full time as an advertising consultant and have no degree. We have no kids and are not planning on having kids. We are animal lovers and have a dog. We are both white, christian church going people, republicans. We love how safe it is in Orange County and the perfect weather of CA. However we feel its time to move out of this area and maybe out of this state. We dont like how overpriced everthing is, especially renting apartments and buying homes and how hard it is to find good work here even with schooling and experience. We are considing the more suburban areas of Utah because of how affordable it is. We also like CO but feel its not as low priced as Utah and there is even less jobs than UT. We also are considering staying in this state but moving to a different city like Corona Hills. The rent is more affordable but I still dont know about jobs in that area. We would like a place that is accepting of Chistians/Republicans and a place that is very safe but still affordable. Secondly we would like a place thats a close drive to available jobs and has better job availability. Utah is our first choice. Colorado being our second idea. Corona being a place we like but are not sure about better job availability. We are mostly indoor people, like hiking and walking with my dog sometimes, like simple date nights of going out to eat or to the movies, and would want some things close by like basic drug stores. We wouldnt want to be more than a 15 to 20 minute drive from places like Walgreens, Walmart, and places to eat out, movie theater, a mall for shopping. Has anyone been out of state or to Utah that knows of a place that might be good for us? Do you know of any city with Orange County sort of safety but low prices for rent?

[Charles]

Colorado Springs. Has similar demographics as Orange County, very white, safe, religulous, republican, pro military, conservative.
With his IT security training he may have a good shot working at Schriever AFB, Peterson AFB, Cheyenne Mountain AFB, or For Carson.

Strongly recommend you post on the very good COS forum.

[bhcompy]

I second Colorado Springs. There is a tech presence there(heavy military influence) and it suits pretty much everything you're asking for. You could also look in northern Douglas County as well on the southern end of the Denver metro area.

[GreatGreenvilleGuy]

Greenville South Carolina. Top Micro city (under 200k population), best city to weather the economic storm, first city to emerge from economice storm, lots of other good awards and rankings.

[LivinginIrvine]

Michelle - have you looked at Irvine? It's pricey, yes, but as a childless couple, you would require a lot less space and can still have access to common areas and HOA facilities. Also, Tustin Ranch is very nice. I highly recommend that. Foothill Ranch is a good option too. South OC has some good areas for what you're looking for as well.