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Northern California seems to fit the bill for much of this. There are plenty of towns where you can find houses (and certainly condos) for around $200,000. The sun if usually out, and if you stay out of the mountains, there's almost never any snow. Additionally, cities in California often top the lists of best places for allergy sufferers. However, I could understand if you're worried about the cost of living and don't want to head out there. But if you want to look into it, check out the areas around Redding, or Chico.
Since you mentioned lung problems, I'm just assuming you mean allergies. I looked around at where the best places for allergies are, and found a website you can check for what the "Allergy Capitals" of the US are. These are cities that are very problematic to allergy sufferers: AAFA 2013 Allergy Capitals Most of the best cities tend to be in the West, with the worst being in the South.
Boise, ID is surprisingly not bad for allergy sufferers. It obviously gets some snow, though - though I don't think nearly as much as Northern Utah. It also wouldn't be too bad of a move, since you wouldn't be going too far.
Here's a website where you can see what are the best and worst states for various allergies (just click the drop down menu to change the image): Current U.S. Allergy Maps - Mold Spores
When I read the op's post, I too thought of far northern California where I live. It has all that she is looking for, even inexpensive homes, plenty of land and trees, clean water, fresh air, less crime then big cities. But she wants less humidity and we are often in the 60% to 70% humidity range, even when it is hot and in the 80's it will still be humid, rarely less than 40%. We also rarely get a freeze, just frost. And I have only seen garter snakes and not that often.
Have you considered Richfield, Utah? We get some snow, usually it melts by the time kids get out of school. We still have our old Main Street with many non-chain stores, the old theatre renovated into a three screen theatre, & non-chain restaurants. We do have a Wal-mart, Kmart, Home Depot, & a few chain food places as well. There is also a brand new wing being added onto the hospital right now, I am guessing that medical is an issue that comes in to play.
There are a few small town events that are held here such as our 4th of July parade (complete with candy thrown from floats, etc. for the kids) with a gathering at the city park afterwards with food stands to raise funds for different organizations, inflatable slides & bouncy houses, music & dancing entertainment on the stage with a shaded viewing area complete with seating.
On the 24th of July much of the same hosted in Monroe, 10 miles, South of Richfield. There is also the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield which hosts Time Out for Women, musical group, plays, in October 2013 we will have Bill Cosby at the SVC.
If your family members are living in Utah, Richfield is a pretty close drive to visit without having to worry about uprooting families, of course it is a great place to raise kids if someone is wanting to move.
As for inversion I think I've seen that once since I moved here 12 years ago. Good Luckwherever you decide to relocate to!
I don't know of any place in the south east where humidity wouldn't be a factor.
West Texas might work (not east Texas or you'll run into the humidity problem and pollution if you get around Houston), as well as maybe parts of Arizona. Some parts can get quite a bit of snow though.
Maybe northern California? Chico or Paradise maybe? I don't believe it snows in Chico (or not much) and I don't remember much more than a dusting when I lived in Paradise. There may be some smaller towns between Sacramento and Placerville that might work. If you go much beyond Placerville and more into the mountains, you really start running into the snow. Oakdale may work but I'm not sure about the air quality now. I don't remember it being as bad as it was in Modesto or Manteca when I lived near there.
About the snakes - I lived in rural southeast Texas for a several years and even though there are quite a few snakes here, I only saw one a year - and it was always a harmless snake - and my property was quite wooded. I ran across more banana spiders than snakes.
OP, good luck and I hope you find your perfect town!
I am a 46 year-old disabled woman from Utah who is looking for her dream town or small city. I don't know if I am living in "the clouds" or not, as far as the place I want to find and retire to. Maybe you can help me figure this out? Any help would be appreciated greatly!
First of all, I love Utah and I actually live in a beautiful community with many of the things I am looking for already. However, the air quality/inversion problem in Utah is just killing me (as I have permanently damaged lungs from pulmonary embolisms). Also, I have had many falls on the ice in past years (shattering my hip the last time), and I cannot handle the long winter months of snow and ice anymore! If not for the air quality and snow/ice problems, I would stay here forever.
That being said, this is what I'm looking for: a large town or small city (populations from roughly 15,000 to 90,000 ideally). I have always dreamt of living in the Southern states (and I have lived in North Carolina and Virginia briefly). HOWEVER, I am terrified of snakes! I would need to find someplace where you don't regularly find snakes in your yard, porch etc... I don't hike or go deep into wooded areas, so if there are places where you only encounter snakes in the woods, I could handle that. If this is impossible to find in the South, I would be willing to move elsewhere. I don't really have a preference as to a certain state as long as it meets my criteria.
My most important needs are the following: a safe, low-crime area where a single woman doesn't have to fear for her life constantly, clean air/low allergens and clean water, good health care available, no big mold problem in homes (because of my lung problems), either no snow or light snowfall that leaves quickly, and ideally not more than moderate humidity. Oh, and I REALLY don't want to live in a major disaster zone!
I need an area where the cost of living is reasonable and not exorbitant. I can afford about $200,000 for a condo or home, and I'd like to live in a decent part of town and not a slummy area. (Who wouldn't, right?)
I'm hoping for a place with a small-town/Main Street U.S.A. feel, although it can be a bigger town or small city. I don't have a problem with some chain stores nearby, as long as there are some unique shops, restaurants and some quirky, cute or interesting architecture in town. I really love the "sitting on the front porch drinking lemonade" type of vibe -(a relaxed, homey atmosphere). I enjoy town festivals, craft fairs, pumpkin patches, neighbor kids trick-or-treating at my house, hayrides, farmer's markets, Fourth-of-July picnics and fireworks, parades, antique/craft/junk shops etc...That being said, I do tend to go a bit stir-crazy in a small area after about a week, so I would need a larger city nearby with museums, an art scene, bookstores, theaters, etc. to escape to a few times a month. I do like a bit more sophistication sometimes such as opera or a visiting Broadway show, taking art classes or other kinds of workshops. I love a college-town vibe, although I don't care about sports whatsoever. Being near a major university would be lovely, as I am always looking to improve my mind, and there are usually great cultural opportunities available. Being a former Librarian, I need a decent library in town or very nearby. It doesn't have to be huge, but I prefer that it offers thousands of book choices, not just hundreds.
It's possible that my daughters and grandchildren might move to be near me, so a decent school system nearby would be wonderful. Also, numerous job opportunities in the area or in nearby cities would be preferred. I'm hoping not to have to drive more than about 20-30 minutes to get to a job or a cultural opportunity. DOES THIS PLACE EXIST??? I sure hope so! Two of the cities that I'm interested in are Summerville, South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina. However, I cannot handle finding snakes on my front porch and in my yard. I've read some threads here that suggest this would be the case if I moved to those places. Besides the arty/bohemian feel of Asheville, I like the fact that it is only 2 hours away from several major cities.
ANY IDEAS, FRIENDS? I apologize for the length of this post, and thanks for taking the time to read this!!
Wow Chico is a fantastic place to live, it can be problematic for allergy sufferers due to all of the surrounding agricultural land. Come spring, tens of thousands of almond trees in the area begin blooming and the ranchers bring out the bees to pollinate the blossoms, then around August is when they harvest the nuts so that stirs up quite a bit of dust (although I don't think that tends to be as much of an issue in the city limits). Even still, pollen contamination can be pretty high in the spring time and early summer.
If you rent an older apartment, depending on who the property managers are, there could be a presence of mold but like I said it's dependent on who's managing it. Property managers like the Hignell Corporation tend to be very persnickety with how they clean their properties and so mold isn't often an issue there.
As far as climate goes, Chico is definitely going to be warmer than Utah. In the past 30 years there's probably been about two occasions where snow has fallen and even then it's never stuck. There are cases of hail just about every winter, and if it's clear enough the winter lows can drop down below freezing but that's not a very frequent occurrence. The spring, summer and autumn weather is quite pleasant. Spring and autumn typically average in the high 60's or low-mid 70's with the summers averaging in the 90's, sometimes spiking into the 100's or 110's.
The housing market is fairly pricey compared to other similar areas in California, but you can find a decent home in the $200,000 range - especially if you're okay with a condo. Rent typically averages around $850/month for a two bedroom, $950-1050 for a three bedroom, so on and so forth.
I know air quality is a huge issue, my friends girlfriend just underwent a double-lung transplant about five months ago and she's recovering swimmingly here in Chico where allergens can be high. So I despite the fact that on paper there can be allergy issues, I think people with sensitive lungs can thrive just as well as anybody else!
It might be rather smaller than what you had it mind, but over the summer 2 years ago I visited a town in Maine called Kennebunkport. It's where the old president loves, and it's a very tourist-y place. There are 2 beaches literally down the road from where I stayed, and only 5 minutes away was the "Main Road" of the town. There was a bunch of shops in a fork-road like layout. I'll list what I can remember. Let's see, a Toy Shop for kids, A Jewelry Shop, A Clothing Shop, several Souvenir Shops, and several restaurants as well. There's a double story restaurant that has wifi so it's kind of an internet cafe like place. There's a large jetty that stretches out into the sea, and a couple hotels for tourists. There's a lot of boats as well, and a lot of woods behind and in between the houses. The roads are windy, it's a great climate, and there's an old-fashioned candy shop and a psychic in the "Main Street" as well.
You mentioned that you liked being close to big cities as well, and while Kennebunk isn't any New York, it's fairly large. It's only over the bridge from Kennebunkport, and you can easily ride your bike all around both Kennebunkport, and the neighboring Kennebunk. Overall, it's a pretty cool town.
Summerville might be out for you. First, humidity is a huge thing here. In the summer, expect near 100% humidity everyday all day. Also, due to that, you do have to be vigilant for mold and mildew. People will grow mildew on the outside of their homes but power washing them once a year eliminates it. Summerville is on a major fault line and they get very small earthquakes occasionally with the last 'big one' being in the late 1800s. Of course, hurricanes are a threat too. Last major hurricane was Huge in 1989. Significant damage and long power outages in the Summerville area.
As to snakes - in this area, copperheads and water moccasins are the most frequently seen. I've only had a snake once on my porch - a huge water moccasin. Left the screen door unlatched and it got in but was unable to get out. However, 99.9% of people will never have a snake on their porch. Would not be uncommon to see snakes out for a walk in the woods or something though - if you even see them. Copperheads at experts at camouflage but like all wild creatures, they go out of their way to avoid you. Seriously, wouldn't worry about snakes.
Honestly, if you don't want a humid environment, most of the Southeast is out. I think some of the suggestions to look at places out West or even the Midwest would be spot on.
Allergies will be a problem in any really dry climate. Dust and pollen blowing around can be major problem especially any more rural area. That's one thing humidity helps with as well as rain and snow. I think your talking low altitude; low pollen count and not too dry or crowded man made pollution. I have mild allergies and worse I every experienced was in Vegas and Arizona it was so dry and windy and that wasn't even in dust storm months. My sister in law lived in Arizona and the dust just couldn't be kept out without watering constantly and dust storms where terrible. People there just thought it normal really.
First, get rid of that idea about snakes being everywhere. I am in my 80s, lived in several different types of housing, in several places. and I think I have seen about three or four small garden snakes in my lifetime.
I worked for a while with a man who would almost turn white with fear if you even said the word "snake". One day he told us he was taking a two week vacation to Hawaii. Somebody asked him why he chose Hawaii. His answer was simple. No snakes there. lol
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How about Kennebunkport?
