moving from NJ to Carolinas- any suggestions? (Columbia, Charleston: fit in, best cities)

[TimKat]

Hi everyone! My soon to be hubby and I (getting married in 6 weeks!) are looking to relocate to the Carolinas hopefully by this summer. I have been reading A LOT of these threads, and our problem is that each area sounds so amazing we are having a hard time narrowing it down! We plan on visiting right after the wedding, but can only come down for a few days so we want to decide which area seems best for us on paper. Some of our favs so far are : Charlotte, maybe the Rock Hill/ Fort Mill area in SC, or Columbia, or Wilmington....His parents plan to move to Myrtle Beach, which doesnt seems to fit us, but Im not ruling it out. We would like to be a few hours away from them at the most. Here's what were looking for:

Weather- I love what I've read about the warm temps year round, but I hate bugs and I get severe allergies in spring and fall. Are they as bad as in NJ? I would love to be near or at the most a few hours away from the beach (jersey shore girl), although I know the bugs are probably the worst over there.

Population- Coming from NJ, we'd like to escape the overcrowded lifestyle, but I REALLY dont want to live in a small rural town. We were both born and raised in NJ and I'm afraid we might be too 'yankee'. Though we will try not to be obnixious about it
We would like a town with lots to do, and safety is of course important.

Schools- We dont have children yet, but plan on it soon. I am also looking for a job as an elementary teacher and would like to work in a good district. (i would LOVE some feedback from teachers if possible). His job is not a problem, he's a manager at Chili's, and there seems to be one in or close to every town!


Lastly, the main appeal for us to move there is cost of living. I LOVE NJ and would like a city thats similar to it, but the cost is just sooo high! We want to rent first, and eventually buy when we are sure we like the area. We'll prob be looking for a decent home around 200k in a nice neighborhood, good schools.

From what I've read it seems like Charlotte or Columbia might be our best bet, but what do u think?
Sorry for rambling, hope someone can help!

[Sonrise]

hi,
Although my wife and I moved here to Greenville from Los Angeles, I was born and raised in SJ. I'll never go back, to expensive, too cold and too liberal.

We looked all over the Carolinas as well and settled on Greenville and love it, 1 hour and 15 minutes south of Charlotte, 2 hours and 15 minutes north of Atlanta, 3 hours from the beach and 20 minutes from the mnts. It's not as humid as Columbia, Charleston or Myrtle beach because we're at a higher elevation. Business is booming, people are awesome and it has the nicest downtown of any city that I've ever been to. Absolutely gorgeous. Check out the Greenville thread for a while. Also, checkout this really cool website: Best Places to Live: Compare the Best Cities & Small Towns for You! Take the quiz and answer the questions as honest as possible. It's really cool and helped us settle on Greenville. Best wishes!

[Frankie117]

I would recommend the Greenville and general Upstate area as a whole. Not only does it have more than enough NJ transplants for you to reminisce with, but the demand for teachers is so high up there its not even funny. However, you should get used to overcrowded classrooms (usually over the legal limit of 35). The Southeast portion of the Greenville metro (Mauldin, Simpsonville, Fountain Inn) is in the highest demand for teachers, likely because of the suburbia that exists (which always causes overcrowded schools among other things).

Greenville is of course a very Conservative area, and as such the area has turned out really well; attracting tons of new industries and jobs, as well as large affordable homes of just about any variety you could want.

[waccamatt]

Columbia is very centrally located to everything since we have 3 interstate highways. You would be about 2 to 2 1/2 hours from your family in Myrtle Beach. Having 3 interstate highways along with an otherwise well developed highway system means that traffic is a breeze in Columbia, even though the metro population is over 700,000. Because of 7 colleges and universities, the state capitol and Fort Jackson, there are many people that live in Columbia from all over the world. I am a New Jersey transplant, myself. While Greenville is a very conservative area, Columbia is not, so you have a comparison point there. The economy in Columbia is also very stable and unemployment is usually low.

I have some photos of Columbia on my website if you'd like to poke around.

Waccamatt's page |

[aggienanoo]

I agree with Columbia being here just three years myself. The city is just the right size, large enough for a variety of things to do and good schools (our seven year old is in a private school here) yet the city has a lower cost of living than other areas in SC. As far as bugs, we have really good pest control companies here that are not that expensive. Columbia also hosts a teachers job fair once a year so that might help. Throughout the nations high rate of unemployment Columbia seemed to fight to keep as many people employed as possible with job fairs listed on the news channels websites and new channel using certain days of the week for job placement telephone campaigns. Columbia is a city that pulls together to thrive.

[TimKat]

Thanks so much, very helpful! I think Columbia definitely sounds like its the best choice for us. Im glad you mentioned that it is not conservative. I am very liberal and dont think I'd fit in well in Greenville. Unfortunately I cant make it to the job fair because of the wedding, but we will be down in June to check out the town!

[aggienanoo]

Quick note for a really good art scene try the vista in columbia.