[lucara]

My fiance and I have lived in Florida just about our whole lives and we HATE it! We are looking for a new place to live in Vermont seems to fit almost everything we are looking for.
We would like to move to a place that is fairly small and quite but is within 15-20min of a large city.

What is everyone's opinion on the cities that I mentioned and what cities would you all suggest?

I prefer the quite, country type living where as my fiance prefers the large cities and people so we are hoping to find the best of both worlds.
We both love the outdoors and look forward to FINALLY having a snowy Christmas and other regular season changes for once.
We are also looking for a VERY LOW crime area.

The job problem is a bit of a worry. What do you think of the job availability in the Vermont?

Also, what is the price of living compaired to Orlando, FL?

We are hoping to take a trip in June to visit Vermont and the surrounding areas to kind of get a feel for it ourselves.

Thank you all in advance!

[Sherylcatmom]

Originally Posted by lucara

My fiance and I have lived in Florida just about our whole lives and we HATE it!

We would like to move to a place that is fairly small and quite but is within 15-20min of a large city.

I'm a native South Floridian, as are my parents, and I agree with you: Florida never, ever felt like home to me. My mom says she remembers me being 2 years old when I started telling her that I was leaving. At 17, I went to college in NY, returned to FL briefly because NY isn't my bag either, and then at 23 left for New England and never looked back.

The only Vermont area even resembling a "large city" is Burlington, which has only about 40,000 people and more like 160,000 if you include the towns surrounding it. Some city people find it too small.

People say the cost of living is high here, but I always had higher expenses in Florida, NY, and MA than I do in Vermont. My rent in FL & NY in the mid-1980s was hundreds of dollars more per month than my current mortgage payment in Vermont. Cost of living depends how/where you live, your spending habits, etc. I live in a small city and walk nearly everywhere. We fill our Honda Civic's gas tank every 2-4 weeks. I play outdoors here all year long, which costs close to nothing because I'm not a downhill skier/snowboarder.

As far as jobs, it depends what you do for work and the opportunities you create and find. This is hardly a place brimming job opportunities, but you might be able to make your own. My husband and I do two or three different things for work, none of which is a delineated 9-5, 40-hour/week job or shift work. This kind of multi-career income is more common in Vermont than I've seen elsewhere. I earn considerably less than I did when working a full-time corporate-sector job (if such a thing is even available anymore), but I earn enough to live the way I want. I also love the way I spend my working and playing hours, and that is a huge gift.

If you can visit here, see how you feel, then try it out with renting/short-term commitment, that might work. On the other hand, when I moved north in 1988, I flew to NH, interviewed at a few places, found a job & apartment, moved up, and stayed in New England forever (well, so far -- I'm not done yet!). So there are many ways to explore this.

[Lilybeans]

I live in Florda, but Florida has never felt like home. Vermont feels like home.

As stated, Burlington is the only "city " in the state. It is most definitely not like Florida. Renting is a good idea-if you haven't experienced winter in Vermont, you are in for a treat. If you can make it a year, you probably will be hooked for life.

[picante]

Burlington is the biggest city, and my personal favorite, but don't rule out some of the smaller cities also. Southern VT has a some nice towns. I have friends in Montpelier who love it, etc.

[parrishpair]

What small town do you live in where you can walk everywhere mostly?

Just curious.

[GypsySoul22]

The crime is way less than Florida.

The schools (if you care) are better than Florida.
My brother lives outside Orlando and is always begging us to move there but we don't like the heat/hot weather. Sorry to say, I don't like the demographics of Florida. My niece and nephew went to terrible schools there and my nephew eventually dropped out.

The job thing--well, again, like Sheryl said, depends on what you do or how flexible you can be. There seems to be a lot of 'wacky' shift work here. Strange hours that if you have a family that may be hard to do.

You probably can get something part time. Stores always seem to have jobs, as well as the gas stations, mini-marts, and motels (for housekeeping).

[Sherylcatmom]

Originally Posted by parrishpair

What small town do you live in where you can walk everywhere mostly?

Rutland. Technically, it's a small city. It's not high on most people's wish lists for Vermont living. I ended up here by default: A man I met (we've been together since then and married almost 10 years) had more connections in Rutland than I had in NH where I was living. Now I've lived here 12 years and have become more connected with this community than I have anywhere I've ever lived.

Other VT towns with enough downtown that if I lived there I could walk to nearly everything:

Montpelier
Brattleboro
Burlington & parts of S. Burlington
Middlebury
Bennington

There are towns that are walkable for other people but wouldn't work for me, because I require a food co-op where I can do all my grocery shopping, at least one independent bookstore, and a really good library. And now I'm totally spoiled by Rutland's year-round weekly farmers market.

Anyone else? Other VT cities/towns with this walk-to-everything quality?

[mustmove]

Barre- Um well you'd have to look for yourself.
Norwich- rather expensive.
Most of the walkable towns in VT are going to have expensive groceries in town.

[vter]

St. Johnsbury would be considered walkable. Really nice library, Indy bookstore/cafe, a food co-op and a family owned natural foods store (Natural p\Provisions). Really good farmers market in summer...not sure if they've got a winter one started yet.

[Lilybeans]

Newport and St. Albans could be walkable as well.