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My husband, my (2) children 8 and5, and myself are looking into moving to West Virginia or Virginia. We live in Upstate NY and have lived her our whole lives (27 yrs), and we are ready for a change. There is no opportunities here for ourselves or even our children. We have heard West Virginia is very nice and also a cheaper place to live than Virginia. We are sick of the winter's up here and are ready for nice weather all year round. My husband has been a mechanic all his life and has many certificates for small engine work, he also has experience in driving truck (plow truck, dump trucks etc.). He has his CDL liscence. I have experience in Sales, Banking, and some Secreatrial/Adminisrtative Assistant work in hospitals. Our children are our main focus we want to make sure they are safe (crime rates) and get a great education. Is there any suggestions as to where in West Virginia or Virgina we should look into? There are many cities and counties, but I'm not sure which one would be best, we have never been to either state. We plan on visiting before we move, but not sure where to visit.
You might consider Huntington, WV as you look for a place to move. Huntington is the 2nd largest city in WV so there is plenty to do here and the job market is pretty good and seems to be improving. Huntington has some nice theater venues along with some nice museums including the largest Art museum in the state. Huntington is home to some very nice parks (the largest of which is Ritter Park) and the downtown is undergoing some revitalization (including Pullman Square) which is coming along quite nicely. Weather here is very mild and if you are looking to get away from snow, then Huntington is the place to be. Being in the Ohio valley, Huntington has much more mild winters than the rest of the state. There is very little snow here and the temps rarely go below the 20's in the winter with nice warm summers. As far as schools go, the Huntington area is home to many schools that have been recognized for excellence and many of the schools have already been or are about to be rebuilt so that the schools will feature upgraded facilities with greater opportunities for the students. While Huntington does have some crime, it is realatively low compared with other cities of the same size. Huntington is also home to Marshal University and if you want to see Huntington before you travel here, you can go see the new movie "We Are Marshall". Excluding the football scenes, most of the other scenes in the movie were actually filmed here and it will give you an idea of what the area looks like(it's also a good movie just to go see for the heck of it). For more information and a nice slide show, check out http://www.greaterhuntington.com/ or http://www.cityofhuntington.com/ (many other links on this page)
and for job info/other statistics http://www.hadco.org/
Hope this helps. Fell free to PM if you have any other questions.
Tim
Consider Elkins, It's not a big city with the big city problems. But its not a town with one stop light either. It's actual population according to here says its about 7,000 but it acautlly serves around 12,000 due to all the neighborhoods outside of the city limits. Its a growing community with a lot of new jobs and business springing up. Especially in retail as you said you had experience in. A new 40 acre retail development is in the process of being built now along the 5-Lane. There are a lot of outdoor activities for summer time fun and with winter you can ski at the near by resorts. The winters in Elkins are fairly mild with maybe 1-2 decent snows a winter but if you get out of town in the mountains you'll find they are much worse. The people are very friendly and the crime rate is pretty low given the population and the people that commute for work... here are some websites you could look at
I am from western MD originally but lived in north central WV for a short time. The north central region includes the towns of Morgantown, Fairmont, and Clarksburg. All three cities are older and have sort of a Rust Belt feel, but that's common in the Mid Atlantic. Morgantown is a great college town and offers superb shopping for such a small area. Fairmont is sort of a bedroom community for Morgantown and Clarksburg. Clarksburg has the FBI fingerprint center. I lived in Bridgeport, which was a suburb of Clarksburg. Very nice town. The nearby hills are lovely and you are not far from the real mountains surrounding Elkins and points south. I really can not comment about living in Virginia, just visited there, but I enjoyed Virginia too. The entire state is not covered in hills or mountains like WV is, but it still a pretty state. However, most of Virginia had more of an "Old South" feel, not a "Rust Belt" feel like WV. But I think people in WV were friendlier, more down to earth than VA.
Lewis County is a nice place. We are located in the center of the state. Our county is small and quaint, but we are close to the bigger cities such as Morgantown and Charleston. We offer public and private schooling. While the job market is limited, you will find, within a 20 minute commute, there is no trouble finding jobs that fit with your qualifications. I would be more than happy to send you information about our county. Please call the Lewis County Chamber at
304-269-2608 or email to lcinfo@lcchamber.org.
West Virginia is a great place to live!!!
Last edited by lcchamber; 01-19-2007 at 09:32 AM..
All these post are good BUT I must say for both of your experience you need to be in southern wv...mechanic work will get a GREAT paying job in the mines and with your work you could get a job anywhere. To find a job more easily try the Kanawha and Boone County areas. Boone County is the most employed county bc of the MOST coal production in the state. Madison is a great place to live with good schools, stores, and restaurants. Your husband could prob get a job with in one week with a less than 15 min commute and you could too in the madison area...either a bank, courthouse, or hospital. You could also get a job in Charleston bc its only a 15-20 min trip!
Though a WV native, I would look to Lynchburg, VA and the surrounding areas to N. Roanoke VA.
Cost of living is not out of hand. The "overall" taxation rate is cheaper than WV, and it offers a good quality of life if you want your children in good schools and a conservative atmosphere.
The cost of living in those areas of VA is probaly higher though than across the state line in WV. For example, an average house in Roanoke would probably cost roughly 120,000, from figures on this site. Compared to roughly 50,000 in Charleston, WV. So you have to add that factor in too. Yea you can make maybe 15,000 a year at your job there. But expect to pay a lot more in your home, possibly auto and home owners insurance, and residential property taxes.
My property taxes were equal.
Housing was about 15% higher for a good "zoned" neighborhood
Income tax was less.
Sales tax was less.
Car tax was about 10% more
Car insurance was about 10% more
There is a saying about you get what you pay for.
With zoning you don't have to worry about building a home with a trailer park landing across the street
Medical services were much better
Roads? no comparison
Quality of life with all amenities were much better in VA.
As with any state you do have to look at all angles. Herd made reference of Charleston. In my opinion, Charleston is a very nice area of West By God, if not the nicest capitol city in the nation.
All in all it's a matter of opinion. You have to judge for yourself. From covering both states from North to South to East to West, my overall favorite if I was going to live in either is the Lynchburg,VA area. For overall peace and quiet with never ending beauty? Tucker County WV and Blackwater Falls.
All in all whatever your choice you should be happy. I would not suggest Berkeley County anymore since it has turned into litte Washington DC.
Good Luck
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Consider Elkins :D
