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I am going to be done with graduate school soon and want to move to a new city to hopefully settle down with my boyfriend and eventually start a family there. The problem is I am having a hard time finding a city that we can both agree on. Does it exist?
I want: 1. a good amount of sunshine throughout the year and warm summers
2. To be within an hour and a half of water. Preferably the ocean but beautiful lakes would work.
3. A city that I can eventually afford to buy a home/raise a family comfortably (Together our income will be roughly $160 k)
4. A city (or have a larger city nearby) that has good museums and good live music options.
He wants: 1. Snowy winters
2. Good skiing and mountain biking within 2 hours
3. flyfishing and hunting opportunities
Not being able to find a city that meets both our needs has become quite an obstacle in our otherwise very happy relationship. If you have any ideas, please help!!
Minneapolis (lakes all over the place, not too far from Lake Superior)
Buffalo/Rochester (on/near Lake Ontario)
Chicago (on Lake Michigan)
Boston (on the Atlantic Ocean)
Milwaukee (on Lake Michigan)
Cleveland (on Lake Erie)
Really any bigger city on the Great Lakes or in the Northeast will pretty much do it for you.
Warm summers and mild winters. In fact, it can be hot, hitting 100 degrees for a few days, but it is dry heat and cools down quickly in the evenings. Winters are mild here, and they do not snow. But guess what? Sacramento is close to the mountains and some of the best skiing in the country in the Sierras which are 1.5-2 hours away. So you can have the best of both worlds.
Big enough cities that there are plenty of urban amenities, and small enough to not be overwhelmed.
In the Sac Metro area, there is Folsom Lake, Sacramento city itself is intersected by two large rivers, and it is 1.5 hours away from the San Francisco bay and the Pacific Ocean.
Within 2 hours away from Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevadas, where you will get some awesome skiing and mountain activities. The Sierra foothills are within the Sac metro region in its eastern suburbs, so there are plenty of hiking activities.
Also, the best part is that despite the fabulous location, Sac has some of the best cost of living in the region. You can get a medium sized house in a great neighborhood easily for about $300,000-350,000. And within 2 hours of Sacramento, you have Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevadas, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, the Pacific Ocean, plus a nice sized metro area of 2.3 million people with plenty of world class restaurants, shopping, and activities available.
Minneapolis (lakes all over the place, not too far from Lake Superior) Buffalo/Rochester (on/near Lake Ontario)
Chicago (on Lake Michigan)
Boston (on the Atlantic Ocean) Milwaukee (on Lake Michigan)
Cleveland (on Lake Erie)
Really any bigger city on the Great Lakes or in the Northeast will pretty much do it for you.
Good amount of Sunshine? Great Lakes and Pac NW have the least sunshine...
Also no ocean...
that is her #1/#2 requirements
His #1 requirement, skiing...no good skiing around those places except maybe Rochester.
I don't really have the same interest as them...but those are probably bad choices :/
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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Originally Posted by grapico
Good amount of Sunshine? Great Lakes and Pac NW have the least sunshine...
Also no ocean...
that is her #1/#2 requirements
His #1 requirement, skiing...no good skiing around those places except maybe Rochester.
I don't really have the same interest as them...but those are probably bad choices :/
I would go with VA/NC/MD or Northern CA.
Chicago does relatively well on the sunshine dept. Sacramento was a decent option, because of its proximity to Lake Tahoe, the ocean, and the ocean inlets. Unsure if it snows in winter or has amazing museums though.
Minneapolis (probably a dozen smaller ski areas w/in 1-2 hours of the cities, and a dozen or so bigger ones further north/east), SLC, and Denver came to mind quickly for me, and I imagine Seattle, SF, Portland and others on the coast and/or near a large body of water AND mountains work alright too (except the winter snowfall reqmnt).
Those Upstate NY areas would work in terms of skiing and lakes. I'm just not sure about sunshine/cloud cover in both of those areas. That is the only reason I ruled out Syracuse, as we can get our share of cloud cover in the winter. Outside of the sunshine aspect at times, many parts of Upstate NY would do in regards to everything else.
I am going to be done with graduate school soon and want to move to a new city to hopefully settle down with my boyfriend and eventually start a family there. The problem is I am having a hard time finding a city that we can both agree on. Does it exist?
I want: 1. a good amount of sunshine throughout the year and warm summers
2. To be within an hour and a half of water. Preferably the ocean but beautiful lakes would work.
3. A city that I can eventually afford to buy a home/raise a family comfortably (Together our income will be roughly $160 k)
4. A city (or have a larger city nearby) that has good museums and good live music options.
He wants: 1. Snowy winters
2. Good skiing and mountain biking within 2 hours
3. flyfishing and hunting opportunities
Not being able to find a city that meets both our needs has become quite an obstacle in our otherwise very happy relationship. If you have any ideas, please help!!
Washington, D.C. meets pretty much all of those. It has a good amount of sunshine, hot and humid summers, snow in winter, mountains and skiiing within 2 hours in Pennsylvania. Mountains in Virginia and Maryland as well. Flyfishing and hunting are nearby in the metro area. It's 45 minutes from the Chesapeake Bay and 3 hours from the Atlantic. The city itself has top-notch museums (world-renowned) and live music festivals at different times during the year. Plus, the Kennedy Center, the usual concert halls, theater halls, etc.
COL is high, but you should be able to raise a family in a decent neighborhood on $160K. Look into other east coast cities as well.
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 01-10-2012 at 08:04 AM..
Lake Arrowhead, CA ( you will probably have to work at home) There are smaller homes that are affordable.
St. Louis, Missouri. Mild winters - there are some outer suburban communities that have fair good sized lakes. The Skiing sucks, but there is a large redneck culture there that loves hunting and fishing
Charlottesville, VA. a well educated community, with a redneck back culture. Winters can get a bit cold
Raleigh works for all of your requirements except a snowy Winter. While there may be snow each season and the ocassional significant snowfall, it's not what one considers a snowy Winter place. That said, Raleigh is less than 2 hours from the Atlantic ocean, has 2 large resevoir lakes near it, is affordable and growing, has an array of state and local museums and live music venues in addition to two performing art centers (both Raleigh and Durham), and is an excellent place to raise a family. To mitigate the snowy Winter requirement, the Appalachian Mountains in both NC and VA are convenient for Winter activities as well as hunting and fishing.
Good luck finding your new home.
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