Which City Should I Look Into Moving to Long-Term? (living, best, cost)

[Jumpman023]

Hi all,

I'm a grad student studying accounting that is trying to figure out which city will be a good fit for me long-term (I've got my plans for the first few years already straightened out). Here is some of the criteria that I prefer:

1. Although I'm not an engineer/science person by trade, I do want to work in an industry that is tech-oriented. Ideally, I want to do something related to computer hardware, energy (particularly renewables/nat gas), or bioengineering, so being in a city that has lots of jobs related to this is important. Also, the size of the company is less important, but I really want to be on the bleeding edge of the industry and working with the brightest minds on the most innovative technologies/processes in the world. So for example, I'd rather work for Tesla than have a more stable job at Exxon (this is a general example though).

2. Education is also really important. I prefer to live in a city that places a lot of emphasis on education and has good universities/public schools. This is quite related to my first point about wanting to work with the brightest mind, but also, if I want to start a family, having good public schools will save a lot of money and be beneficial for obvious reasons.

3. Access to outdoor activities is big for me. I'm not into the uber urban lifestyle and would prefer to go to a beach, skiing in the mountains, hiking in the woods, etc. as opposed to going clubbing or something every weekend. I really want to be somewhere that has an outdoorsy vibe/culture and the proper destinations to boot.

4. Skyline: I'm a big skyline person. I know this sounds contradictory to what I said about not liking uber urban lifestyles, but when I do visit a city, I'd love to be able to get nice views of tall towers.

5. Weather: I prefer mild climates that get neither too hot nor too cold, but I greatly prefer warm weather to snowy weather.

6. Cost of living: Obviously, low cost of living is preferred to high. This is somewhat important because, as I said, I don't care too much about urban lifestyles, so paying out my nose just to live in NYC is not that appealing when I can live more comfortably elsewhere. It's not a dealbreaker if a city is otherwise perfect.

I put up some suggestions, but I'm pretty open to other thoughts. Biggest thing for me is jobs in the sectors I mentioned, education, and outdoor activities.

Thanks!

[lerner]

SF meets most of the those standards- but obviously not the low COL.

[bigstick]

Out of that list Atlanta is the best choice.

[Jumpman023]

Any reasons for why for both of those?