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I'm having trouble deciding on where I should move to next. I have already lived in Charlotte, St. Louis, and now Chicago. While I like Chicago in general, I have been here now for over 6 years and thinking about another change. I am kind of over the midwest. I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about what other city I should move to (job situation is not a problem since I work remotely for a company, so location doesn't matter).
The choices are overwhelming. So I started thinking about all of the cities I wouldn't want to live in. For starters, as bad as this may sound, my immediate family is in NC and I don't want to live too close to them or else I would be obligated to visit more often which I don't want to do (I'm sure others here know what I mean). They live in Charlotte. That also eliminates any city that would be a weekend trip away from Charlotte (so probably any city that is less than a 5-6 hour drive away). There aren't any cities I'm interested in near Charlotte anyway except possibly the DC area.
Some other cities that I don't want to live in:
- Boston (have visited there and while I liked it, felt like it would be too expensive to live there - seems like it is more expensive than Chicago). But I would be willing to give it another try if someone convinced me.
- Living in the south would not be my first choice because I don't like hot weather, but would make an exception if the city had everything else I was looking for.
- Seattle (while I'm kind of a homebody, if the sky is gray/raining most of the time I think I would feel a bit depressed).
- Pretty much any city in the midwest (I have already lived in 2 midwestern cities now).
Now for a bunch of random things that may or may not help me decide on a city:
- I'm in my 30's, single, and no kids.
- Politically, I'm socially liberal but more fiscally conservative. What I hate about living in IL are the politicians and how incredibly broken the whole system is here. They are in so much debt and seems like all they can do is just keep increasing taxes. I get that things need to be paid for but the fiscal situation in IL is so dire that it's incredible. It would be nice to live in a state that has their act together a bit more for once.
- I like living in a bigger city. I've visited New York a few times and loved it each time. Knowing that I'm stingy with money and a conservative spender, I think the taxes and general cost of living there would just irritate me too much to go for it even though it would be a cool place to live in. I would probably have to give up my car too which sucks.
- I'm a very political person so maybe DC would be a good fit for me. But again, cost of living seems very high.
- I'm not a partier. I don't drink. I'm pretty introverted. I don't really need a lot of "things" to do around me but being close to some nice food and/or a good art scene wouldn't hurt. I think for me it is more about meeting people and the culture of the city in general than what museums or other stuff it has. I live in Chicago and rarely do the touristy stuff anyway.
- I'm not outdoorsy. To be honest, I'm more of a homebody. I would say if I had to choose between beaches or mountains to be close to, I would choose beaches.
- Apartment-wise, I don't need a whole lot of space. I currently pay $1775 a month for a pretty nice medium-sized 1-bedroom in downtown Chicago.
I wish I had time to take off to visit a bunch of cities for a while and decide that way, but it's simply not possible. I think after the end of the conversation I had in my head about this, I think the bottom line is that if I go somewhere I want to go, I'm going to have pay up at least a little bit. I guess it's a matter of how much more I'm willing to spend. But maybe not. If you made it this far in the thread, then what are your thoughts? I'm sure there are tons of other cities I haven't even thought of that may be a good fit for someone like me.
I think given your criteria and something of an attraction to the DC area that you might find Alexandria VA a good fit. Nice rentals exist at the same cost you're currently paying in Chicago. Check out Old Town and the areas surrounding the Eisenhower and Braddock Road Metro Rail stations.
im not sure what to tell you because Philly, New York and DC are more expensive than Chicago. It sounds like you want a city that's affordable but you still want to be able to drive around. that definitely takes New York off the list. I'd probably go with Philly. It's cheaper than New york, pretty decent when it comes to museums, you can still have your car. ONly thing is be prepared to pay a city wage tax.
but she said no hot weather. that immediately takes Texas off the list.
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