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Unless they decide to go further and pick somewhere like Watkins Glen. Which, in recent years, has grown very diverse; and basically is now populated almost exclusively by people from nowhere near Watkins Glen.
Yep, as some places get discovered or rediscovered again by people of a range of backgrounds. People come for different reasons(migrant farming, military, select industries, get away from/priced out of the bigger cities, etc.).
There are also some walkable villages/communities in Orange County like Goshen, Washingtonville, Walden and Montgomery(Valley Central SD), Chester; as well as Highland in nearby Ulster County that fit much of the criteria. Goshen is the county seat for Orange County and in turn, it is where you could get services in terms of government offices.
All are close to each other and some offer some of the things in the criteria, while being close to cities like Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Kingston and Middletown. New Paltz isn't too far from these communities as well.
Cool. Thanks, everyone! Been getting more connected here in Western Mass. Visited Brattleboro a few hours and it was pretty cool. At some point will visit NY/NH/RI plus more here in MA.
Something that's helping me explore and narrow down these many NY/MA/VT/NH/RI city options is to look more into what sorta presence (or not) certain specific communities, hobbies, events of interest to me have in them through research and best is getting out there and attending things when possible and friendly conversations and networking.
So I really recommend that to anyone considering moving to new cities. I've lived and traveled throughout the US and that's what starts really giving a sense of a place and gets it feeling welcoming. It's fun!
In terms of the criteria, Ithaca may(key word) be the best overall choice out of the places listed. I say that, because it literally can offer all of those things in its immediate/metro area. Even some of the suburbs/communities outside of Ithaca would fit like Northeast Ithaca and the village of Lansing.
New Paltz may be a sleeper and fits the majority of the list as well(only question mark may be the jobs aspect, but Kingston and Poughkeepsie aren't too far away).
Both have colleges in their communities and in turn, will skew younger.
I thought about a place like Delhi, which also has a SUNY campus and fits some of the criteria. Oneonta, which has 2 colleges as well, is about 30 minutes away, but only has about 13,000 people.
Cobleskill also came to mind for similar reasons.
Hudson would have been nice, due to its train access into NYC, but schools are so-so. Nearby Chatham would fit, minus the demographics in terms of a high enough percentage.
Catskill is similar to Hudson minus the train access.
Saugerties would also fit, but its demographics would miss the mark.
I know I'm late to the party but thought I would chime in...
Having lived in a number of these places (Northampton, Amherst, Brattleboro, and Providence), I'd like to echo the sentiment that Northampton is probably the best choice of these options. Though it's less culturally diverse than Albany or Providence, the presence of the Five Colleges means that there is a constant influx of young people of color and international students, as well as faculty from an array of backgrounds, coming into the area and shaping the culture in ways you would not see in other parts of (semi-)rural New England. I would also poke around Montague, MA (outside of Greenfield, MA) where there's a small-scale community that might be up your alley...
I also loved Ithaca, NY when I visited but it struck me that when you venture out of Ithaca itself, you've suddenly entered very different territory ideologically. I would be concerned about feelings of isolation and lack of variety in Ithaca proper as a result. By contrast, when you venture into the towns outside the cities of Northampton or Brattleboro, you will find people who are on a similar wavelength so these areas offer pretty different experiences. Though an imperfect measure of people's attitudes, just examining an electoral map capturing which parts of states have recently gone red and blue reveals the stark differences between rural Western Mass and VT, and virtually any other rural area anywhere in the U.S. including upstate NY: https://brilliantmaps.com/2016-county-election-map/
There's some crunch-alicious stuff going on in the vicinity of Providence like an herb school, as well as a MovNat school and an enormous yoga/meditation/raw foods/spa/bathhouse center south of PVD but I don't really feel that these things are central to PVD culture in the way that they are in Northampton or Brattleboro. The presence of Brown and RISD contribute to an artistic / intellectual / activist culture and there are some pockets of crunch-ness but I think you'll find a much more critical mass of crunchy folk in Western Mass and VT. Providence also has a decidedly urban feel despite being a small city, so worlds away from the feel of the towns you've mentioned in Mass and VT. Mountains and the bucolic natural beauty for which the region is known are also much more difficult to reach from PVD but that's a matter of preference.
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