Helping My Parents Decide Where to Relocate (living, cost, better)

[dvic22]

Hi everyone!

My parents are looking to relocate and are starting to brainstorm potential areas to call home. They are looking to relocate in roughly 12-18 months, when my youngest brother finishes school, so the search is very preliminary right now.

Both of my parents were both born and raised in California just North of the Bay Area, in Santa Rosa. My brothers and I were all born and raised here, as well. All my extended family is from California, but has dispersed across the country due to the high COL and annual wildfire threats .... My parents absolutely love Sonoma County, but will never move back to California for those reasons as well. They have currently been residing in the Charlotte, NC area (for 13+ years - relocated here for a job) but are looking to get back to the West Coast to be closer to me, my brother, and our extended families.

I currently live in the Las Vegas area in Summerlin & my brother lives in the Seattle area in Bellevue (my youngest brother still lives with them). These areas are off the table due to their weather patterns.

Since my father can work from anywhere, weather is their #1 concern when picking a new place to live. My mom NEEDS sunshine. We have tons of family in Seattle and Portland & my mom would never move their due to their gloomy winters. She knows that their summers are unmatched, but this just wouldn't work for them. They also think Seattle is pretty expensive. They really like the Summerlin (and Henderson) area in Vegas due to it's overwhelmingly Californian influences (architectural & cityscape wise), but my father HATES the extreme heat. Opposites attract, right?

My suggestion to them is the Denver area. The summers won't be 110+ for 3 months straight & their winters will be colder than they are used to, but won't be constantly gloomy. My brother thinks the Boise area is better due to it being closer to our family in PDX/SEA and cheaper cost of living, compared to Denver.

They will be traveling to a few places this Spring/Summer to check out some area's and houses to see which metro's they like better. Before they plan their trip, I was curious if anyone else had any other suggestions that might work out for them? Albuquerque? Salt Lake? Maybe Austin?

Again, weather is HUGE for them. Constant gloominess is a dealbreaker as well as extremely hot summers. Other things about my parents that might help:
-54 and 50 years old
-Very active/like outdoors (they have a black lab that frequently joins them)
-Lean democratic
-would need to be within 50 miles of an airport for dad's occasional work trips, Mom doesn't work
-Ballpark price range for a house would be up to 450k

Thanks for any suggestions, pros/cons, and tips for them to consider. They are excited to start working their way back West!

[citidata18]

Austin gets pretty hot too in the Summer.

I think Denver and Salt Lake City are both excellent choices, especially if being near an airport hub is important.

[march2]

Denver is expensive. Austin and SLC are catching up quickly. I'd say Boise or Albuquerque.

[OyCrumbler]

Have you considered the Reno/Lake Tahoe area? It's sunny year round without the summers being humid or as sweltering as other parts of the US that are sunny due to the relatively high elevation.

Another option might be Albuquerque which also shares Reno's cold semi-arid climate classification.

[masssachoicetts]

Raleigh
Washington DC/Northern Virginia
Nashville
Asheville NC
Lancaster PA

[NW4me]

Flagstaff can be cold and snowy in the winter... but the sun will be shining most of the time
(or so I've read). Summers shouldn't be too hot, since the elevation is so high.

[Vincent_Adultman]

That’s odd that they find the Vegas area to be similar to The Bay Area cityscape wise - I find them to be completely different.

I’m guessing Eureka is probably too gloomy, Sacramento is too close to wildfire country, San Diego is probably too expensive...

I do feel like Boise is not a bad bet - it’s about halfway between Seattle and Vegas. Great weather, safe, decent city amenities. It is a bit isolated though and not very diverse.

How about Spokane? It’s pretty sunny there and you’re only 4 hours from Seattle. Its really cheap and has a nice QOL. It does get snow in the winter and a bit hot in the summer, but nothing too extreme and is definitely not gloomy. It’s a got a cool downtown too. Underrated for sure.

[leastprime]

^ Treasure Valley (Snake River-Boise). Spokane. Hood River OR-Camas WA. Tri-Cities (Pasco/Kennewick/Richland), Klamath Falls, OR. These all have commuter planes to SEA/PDX/SLC/SFO. Dry heat summers.

[pantstofry]

No gloomy winters pretty much rules out the PNW (Portland, Boise, Spokane, etc). Excessive heat rules out Vegas and Phoenix. SLC and Denver may be good. I'd also put in a vote for Flagstaff - I think it's slightly more moderate in temperature than SLC/Denver, but it's probably close. A quick look on Wikipedia shows Flag gets about 300-400 more sunshine hours than SLC/Denver as well (about 10%).

I can't really speak to housing price in any of those areas. I do know that Denver is getting more and more expensive.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by pantstofry

No gloomy winters pretty much rules out the PNW (Portland, Boise, Spokane, etc). Excessive heat rules out Vegas and Phoenix. SLC and Denver may be good. I'd also put in a vote for Flagstaff - I think it's slightly more moderate in temperature than SLC/Denver, but it's probably close. A quick look on Wikipedia shows Flag gets about 300-400 more sunshine hours than SLC/Denver as well (about 10%).

I can't really speak to housing price in any of those areas. I do know that Denver is getting more and more expensive.

This is a good summary.

My vote is for Albuquerque. Notably more sunshine than Denver or Salt Lake. Summer heat is in between Denver and Salt Lake, while winter temps are not as low as either. ABQ also has much less rain/precipitation.

COL is lower than Denver (which is really expensive at this point).