Should I live in Traverse City, MI or Fairbanks, AK? (living, state)

[LocalTV]

Greetings. I am graduating from high school next year and I'm gonna move out of my hometown to escape the heat as soon as possible. I've been looking at Traverse City, MI and Fairbanks, AK. Which one fits the bill more? This is what I need in a town:
-Residents who are conservative and/or libertarian
-Plenty of jobs in the trucking business
-Plenty of outdoor activities to do year-round
-Low taxes
-Gun friendliness
-Low crime

[kyle19125]

Traverse City MI. Much less geographically remote and if in trucking many more options.

[585WNY]

Fairbanks is going to get downright depressing in the Winter. Sure you’re escaping the heat of Tennessee, but you’re also going to have to endure temperatures as low as -30°F or worse, plus extreme isolation. There’s a reason why Alaska has some of the highest suicide and addiction rates in the country. Unless you can land an unbeatable lucrative position working at the oil fields in Prudhoe Bay, I would definitely go with Traverse City, where you’ll have far more opportunities, and personally, I think it’s a more beautiful area year round.

[Sharks With Lasers]

Originally Posted by LocalTV

Greetings. I am graduating from high school next year and I'm gonna move out of my hometown to escape the heat as soon as possible. I've been looking at Traverse City, MI and Fairbanks, AK. Which one fits the bill more? This is what I need in a town:
-Residents who are conservative and/or libertarian
-Plenty of jobs in the trucking business
-Plenty of outdoor activities to do year-round
-Low taxes
-Gun friendliness
-Low crime

Would you need to go to a trucking school first? If so, while Traverse City is nice, it's a bit expensive, and you might be a good fit for some other smaller northern Michigan cities like Cadillac or Grayling/Gaylord, which would be great locations if you like things like hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, 4-wheeling, etc.

[MarcBetrus]

Traverse City, 100%.

[SonySegaTendo617]

If it was me picking between these 2, Traverse. And as TC has a lot of charming drives, small towns, and beaches not far away. Fairbanks IMO would be too far north and isolated, for me to tolerate. And I'd rather be within the main 48 states, myself.

Like another poster said unless a job paid unbelievably well in Fairbanks, I'd go with TC.

[BPt111]

Fairbanks is over 350 miles to Anchorage and the metro area fof Fairbanks is over 100,000 residents. Traverse City is less isolated than Alaska you closer to nearby states while you are closer to North Pole and Western Canada for Fairbanks.

[sub]

Fairbanks would be more of an adventure.
Traverse City would be more of a settle-down and live into retirement type of place. Very touristy, though, but it has an impressive amount of amenities for a town its size.
Great Lakes region is good trucking country.

[eddie gein]

So what you are telling us is that you have never experienced a real northern winter before.

In particular, Fairbanks where your normal winter highs are going to be 0 degrees F.

Either one of these places is going to require winter wear that you probably don't have living in Tennessee.

[sub]

Meh, northern winters are often overblown, especially around the Great Lakes. Southern summers are equally as difficult, if we're going to be objective.
Michigan is nothing remotely like interior Alaska or even North Dakota. Mostly, it's the snow over on that side of Lake Michigan, but they at least know how to deal with it. A foot of snow there is less of an issue than a 1/4 inch of ice down south.
I'm from the south. I also abhor heat. Made the move up north. Not sure if I'll ever live south of... Milwaukee or so ever again, at least not in any place east of the Rockies.
It's easy to acclimate to winter. A LOT easier than people try to make it sound.