[pianogal]

Eastern South Carolina - born there, left at 18 for college and would never want to live there. We don't come close to having as much crime per capita as they do! No jobs and all my high school friends live elsewhere.

Eastern Tennessee - There for college...beautiful country, where I met my DH - may consider living there in retirement (but wonder if I would miss all our bright sunny days in Florida and I'm spoiled by all the shopping/entertainment/restaurants here in O-town)

South Georgia - Ewww@!@ Enough said!

Tampa, FL - There for grad school. I didn't like Tampa - would never want to live there again. The only thing I enjoyed was its poximity to Clearwater Beach, St. Pete Beach and Fort DeSoto State Park - I spent many Saturdays there!

Macon, Georgia - Even more Ewwww than south Georgia....my DH called it the 'armpit' of the earth....I apologize if any Georgians read this....

Fresno, CA - enjoyed the natural beauty of CA - would not want to live there permanently. Had a difficult time adjusting to the seasons there.

Orlando, FL - my favorite place to live so far - although I'm not a fan of exceedingly hot weather, I enjoy the new, clean look of the city. I love my home, I have great friends, have been blessed with good jobs and enjoy my life here with great entertainment, shopping, restaurants and overall lifestyle.

However, wherever we were, we knew we were there for a season and enjoyed getting to know the different types of people in every place we lived.

[lovelucy]

My order of preference of where I have lived:

1) Warwick, RI - Has great seafood, people, community, had a house on the shoreline, miss it! Became too expensive & cold for me though.....

2) New Smyrna Beach, Fl - Looked beautiful to me when we lived in Florida, and I heard it has a great family beach.

3) Ormond Beach, Fl - We lived there for 7 months. The people I met while living here were very friendly, and I'm not talking about "snowbirds" but locals. We had sick family back home, so we went back to RI.

4) North Smithfield, RI - Where I grew up. Somewhat rural, but not too much. Cliquish, in a "Desperate Housewives" kind of way, in some areas. Very costly now.

5)Providence, RI - Great diversified, cultured city, but also too expensive and crime-ridden.

6) Woonsocket, RI - City where I was born.

7) Clarksburg, WV - Great prices for homes, but absolutely no jobs to go with them. People are friendly, in a helpful kind of way. They are the type to pick themselves up by the bootstrap kind of people when life gets tough. They will say hello in passing to a stranger versus where I have lived in RI where a person would look are you to see if something was wrong with you for speaking to them if they were a stranger.

Too cold, and snow not any better than the northeast, & considering all the steep hills to drive in, very dangerous in winter to drive. AWD is a MUST here! With studs in the tires!

[chisoxfan]

I grew up in the Chicago area and like everything about it but the winters. I'd think about going back there if the opportunity presented itself, but my wife (who grew up in a house five minutes away from the one we're in now) wouldn't.

I've also lived in Birmingham and Dallas and enjoyed them both (left only because of better job opportunities). Birmingham was a pleasant surprise. The city itself had seen better days, but the surrounding area was beautiful, and the people couldn't have been friendlier. It was a terrific experience after having lived up north all my life.

Dallas had a lot of energy and an inexpensive cost of a living for such a big city. It was very politically conservative when I lived there (a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your perspective). I was single at the time, and the singles scene was lively. Basically two seasons -- a short winter with occasional brutal cold and a long, hot summer. Not a place to live if you need to be near a beach, mountains or pretty scenery.

The only place I really didn't care for was Moline, Ill., where I had my first job after graduating college. It's cold half the year, the unemployment rate was 20 percent when I lived there, and the people don't much care for outsiders, particularly ex-Chicagoans. It's not really a bad place, but it just wasn't for me.

[luvthatmouse]

1.) North of Boston, Massachusetts
2.) Queens, New York
3.) Celebration, Florida
4.) Baltimore, Maryland

I liked Baltimore a lot when I went to college there-I just like the others better

[dreamofmonterey]

Garden City, NY (big houses-big taxes)

Boca Raton Fl (miss the beach but not the area)

Boston (loved it-miss it)

would pick the panhandle or Pacific NW to live.

[Ben Around]

In order of preference:

1. St. Paul, MN - my home now. I chose it and don't regret it. Great place to raise my kids and earn a decent living while living in a great neighborhood close to many amenities
2. Rochester, NY - I have deep roots there, family goes back several generations, great childhood memories, but the city just ain't what it used to be.
3. Milwaukee, WI - went there for grad school. Interetsing ethnic neighborhoods, nice architecture, great city vibe, Lake Michigan, straightforward, tell-it-like-it-is people.
4. Iowa City, IA - Did my undergrad work there, liked it so much I stayed on several years after graduation. But it's a young persons' town and I'm no longer that young.
5. Niagara Falls, NY - Born there but don't remember living there. I know from visiting it's a dump (except of course for the magnificent waterfalls!)
6. Miami, FL - lived there while growing up--a hot, humid, sprawling jumble of bad architecture built on a stinking swamp that attracts every kind of crook, charlatan, jerk and loser from all over the world. Haven't been back for decades, but it sounds worse now than when I lived there. (Miamians--you are not all that way! It's just that you have way more than your fair share)
7. Burlington, IA - boring, gossipy, depressing small town in a picturesque setting on the Mississippi River, but I just didn't fit in.