Help me find a place to move! (Specific criteria listed inside) (high crime, new home)

[romanswinter]

Hello everyone. I am currently living in Western/Upstate NY. I have lived here most of my life but am planning on finally leaving for good in about six months. There are a number of various reasons why, but the ones specifically related to why I want to move away from are 1) high crime, 2) old declining infrastructure, and 3) little to no opportunities for young professionals.

Fortunately, due to my current career I have the opportunity to pretty much move anywhere in the country and continue to work remotely. There are specific things I am looking for, but I know that there does not exist a place that can accommodate everything I want. However, if I can get a few places that are close to what I am looking for then I would be very happy!

My target area is the Northwest area, but I am open to other regions if something matches what I am looking for. To get started, I have taken this QA from another thread and applied it here hoping it will help describe what I am looking for.

Do you like big cities, small cities, towns/villages or country living the best?

Well Rochester is a small city and I can tell you for sure that I hate cities. However, I know for career purposes I would consider a suburb of any size city that is heavy in the tech industry. I have a Masters Degree in Marketing, with a heavy emphasis on technology/social media/digital platforms and would live to be able to have a career in this field. That being said, I really do abhor cities.

Preferably I would like small towns/villages that are set in a rural area and a decent amount of distance (say 25 miles) from any metro area or heavily trafficked commercial area. Not to get all Norman Rockwell, but a nice small place where everyone knows each other, the community does things together on special occasions, one school, one church kinda town. Neighbors help each other out and locking your doors isnt a necessity.


Do you have any particular liking or dislike of certain types of weather (cold, hot, snow, humidity, dry air, etc.)?

The answer to this question is no. I would pretty much live in any climate, but my preference is somewhere on the cooler side. I would much rather live somewhere cold and cool with snow, then somewhere hot and sweaty with hurricanes.

Are you very high-tech and like to have access to all the latest and greatest techie gadgets?

I am high tech and love gadgets. That being said, I do not need the place where I live to be a modern utopia of internet cafe's and wifi hot spots all over the place. I like to tech out my house with gadgets. As long as I have high speed internet, UPS can deliver me all the tech gadgets I want. I never buy technology from local stores. So I guess the only significance to this question is that I have to live someplace where Cable/DSL internet access is available.


What are your musical preferences?

Interesting question. I like a lot of different types of music. As someone who is 31 y/o I am not at all into much of the stuff that is popular today. I grew up listening to metal and punk like Misfits/Danzig, King Diamond, Bathory, Venom; and I still listen to a lot of that today.

However, that being said nowadays I really listen to mostly stuff people would classify as classical musical. I especially love early music, madrigals, choral, chamber, etc etc.

I have no interest in going to any kind of rock concerts. The only live music I would go out to see would be more of the classical stuff I mentioned. I would also go and listen to live jazz, bluegrass, big band, or swing.

What kinds of foods do you like and dislike?

Good question. I do have a fondness for my area's cuisine. I admit this was tough for me in the past when I had lived elsewhere for college. We eat pretty bad around here in WNY. Lots of hots and burgers, pizza, wings... ya know stuff that requires a triple bi pass by 40.

Aside from those things I generally like typical American fare. Not crazy about ethnic food (Chinese etc) with the exception of Italian (love pasta). I dont care for seafood. In fact I am pretty happy with just fresh baked bread and high quality deli meats.


What kind of work will you be looking for?

As stated above my Masters degree is in Digital Marketing, so I would love to actually apply what I have learned and what I had been doing the last couple years as a career. However, the job I have now is sustainable and allows me to travel and work remotely. It is not marketing, but it is still within the technology sector.

I have a Bachelors is in History, and I always wanted to be a teacher. NY, however, requires you to to do so much to get a teachers license it just did not seem worth the effort considering the job market at the time. So perhaps another state or community where I could teach history / social studies without needing as much BS (that's bull**** not Bachelors of Science) to teach as you do in NY that would be great to.

Do you have family that you'll want to be able to visit regularly?

No.

But I would like to meet someone and start a family. So eligible women are a plus!

What are your hobbies?

I am definetly in the mold of a geek. I like computers, gadgets, technology. I like video games. I like watching movies.

I also enjoy nature and spending time outdoors in a scenic walk or drive type of thing. I am not an outdoorsman in a way that I like to head out into the woods and rough it for days with nothing buy matches and a knife. But I do like day outings to walk trails, explore park areas, sit by the water, do some casual fishing. I would like to learn how to hunt someday.

I am also a big animal lover (strange that I mention this after I admit I want to learn how to hunt), specifically dogs. I have somewhat of an odd dream/goal in life to open a kind of dog refugee ranch. Where I would take in dogs who would have been euthanized because no one will adopt them. I would give them a chance to live outdoors in a large wide open gated/fenced area where I provided all of them with food, water, and outdoor shelters where they can sleep and stay warm/dry with a lot of other dogs. I know it would be very expensive to maintain, but hey thats why its called a dream right?

Are you a big sports fan? If so, do you like to attend sporting events in person?

Yes. I like sports. I am a hockey nut. I can live without going to many sporting events though as long as I can watch them on TV or stream the games online. But living in a community that was interested in hockey or had a hockey team (even at a minor league level) would be great!


And not to turn this into a political thread, but if you have strong political viewpoints at either end of the spectrum, there are likely some parts of the country that you will enjoy/appreciate more than others.


Glad this was one of the questions. I am very conservative. You know, Gun rights, One Man/One Woman, Drill Baby Drill, pro military, pro bible, secure the borders, Michael Savage, Bill O'rielly kinda conservative.

That being said, I am respectful of others views and appreciative of our democratic society. Living in NY you can imagine that I do not live amongst many that share my views, and I am ok with that. Preferably it would be great though to live in an area that was more conservative and shared the same values that I share. Hey, it would be nice if just ONCE the local person I voted for won an election ok? LOL

So, there you have it. If you have come this far you might as well offer up an opinion. I have already stole this much time of your life, at least make it worthwhile right?

Thanks in advance to all who offer to help me on my quest for a new home.

[ckhthankgod]

A very small town outside of Austin or one of the major cities in TX. I don't know how long commutes would though.

[ckhthankgod]

BTW-Most of Rochester's crime is in the Crescent and if you don't like cities, you should be fine in that area in regards to crime.

[romanswinter]

Thank you for the info ckhthankgod. The Austin area was actually one of the places I have been considering. I know there are a lot of tech companies in Austin so that might be a good fit.

[annagurl333]

Hello Romanswinter!
Although I have never actually been to any of these cities (aside from the first 2), I thought I'd throw in some suggestions to research! I'm kinda looking for a place something somewhat similar, so here are some suggestions that I've considered! (you might be very different tho)

1. Spokane - prob a bit too large for you, but the suburbs/country side is so pretty! I've visited there a few times and I never want to leave!
2. Ashville, NC - Breathtakingly beautiful, mountain town kinda feel. Felt safe, and the lifestyle was pretty slower paced. This was about 8 yrs ago though. Another city I didn't want to leave!

3. The tri-cities area of Washington - Kennewick, Richland, Pasco
4. Port Angeles WA and Astoria WA both look picturesque - if you don't mind lots of rain and constant cloud cover.
5. Rapid City, SD
6. Spearfish, SD
7. Stillwater, Hastings, or Red Wing, MN
8. Bettendorf, IA
9. St. Joseph, MO
10. Portsmouth, NH
11. Bellingham, WA
12. Couer d'Alene, ID
13. Sandpoint, ID
14. Olympia, WA
15. Lacey, WA
16. Pullman, WA - been here too actually. Quaint, pretty, college town. Long drive to large city though.
17. Kalispell, MT

Yes, most of them are pretty small in population, but from, what I gathered, that is what you want, right? If I'm wrong, sorry hun!
Take care and good luck!

[gmorra]

Well, I'm moving to Bellingham, WA in May. And as a former truck driver, I've been through Austin several times in the last few yrs. This is a young and growing city with plenty of construction going on. It's fast paced and good for young professionals from what I gather. I wouln't go near L.A. with a ten foot pole! My sister moved to Eugene from California a year ago. And Oregon is very high cost of living and Eugene is yuppie and new age (spaced out) trying to use organic everything under the sun to con you into buying their products. Portland---very fast paced!! crazy drivers....I'm finishing my degree, and I've been trying to research Bellingham, WA another city in progress....Seattle OMG if you like high prices go there and traffice jams up the hole!!!