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My hubby exclusively works from home and relocating would not be an issue for him. I work a county job and relocation may be a bit of a challenge, but definitely could work.
We have four kids, one in college, one is a senior in HS, a six year old and three year old. We currently reside in Minnesota. Both my hubby and I grew up here, but the past few winters, we have noticed that my son and myself are suffering from seasonal affective disorder. We think it may be time for a move to a warmer state.
We are looking for someplace that has four seasons, but winter needs to be far less harsh than Minnesota. A lot of sun would be the best choice for us.
The schools need to be very good. Minnesota has great schools and that is the one thing that has kept us here as long as we have been.
Other than that, we don't need much else. Just a mild climate and great schools for our younger kids.
Anyone have any places that meet this criteria? Thanks in advance.
A lot depends on how much house you can afford. Places with good weather tends to charge a premium on housing.
Weather wise, few places beat California. It's warm but with zero humidity. It gets cold but requires no ice shoveling. But you'll need around $1 million for a house in the San Francisco Bay Area, a little less for Los Angeles/San Diego area, and $300,000 and up for the Sacramento area. If you're looking for a bargain, go Sacramento; it also has a lot of state/county/city jobs since it is the capital of CA.
Otherwise, Florida comes to mind but it doesn't really have winters.
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Compared to winter in Minnesota, the Colorado Front Range would be downright delightful pretty much year-round. Average highs in the winter are 15-25 degrees warmer than the Twin Cities, and the relative humidity here is much lower than it is there meaning it'll feel considerably balmier here in the dead of winter than it does there. Denver gets about the same amount of snow as M/SP, but it comes in fits and starts and does NOT stay on the ground for extended periods.
During the summer, even when it's in the 90s here, you'll be able to leave your windows open at night more often than not because the rate of radiational cooling is ridiculously high. Low humidity also means fewer bugs (and no mosquitos the size of Buicks)
Most of Colorado is also renown for having plenty of sun. Dreary, gray winter days happen here (did today, in fact), but they're the exception rather than the rule.
I think you are looking for a city in Virginia or North Carolina.
I agree regarding NC however most of the better schools in VA tend to be in Northern Virginia or Charlottesville which can see a good bit of winter and many cloudy days. I would specifically point you toward cities like Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Cary, Apex or Morrisville in North Carolina which are part of the Raleigh-Durham metro area where the seasons are a good bit more moderate than VA (especially winter), and where the public schools have excellent records/reputation. Also six days out of ten year round are sunny, not bad considering the area gets a fair amount of rain year-round.
Charlottesville seems like the perfect town for you. Its very beautiful and scenic, you see the mountains, it's even more beautiful in the fall when the leaves change color. The schools are very good aswell
Consider Davis, CA. Much nicer than Sacramento, with fabulous schools, very family friendly and safe. And, you can commute to Sacramento if you can't find a job you want in Davis. Davis also has a university for your college age child, which is a great university, too. I used to live there and loved it.
UC Davis even has an equestrian center, where your kids could even go take riding lessons, etc. The college historically was an agricultural college, and still is with a vet school, but now also has a med school, great engineering department as well as many other fields of study, including wine making - there is even a vineyard on campus. Walking on campus is great - you can visit the cow barns, and there is a creek running through it with ducks, gardens - great place to go with kids and you can ride your bikes all over it and all over town - Davis is known for being bike friendly. The town is very flat, making biking easy, but there are a lot of trees, which trick your eye into not realizing the town is so flat. It's a very attractive town, IMO.
My favorite event of the year in Davis, was Picnic Day on the university campus, especially the dachshund races.
Summers are very warm, but dry, and you get a cooling breeze in the evenings off the delta.
Last edited by NoMoreSnowForMe; 11-15-2014 at 11:51 PM..
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