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I have itchy feet and am ready to move but could use some feedback.
My background-married, hubby and I are 40 years old and have a 17 month old son.
Live in Denver now but the growth is getting to be too much for me.
Looking for:
Smaller city-prefer an older town versus a suburb with no town center
Located in the Midwest, West or Pacific Northwest
Close to a decent sized airport (less than a 90 minute drive)
Good school system
Safe--yes I know every place has it's issues but I'm optimistic
Food co-op or great farmer's market
Clean air, water (I have bad allergies and the air quality of Denver is starting to aggravate my respiratory system)
Left leaning
Cultural activities
I'm good with most weather honestly. I don't love freezing temps for long periods of time but I do enjoy 4 seasons.
Nice main street or town square would be great.
Lots of outdoor activities--good running/biking trails
Fairly vibrant economy-doesn't have to be growing at a rapid rate but I don't want to move to a depressed area
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Bellingham, WA. It meets a lot of your criteria and its in a fantastic location just 90 minutes away from both Seattle and Vancouver. It's in a very beautiful setting on a bay with glacier covered and volcanic Mt. Baker looming over the city. It's also a college town (WWU), the San Juan Islands are nearby, and it has a good amount of retail with Canadians coming over the border to shop there. Bellingham is pretty good.
I think most college town with a decent sized university will qualify. There are some other really nice towns I can think of off the top of my head also that would qualify...
In the Midwest:
Iowa City, IA
Champaign-Urbana, IL
Lafayette/West Lafayette, IN
Manhattan, KS
Lawrence, KS
Madison, WI (actually just over 200k population)
Dubuque, IA
Bloomington, IN
In the Mountain West:
Grand Junction, CO
Pueblo/Canon City, CO
Fort Collins, CO
Billings, MT
Bozeman, MT
Reno/Tahoe, NV
Coeur D'Alene, ID
Logan, UT
St. George, UT
Jackson, WY
Cody, WY
In the Pacific Northwest:
Spokane, WA
Olympia, WA
Bellingham, WA
Moscow, ID/Pullman, WA
Bend, OR
Corvallis, OR
Eugene, OR
Medford, OR
Grants Pass, OR
Eureka, CA
Crescent City, CA
I'd throw in:
Flagstaff, AZ
Prescott, AZ
Palm Springs, CA
Monterey, CA
San Luis Obispo, CA/Morro Bay, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Fe, NM
I think all would meet or come very close to meeting all of your criteria.
My wife and I lived in Denver, too, but for a variety of reasons (including many that you listed above) we moved first to the Western Slope of CO for two years, and then to Bellingham. It hits that sweet spot (IMHO) of 50-100,000 population and fits many, if not all of your listed criteria.
I'll address your points below:
Looking for:
Smaller city-prefer an older town versus a suburb with no town center- Bellingham has it's own identity, including a reasonable-sized downtown and several charming neighborhoods with pedestrian-level activity and a good amount of dining options.
Located in the Midwest, West or Pacific Northwest- About as NW as you can get.
Close to a decent sized airport (less than a 90 minute drive)- Bellingham Int'l has several airlines, and Sea-Tac is 90-120 minutes away, depending on traffic.
Good school system- Can't speak too much about education, but most of my friends have children and for what it's worth, they view this as an idyllic place to raise them.
Safe--yes I know every place has it's issues but I'm optimistic- We lived in Cap Hill and Uptown and this town feels much, much safer overall than anywhere in Denver.
Food co-op or great farmer's market- Boulder-like dedication but without the pretentiousness. Co-ops, good grocery stores, a great farmer's market that actually has tons of produce (two markets if you count Fairhaven's mid-week market). We are blown away by the level of quality ingredients that grow here.
Clean air, water (I have bad allergies and the air quality of Denver is starting to aggravate my respiratory system)- Sea level and the sheer amount of trees here makes the air fresh and piney. We forgot what it was like to take a deep breath and really fill up your lungs with oxygen!
Left leaning- Check, but not in your face. Gets more libertarian/conservative as you head out of town.
Cultural activities- Lots of options, plus Vancouver is an hour to the north and Seattle is 1.5 hours to the south.
I'm good with most weather honestly. I don't love freezing temps for long periods of time but I do enjoy 4 seasons.- There are grey periods, but it's not as bad as people make it out to be by any stretch of the imagination. This was my wife's #1 concern prior to moving, and it's not anymore. Oh, and summer in the NW can't be beat.
Lots of outdoor activities--good running/biking trails- Amazingly scenic, impressive trail system that connects neighborhoods, centers of activity, and outdoor destinations. Much prettier than we expected. Water sports options, skiing less than an hour to the east at Mt. Baker. Legit mountain biking and fantastic hiking in and on the side of the city.
Fairly vibrant economy-doesn't have to be growing at a rapid rate but I don't want to move to a depressed area- Not the greatest economy, but not the worst, either. As Desert_SW_77 mentioned, this is a shopping destination for BC folks. It also has a sizable university and solid street creds as an outdoor mecca. As is common for this sized area, jobs are in demand and tough to get. There are a few bright spots- for example, the locally popular Haggen Grocery store chain is headquartered here. They're expanding from 14 stores to I believe around 200 stores on the west coast, so there may be some nice opportunities around here in the future. Again, this is a place people want to be. So, there's some competition for limited jobs, but being in a desirable area comes at a cost, but is not depressing.
There are a lot of good choices out there, and the poster above put up a pretty good list. When we were considering options, we exhaustively researched and narrowed it down to Bend, Eugene, Portland, Seattle, Olympia, and Bellingham. Ultimately, we wanted to be in a place around the same size as other cities that I love- Asheville, Missoula, Flagstaff, Santa Fe, Burlington, etc. - but we wanted to be near the water and try something different. So we narrowed down the list and then visited the finalists and made a decision last summer. We are very happy with our decision to move to Bellingham- we loved CO, but it was isolated, the weather can be harsh, and there was nothing really in between a big urban area and small mountain towns. Bellingham is a nice combination of both- there are aspects of ruggedness- mountains all around, water all around, outdoorsy people, etc. but amenities of a city, including a good microbrew/foodie scene and a surprisingly functional bus line (refreshingly, we park the cars and walk or take the bus more than we ever would have imagined).
Overall, many of the things you've mentioned are hallmarks of the NW- progressive politics, better access to fresh food, clean air, etc. But Bellingham is a good combination of those things, and is quintessentially NW. Finding a good, affordable place to live here can be a challenge, but it's worth it. We are renting and feel like we have a much better deal than we had in Denver or Glenwood Springs.
Hope this helps. If you have other questions, shoot! We're new to the area but love to explore and pass along information. Good luck on your search!
Last edited by bartonizer; 02-06-2015 at 02:56 AM..
I think most college town with a decent sized university will qualify. There are some other really nice towns I can think of off the top of my head also that would qualify...
In the Midwest:
Iowa City, IA
Champaign-Urbana, IL
Lafayette/West Lafayette, IN
Manhattan, KS
Lawrence, KS
Madison, WI (actually just over 200k population)
Dubuque, IA
Bloomington, IN
In the Mountain West:
Grand Junction, CO
Pueblo/Canon City, CO
Fort Collins, CO
Billings, MT
Bozeman, MT
Reno/Tahoe, NV
Coeur D'Alene, ID
Logan, UT
St. George, UT
Jackson, WY
Cody, WY
In the Pacific Northwest:
Spokane, WA
Olympia, WA
Bellingham, WA
Moscow, ID/Pullman, WA
Bend, OR
Corvallis, OR
Eugene, OR
Medford, OR
Grants Pass, OR
Eureka, CA
Crescent City, CA
I'd throw in:
Flagstaff, AZ
Prescott, AZ
Palm Springs, CA
Monterey, CA
San Luis Obispo, CA/Morro Bay, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Fe, NM
I think all would meet or come very close to meeting all of your criteria.
Except for being a little bit over 100,000, Ann Arbor MI fits all of the the criteria and East Lansing MI fits as well. Ames IA, Kent OH and Normal IL, among others in the Midwest may work.
I have itchy feet and am ready to move but could use some feedback.
My background-married, hubby and I are 40 years old and have a 17 month old son.
Live in Denver now but the growth is getting to be too much for me.
Looking for:
Smaller city-prefer an older town versus a suburb with no town center
Located in the Midwest, West or Pacific Northwest
Close to a decent sized airport (less than a 90 minute drive)
Good school system
Safe--yes I know every place has it's issues but I'm optimistic
Food co-op or great farmer's market
Clean air, water (I have bad allergies and the air quality of Denver is starting to aggravate my respiratory system)
Left leaning
Cultural activities
I'm good with most weather honestly. I don't love freezing temps for long periods of time but I do enjoy 4 seasons.
Nice main street or town square would be great.
Lots of outdoor activities--good running/biking trails
Fairly vibrant economy-doesn't have to be growing at a rapid rate but I don't want to move to a depressed area
If you're willing to go really, really far west, Hilo, HI meets many of your criteria. Potential issues would be:
The airport has service to Honolulu, Kahului, and Los Angeles; but that's it. It's served only by Hawaiian and United Airlines. Kona airport, on the other side of the island (about a 90-minute drive) has many more options.
The city doesn't do too well on safety lists. My own perception (based solely on seeing the areas, not on any official stats or anything) is that you'd be better off away from the immediate downtown area (in particular the Pu'ueo neighborhood to the immediate north) and, paradoxically, away from the oceanfront areas. That said, I've never felt in danger there. And as a place to visit, downtown itself is truly charming.
From what I've read, the school system is hit or miss.
The economy isn't quite as good as it could be, though the presence of a University of Hawaii campus does help.
I've visited Hilo on four separate occasions, but I've never lived there; so if you wanted to check this area out more thoroughly, I'd suggest posting in the Hawaii forum (Big Island sub forum) and see what you get.
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