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So here is my story. My family moved around a lot when I was growing up and eventually for high school, they would settle down in the south. I decided to stay in state for college and I am naturally an outgoing guy who is not afraid to be social or talk to strangers. No matter what I did or what happened, I never really had a chance to form lasting friendships with people here. Most people stuck with their fraternity brothers/sorority sisters or they just stuck with their social cliques. A lot of people also knew their friends before coming to college and they rarely branched out from there.
I have had an extremely difficult time making friends here and I've had nights where I go to bars and other places alone because I don't have any friends to go to those places with. Most people here also get married at a younger age than other areas.
I've always wanted a social life and a chance to belong to a social circle of people around my age (going to be 23 soon but am open to making friends with most people in their 20s). Just a chance to have friends I can hit the bars with, socialize with, hang out with, participate in sports with, and just something along those lines. Unfortunately, I am finding that in my area, a lot of people stick to their high school and maybe college friends and never really branch out after that.
What areas or places in the USA can offer me these kinds of social opportunities?
Cities with lots of transplants are typically more socially dynamic whereas it tends to be the opposite for those cities that don't get as many transplants.
A lot of the southwest and sunbelt areas are transient in nature, so it is easier to make friends. A lot of northern and eastern states, people grew up there and they already have their social circle formed and don't care to add to it. Consider Arizona, Texas or Colorado. All have great job markets and friendly people as well as plenty of meetup type groups.
Orange County, California is very welcoming to transplants. There are still a lot of good job opportunities here is you have a good skill set, resume, portfolio and willingness to work hard.
Social scene is also good... Find an activity that you like and join a local club
A lot of the southwest and sunbelt areas are transient in nature, so it is easier to make friends. A lot of northern and eastern states, people grew up there and they already have their social circle formed and don't care to add to it. Consider Arizona, Texas or Colorado. All have great job markets and friendly people as well as plenty of meetup type groups.
I think that is the case with smaller northern and eastern areas, but the major areas and college towns will be more transient.
I would say major college towns where the college itself is a major source of industry/commerce with varying outlets for work such as a teaching hospital, science and research along with national caliber graduate programs which attracts people from all over to live and work there. Places like Ann Arbor MI, Durham NC, Chapel Hill NC, Charlottesville VA or Iowa City IA are prime examples of places where one would feel welcome and able to "fit in" for most any case.
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