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Hi everyone, I've lived in New Jersey my whole life (Philadelphia area) and I think I'm looking for a change. I'm single, an engineer by profession, and I am an outdoorsy person. I don't want to live in a city, but I do enjoy the benefits of a city and I like to travel, so being somewhat close to a decent sized city is important. My favorite things to do when I'm off are snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, etc. I also enjoy water sports being close to the Jersey beaches (sailing, kayaking, wake boarding, etc), but not a requirement to be next to an ocean, although it would be a plus to be near water.
Things that are important:
Job prospects are pretty good (i.e. I can get get an engineering or related job within about 6 months of moving)
Reasonably affordable (I can live comfortably on a 75 - 100k salary)
Within an hour or so drive of a city and international airport
Within an hour or 2 drive of some mountains (preferably be able to actually see them from my yard)
Area with an outdoorsy lifestyle (I feel like this is lacking where I currently live)
4 season climate is important
Being near water is a big plus
I've just started looking into this, but some areas that may meet my initial requirements:
Denver Area
Seattle Area
Portland Area
Reno Area
If anyone's lived in these areas can you give a general overview or a pros/cons list especially of the things that might not be obvious until you've actually lived there that would be very helpful. Also, if anyone's moved to any of these places from the Philadelphia area and could give a comparison that would also be helpful.
If there's anywhere that might be even better that I haven't mentioned you can give some recommendations as well.
Denver. It's perfectly affordable for a SINK in your price range. Ticks off everything on your list with the exception of water. Then again, the water near Seattle, Portland, and Reno is cold and not really suited for swimming, either.
I'm just curious what made you suggest these cities over the ones the OP has listed.
The East Coast has significantly warmer water. Even San Diego and Los Angeles only reach ocean temperatures as high as 60 degrees during the summer time. I would expect Portland and Seattle to be much colder than this during the summertime. Unless the OP is good with cold water (and most people are not), then I think the East side of the country will be much better for the avid water fanatic.
Not only that but the West is incredibly expensive in its good areas whereas the South, even northern South (like the Carolinas) seem to do much better in terms of COL overall. Seattle is probably the best option out of OP's list because Seattle has a better economy than Portland, and more water than Colorado since Denver is a borderline high desert similar to Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and parts of Arizona and New Mexico are. Reno is close to Lake Tahoe, which is one of my favorite places, but Reno itself is... meh.
denver. It's perfectly affordable for a sink in your price range. Ticks off everything on your list with the exception of water. Then again, the water near seattle, portland, and reno is cold and not really suited for swimming, either.
Things that are important:
Job prospects are pretty good (i.e. I can get get an engineering or related job within about 6 months of moving)
Reasonably affordable (I can live comfortably on a 75 - 100k salary)
Within an hour or so drive of a city and international airport
Within an hour or 2 drive of some mountains (preferably be able to actually see them from my yard)
Area with an outdoorsy lifestyle (I feel like this is lacking where I currently live)
4 season climate is important
Being near water is a big plus
Check out the the northeast suburbs of Atlanta which believe it or not would probably be your best option in terms of work/lifestyle criteria in my opinion. Atlanta's northside is the hub of white collar/professional jobs in Metro Atlanta and a booming area, particularly around Sandy Springs/Alpharetta/Johns Creek/Roswell. It's quite affordable on the salary you would expect to have, less than an hour from one of the top airports in the country, close proximity to the Chattahoochee River for kayaking and it's mountain biking/hiking trails, around an hour to massive Lake Lanier (a venue site for the water sports events at the Atlanta Olympics) and an easy 90 minute drive to the Blue Ridge Mountains in NE Georgia. The Roswell area is very thickly wooded and hilly which appeals to outdoor enthusiasts and the area overall has a four season climate with a typically mild winter with little snow/ice in the immediate area. You can go skiing and snowboarding at Sapphire Valley (3400 feet elevation) near Highlands NC which is around 2.5 hours away.
The East Coast has significantly warmer water. Even San Diego and Los Angeles only reach ocean temperatures as high as 60 degrees during the summer time. I would expect Portland and Seattle to be much colder than this during the summertime. Unless the OP is good with cold water (and most people are not), then I think the East side of the country will be much better for the avid water fanatic.
Not only that but the West is incredibly expensive in its good areas whereas the South, even northern South (like the Carolinas) seem to do much better in terms of COL overall. Seattle is probably the best option out of OP's list because Seattle has a better economy than Portland, and more water than Colorado since Denver is a borderline high desert similar to Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and parts of Arizona and New Mexico are. Reno is close to Lake Tahoe, which is one of my favorite places, but Reno itself is... meh.
Areas of Idaho are high desert, but Idaho has more forested lands than all of the other inland western states.
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