Young Active Millennial - Outdoorsy, Affordable Town/City (2015, how much)

[ckhthankgod]

Ithaca NY would fit as well, except for maybe the winters.

Charlottesville VA may be a good fit.

[bartonizer]

A lot of medium to larger sized cities will work, and are relatively affordable options for living or working. Of course, if you want the hip smaller towns- not tiny villages but 50-100,000 sized cities, I'd suggest Flagstaff, Bend, Eugene, Missoula, Bozeman, Santa Fe, Boulder and Bellingham (WA) as places in the west that could fit the bill, though job prospects are competitive and affordable housing can be hard to find- but if you're working by remote they are much more realistic. In the SE, Asheville is great (but it's discovered and getting expensive), so Greenville, NC and Chattanooga could be possibilities.

I think the Bay Area could spoil you, culture-wise, but I disagree that transit is awful in smaller towns. Smaller towns are often scalable for mass and human powered transit. In fact, I've never used transit so much as I have here in Bellingham, where we bike, walk, bus or Uber now to at least half of our in-town destinations, even though we own two cars. I think that many of the towns I referenced earlier have better than average transit because of medium to large universities in the city.

[dude1984]

Originally Posted by kimberlymay

I currently live in San Francisco and strongly dislike it. I grew up in Sonoma County, so San Francisco seemed like an easy move. I've never had a desire to be here, but thought I'd give it a shot. I think it's dirty, tons of homeless people, not very accessible without a car (especially to hiking/biking), waaaaay too expensive, I haven't found the people to be very opening/friendly. I used to live in Chicago and LOVED it, but moved back due to the loooong winters.

I'm very active and am looking for a new city to call home. Love bike riding and hiking, so I want to be close to mountains and good roads to cycle. I want to buy and car and will move one upon city, it's just way too expensive to park one in the SF. I would prefer a town - not a huge city. I love being active in the community and volunteering, etc., but I'm not a party person or someone that goes out to eat much, so I don't need a town that has a huge restaurant scene, etc. I actually really like the seasons, and don't mind a mild winter, but definitely don't want super long winters.

I work in recruiting, so I feel like it won't be too terribly difficult to get a job.

Any suggestions? My mom keeps telling me I would love Denver; I've also heard great things about Nashville and North Carolina.

Thanks!

Denver is on the plains the mountains proper are about an hour away, so they are kind of by the mountains. While it is cheaper than San Francisco, it isn't that affordable without a sweet STEM related job. My suggestions was going to be Madison, WI, but your dislike of cold, snowy winters put the kibosh on that. It also doesn't have mountains, but it is a hip, young town that is affordable and near a ton of outdoor recreation. With that out of the question, how about Salt Lake City?

[westernsaga007]

Sacramento CA definitely fits the bill, there's plenty of gorgeous landscapes within driving distance (Coast, Tahoe, Gold Country, Wine Country, Foothill towns, Deep Woods, and of course the River and Delta Towns). You don't even need to leave the city to enjoy the outdoors because of all the urban trails and swim spots such as the American River Trail and Land Park. Its also got amazing weather (I can grow all kinds of plants there that I can't grow in my current area, not too many places you can grow Mango, Banana, Eucalyptus, Pine, Almonds, Berries, Oranges, Palm Trees and Apples all in the same garden) I love the foggy winters and playing in the snow only requires a trip slightly higher in Elevation, and the summers are nice and hot but not muggy and with that cool breeze kicking in every summer evening...Plenty of wildlife and hyper diverse population.

I also think that NW Arkansas fits the bill perfectly and so do parts of Texas

[kagi]

You want to live in either Boulder, CO or Charlottesville, VA. They're both kinda pricey for their size (especially Boulder), but they'll do exactly what you want them to do.

You might also consider Asheville, NC or Chattanooga, TN. Chapel Hill, NC is getting to be part of a big sprawling city, but compared to SF, it'll seem like a college town -- though personally, of the three Triangle cities, I like both Raleigh and Durham better. I'd recommend against Greenville, NC -- it's improving, but it still lacks most of the culture people would want from a college town. I live there, so I know.

If you don't mind cold weather, you'll love Northampton/Amherst, MA; Burlington, VT; Ithaca, NY; or (sleeper pick) Albany/Schenectady/Troy/Saratoga Springs, NY. The NY Capitol district is close to great hiking, paddling and skiing in NY, MA, and VT, and the cost of real estate is pretty low. There's a lot of cool stuff happening in Troy, in particular.

I don't know the west coast very well, but what about Olympia, WA?

[bawac34618]

Portland, Seattle, Denver, or Austin. For smaller towns, consider Santa Fe or Asheville NC.

[ClemVegas]

Originally Posted by capoeira

For mild winters and great access to hiking and biking I suggest Greenville, SC.

14 Epic Hiking Trails In South Carolina

Bikeville | Greenville, SC - Official Website

Greenville South Carolina - Paris Mountain State Park Camping - Paris Mountain State Park

Greenville was also one of Outside magazine's best towns.

Outside's Best Towns 2013 | Outside Online

You might also like Asheville but Greenville has a much more diverse economy. I will take the mild winters of Greenville with only 6 inches of snow on average over the 60 inch average annual snowfall of Denver.

Anderson, 30 miles west of Greenville, is a smaller city and closer to 3 nice lakes and close to the mountains well. It will be a little more affordable than Gville.

Most of the places recommended by others are not that affordable.

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by Simpsonvilllian

Anderson, 30 miles west of Greenville, is a smaller city and closer to 3 nice lakes and close to the mountains well. It will be a little more affordable than Gville.

Oh no. Anderson is a bad factory town.

If you are moving East to a good town, then you need a job and don't expect the place to be affordable. Maybe affordable to San Fran standards but in general, it's expensive to live out East.

[ClemVegas]

Originally Posted by jade408

My favorite place in SC is Charleston. But it is more of a city (and definitely a city for SC. Pretty tiny for CA). Only driven through Greenville but it gets good reviews from my classmates.

As for Charleston, you'd need to travel a bit for hiking, but biking is pretty popular there now. And I mean the biking around town variety, not the biking in the mountains variety.

If you lived in the South, you'd find your housing costs to be very very cheap. But it is culturally very very different than California. If church is a regular part of your Sunday, you'll find fitting in much much easier.

Though a place like Greenville gets a lot of "outsiders," you'll find most people are SC born-bread and have many generations of family there. There is a divide between newcomer and old residents. The cultural differences can be pretty hard to adapt to for many Californians.

That's why I'd say you might want to stay West of the Rockies. Maybe look at Bozeman, Montana.

A lot of people in SC don't go to church. There is no requirement that you go and nobody cares if you don't.

Transplants have been moving to SC since the 1960s in droves, the majority of people here actually have at least one grandparent or great grandparent from another part of the country. The main metroes like Greenville and Charleston are packed with transplants.

[ClemVegas]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

Oh no. Anderson is a bad factory town.

If you are moving East to a good town, then you need a job and don't expect the place to be affordable. Maybe affordable to San Fran standards but in general, it's expensive to live out East.

The south side of Anderson is an old mill town area. Middle class people have no reason to go over there.

The north side of town is nice, CLemson Blvd, Highway 81 area, and then close to Lake Hartwell is decent too. Could also live over near Clemson University, Pendleton, Seneca, and puts you closer to mountains, if you don't eat out much.