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I have lived in Los Angeles for all of my 29 years and would like a change. I hope to live somewhere with cheaper real estate, less traffic, and more down to Earth people. No where is perfect, and I appreciate LA for it’s scenery, vistas, weather, and abundant resources, but I feel like I can find a better long term fit for me. I am a single male and my business can be moved, no problem. I am politically moderate.
These are the only cities that I am considering in no particular order:
-Sacramento
-Dallas
-Portland
-Phoenix
Even if you don’t like any of these for yourself, or want to suggest somewhere else, I am SET on it being one of these 4 cities. So, whichever you feel like is the best fit or has the brightest future. Thank you for your input!
Last edited by needthecityexperts; 01-14-2019 at 04:40 AM..
Given your criteria Sacramento makes the most sense in my opinion given it's less congested/traffic filled than the other three, less expensive than Portland or Dallas and politically more moderate than Phoenix. I would venture to say Sacramento wins the more friendly category as well.
Portland is the most liberal. Phoenix is probably the most conservative. Portland has the worst winters. Phoenix has the worst summers with Dallas not far behind, but Portland and Sac can be blazing in summer also. Dallas gets compared to LA a lot, so if you want something new, it probably isn't the best place to go to for an entirely new experience. Phoenix also has a lot of LA transplants, so you may feel like it's not all that different. Dallas traffic is probably the worst.
I think you'd be happiest in Sac. Weather isn't too different, just a little hotter in summer and a little colder in winter. No rain like Portland will get being in the PNW, no heat like Phoenix, and no tornadoes like Dallas. It's flat in the city, but you have the mountains not too far. It's definitely more liberal than conservative, but isn't PNW hipster liberal like Portland. The traffic isn't terrible in Sac.
out of those Dallas has the brightest future, had dirt cheap housing (Coming from socal), and does not have an income tax. It does have a ton of traffic its not as bad as it is in LA and there are WAY fewer random traffic jams in the middle of the night as there is in LA. If I was in your situation (I was in a similar boat and I moved from California to Houston) I'd go to Dallas.
Since you specifically called out scenery, how important is it to you? Dallas is a very distant 4th in that category. IMNSHO, the natural setting of DFW is butt ugly. If you're good with that then it might be a fit. I personally would go with Phoenix. Lowish COL, decent scenery, real mountains nearby, and SoCal beaches are only a few hours away.
Last edited by bluescreen73; 01-16-2019 at 07:31 PM..
Since you specifically called out scenery, how important is it to you? Dallas is a very distant 4th in that category. IMNSHO, the natural setting of DFW is butt ugly. If you're good with that then it might be a fit. I personally would go with Phoenix. Lowish COL, decent scenery, real mountains nearby, and SoCal beaches are only a few hours away.
I was actually gonna ask that question to the OP and bring that up myself. HAHA.
The scenery around Dallas is very flat, rolling hills in a few spots, but yeah, prairie land mostly. No mountains, no coastline.
My pick for the 4 city options would be Portland first, Sacramento second, Phoenix third, Dallas last.
MRJones17– Which other cities do you feel are a better fit? I’m open to suggestions
I’ll add that I eliminated the Bay Area because of cost, Austin because of traffic/rising housing costs/small town feel, Houston because of Hurricanes and general criticisms of safety and aesthetics, awesome places like the East Coast and Denver because of the cold/snow, Florida because of humidity, bugs, materialism, Carolinas because they seem to stack up poorly to Phoenix/Dallas/Sacramento/Portland. Atlanta was the only other outlier/longshot that I saw working.
I do consider outdoors to be important. I actually find Dallas to be more aesthetic than Phoenix because it is a lot less brown and dry looking. Portland and then the Sacramento foothills and nearby areas are seemingly very far ahead in that category,
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