Best place to move to with Korean wife (real estate market, how much)

[d4n3l]

Me and my wife are looking to move to the US in the next few years. We're in our 20s/30s and don't have kids yet, but we're thinking about having one once we settle down. I'm trying to put down a list of places to visit once the virus situation calms down and then choose one of those.

I'm white guy from Europe and my wife is Korean, so we're looking for somewhere where we and later our interracial kids won't be overly discriminated against.

We currently live in Seoul, South Korea.

I work remotely for a US-based tech company as a software engineer. On the side I'm working on starting my own startup (which so far is just me and even if I add someone I aim to keep it 100% remote for now). This means I'm pretty location independent in the job department. But it would be nice to be somewhere where it's easy to run a tech company and/or find jobs in tech.

My wife works in real estate, but I don't think her English is good enough to get a job in the US right away. Most likely she would be at home for the time being. I would like to move somewhere where she can improve her English and integrate into US society. Me being almost native level fluent in Korean doesn't help She's motivated to leave Korea due to its super competitive culture, so it's more about there being something for her to do. She's brought up that studying or at least attending some classes would be a good activity. I don't want her to become bored or fall into a community of Koreans which would pretty much negate any benefits of moving to the US.

Given that my family is in Europe and my wife's is in Korea we'd like to be near an international airport with good connections to Europe and Asia.

I guess it would be fun to move somewhere warm since we've both lived our whole lives in moderate climates with 4 seasons, but this is not a requirement. I definitely do feel a lot happier whenever I see the sun.

I like skiing/snowboarding, swimming, cycling and golf. Due to how work/study oriented Korea is my wife didn't have much time to learn sports, so it would be nice if I could teach her how to do those.

I was mainly looking at these areas:

- SoCal - I think in terms of weather and ability to do sports SoCal absolutely rocks. Not sure where is a good place to live there though. I'm guessing it would have to be in the LA metropolitan area so that we can easily access LAX? (Orange County?) I also hear there are many Koreans in and around LA which is both good and bad... Then there's air pollution in LA, how bad is it? The air pollution here in Seoul is killing us.

- Bay Area - This is a very tech oriented area, so it may be good for my professional development, but I'm not sure how much and if it's worth the price tag on homes in that area. What is living there like apart from work?

- Austin - I've heard a lot of good things about Austin, but there doesn't seem to be much to do nearby (i.e. few hours by car).

- Other cities in TX - Houston, San Antonio, Dallas. Bigger than Austin but similar in that there's not much to do nearby. Housing prices seem lower. (but I heard TX real estate taxes are pretty bad... so it may not matter that much over time)

- Somewhere in FL - Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami should all be sunny and have access to sea which is nice. Other than that I don't know much about FL. There's always crazy news coming out of Florida

In case we give up warm places I can think of:

- Denver - Skiing? Not sure about anything else. We don't care about weed

- Philly - I've visited there a while back and it was OK... I haven't seen the suburbs only the central city though. Seems like proximity to NYC is the biggest thing it's got going for it.

- Pittsburg, PA - I hear it's booming and still cheap, but I don't know much about it. Also not sure about the airport situation there.

- NYC and nearby suburbs (NJ, Long Island) - access to NYC and JFK

- Chicago - Big enough to have a good airport, Great Lakes. Not sure about anything else.

- Kansas City - I'm guessing a similar midwestern feel to Chicago.

- Seattle - Could be nice for tech, but I'm not sure about the weather.

Where would you recommend? If you have any other suggestions please let me know. Also if you live in any of these places I'd love to hear what it's like.

[Javawood]

You're going to have to reassess after Covid. The playing field could completely change.

[Citykid3785]

The northeastern suburbs of Atlanta. Particularly places like Duluth, which has an Hmart and Korean style spas. In fact, there are portions of Duluth, GA that honestly look and feel more like Seoul than the US. Our 6 year old is adopted from Korea and thus we are very attuned to Korean culture.

Even where I live in East Cobb (NW Suburb), we have SEVERAL Korean churches, and my son has several Korean friends.

[As Above So Below...]

It depends on your budget. I wouldn’t move to California unless you’ll have a salary of at least $200,000 USD.

For more affordable places with good connections to Korea, I’d look at Atlanta or Dallas. They have the largest Korean communities in affordable cities in the US.

[roodd279]

Pittsburgh is fine as far as living there goes - but if international airport access is really a priority, look elsewhere. PIT has very few direct (non-stop) international flights.

[Va83]

Washington D.C and it's suburbs. Thank me later.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by d4n3l

Me and my wife are looking to move to the US in the next few years. We're in our 20s/30s and don't have kids yet, but we're thinking about having one once we settle down. I'm trying to put down a list of places to visit once the virus situation calms down and then choose one of those.

I'm white guy from Europe and my wife is Korean, so we're looking for somewhere where we and later our interracial kids won't be overly discriminated against.

We currently live in Seoul, South Korea.

I work remotely for a US-based tech company as a software engineer. On the side I'm working on starting my own startup (which so far is just me and even if I add someone I aim to keep it 100% remote for now). This means I'm pretty location independent in the job department. But it would be nice to be somewhere where it's easy to run a tech company and/or find jobs in tech.

My wife works in real estate, but I don't think her English is good enough to get a job in the US right away. Most likely she would be at home for the time being. I would like to move somewhere where she can improve her English and integrate into US society. Me being almost native level fluent in Korean doesn't help She's motivated to leave Korea due to its super competitive culture, so it's more about there being something for her to do. She's brought up that studying or at least attending some classes would be a good activity. I don't want her to become bored or fall into a community of Koreans which would pretty much negate any benefits of moving to the US.

Given that my family is in Europe and my wife's is in Korea we'd like to be near an international airport with good connections to Europe and Asia.

I guess it would be fun to move somewhere warm since we've both lived our whole lives in moderate climates with 4 seasons, but this is not a requirement. I definitely do feel a lot happier whenever I see the sun.

I like skiing/snowboarding, swimming, cycling and golf. Due to how work/study oriented Korea is my wife didn't have much time to learn sports, so it would be nice if I could teach her how to do those.

I was mainly looking at these areas:

- SoCal - I think in terms of weather and ability to do sports SoCal absolutely rocks. Not sure where is a good place to live there though. I'm guessing it would have to be in the LA metropolitan area so that we can easily access LAX? (Orange County?) I also hear there are many Koreans in and around LA which is both good and bad... Then there's air pollution in LA, how bad is it? The air pollution here in Seoul is killing us.

- Bay Area - This is a very tech oriented area, so it may be good for my professional development, but I'm not sure how much and if it's worth the price tag on homes in that area. What is living there like apart from work?

- Austin - I've heard a lot of good things about Austin, but there doesn't seem to be much to do nearby (i.e. few hours by car).

- Other cities in TX - Houston, San Antonio, Dallas. Bigger than Austin but similar in that there's not much to do nearby. Housing prices seem lower. (but I heard TX real estate taxes are pretty bad... so it may not matter that much over time)

- Somewhere in FL - Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami should all be sunny and have access to sea which is nice. Other than that I don't know much about FL. There's always crazy news coming out of Florida

In case we give up warm places I can think of:

- Denver - Skiing? Not sure about anything else. We don't care about weed

- Philly - I've visited there a while back and it was OK... I haven't seen the suburbs only the central city though. Seems like proximity to NYC is the biggest thing it's got going for it.

- Pittsburg, PA - I hear it's booming and still cheap, but I don't know much about it. Also not sure about the airport situation there.

- NYC and nearby suburbs (NJ, Long Island) - access to NYC and JFK

- Chicago - Big enough to have a good airport, Great Lakes. Not sure about anything else.

- Kansas City - I'm guessing a similar midwestern feel to Chicago.

- Seattle - Could be nice for tech, but I'm not sure about the weather.

Where would you recommend? If you have any other suggestions please let me know. Also if you live in any of these places I'd love to hear what it's like.

[quote=Va83;58206355]Washington D.C and it's suburbs. Thank me later.[/QUOTE]

Thank me as well.

Northern Virginia's Dulles Tech Corridor offers a ton of job opportunity and in terms of economic recovery the DC metro area is first to recover, or for that matter if it suffers much at all. There is also a very sizable Korean community in the area which would help make the transition easier for your wife. Washington-Dulles airport probably provides all the non-stop service you need in terms of getting around, but there's also Reagan-National if for some reason service to a particular city is lacking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulles...ology_Corridor

[Crazybreakfast]

Nashville has a good Korean population and a decent airport. It is also a very welcoming city.
If you are looking for a bit bigger look into Phoenix, AZ. Tons of outdoor activities- great golfing and hiking; lots of sunshine. Less Koreans though.
You won't really experience discrimination here. I'm multi ethnic and my parents are interracial.

My partner is also a different ethnicity from my own. Never had any problems in Tennessee, Arizona, or Louisiana.

Interracial relationships are pretty common - especially among younger folks and any mid sized city will have them. Especially between White and Asian people or White and Hispanic people.

I think you've got a good list of cities going. A lot of them sound like good choices. I'd steer clear of Cali unless you've got a good income- if you do, I'd probs pick it or Miami for your specifications.

I think lacking English skills will most likely hold y'all back and equate to some struggle for her sadly. Hope you both end up finding a great place that works for you all! Would love to visit Seoul one day, one of my best friends is from there, and he has similar issues with the culture there as you all do. Best of luck

[Vic Romano]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

It depends on your budget. I wouldn’t move to California unless you’ll have a salary of at least $200,000 USD.

I don't know why these out of staters make these stupid statements. You can easily do well much of CA with half that amount, even in metropolitan areas. The only area it would be a good idea to make that kind of money would be SF proper.

I would also add to the list the vicinities of Sacramento/Roseville and perhaps even Reno.

[BuffaloHome]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

The northeastern suburbs of Atlanta. Particularly places like Duluth, which has an Hmart and Korean style spas. In fact, there are portions of Duluth, GA that honestly look and feel more like Seoul than the US. Our 6 year old is adopted from Korea and thus we are very attuned to Korean culture.

Even where I live in East Cobb (NW Suburb), we have SEVERAL Korean churches, and my son has several Korean friends.

Definitely agree with this suggestion. Atlanta has a huge Korean population with Korean department and grocery stores, radio stations, newspapers, a thriving real estate market, nonstop flights to Korea (2 airlines) and 16 cities in Europe on 7 airlines. It's a short drive to the Appalachian mountains to the north and to the beautiful beach resorts to the SE like Hilton Head and Jekyll Island.