Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
For close mountain access and a metro of 100k plus, Wenatchee and Rapid City might work if the near mountains are acceptable.
Missoula and Kalispell are big enough metro candidates now too. Pocatello just a tiny bit short at 97k metro. Albany Oregon is not an obvious / popular candidate but might work for some with access to Corvallis, Eugene and Portland. The metro area shared with Corvallis is pushing 100k.
I would give Colorado Springs a good look. The mountains are right there. There's hiking in the city (Garden of the Gods, Palmer Park, and Pulpit Rock Park), and you're only a couple hours from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Plus Denver is just up the road for tech jobs (if you need a new gig), big city amenities and a major airport.
I talked to a real estate agent in Colorado Springs. Looks like 300-400k is definitely doable there. It's close enough to drive, so I'll make a trek down there soon.
I also talked to a townhome builder locally. They're getting bidding wars and in the mid 600s for 1300 sq ft townhomes around Lehi. Nope nope nope nope.
You aren't going to find anything in the westernmost states, PNW or Intermountain West, with cooler weather, that hasn't doubled in price. If you didn't mind heat, you might be able to find something in Arizona.
There are some really nice little towns on the western edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Appalachia. Their prices are way up, too, but they started from a much lower price point, so they still look pretty reasonable to some one living on the West coast.
Fort Collins is a somewhat more liberal, younger version of Colorado Springs if that matters to OP.
I've looked for similar towns/cities in the same area and indeed the list starts getting small pretty quickly.
Fort Collins
Colorado Springs
Grand Junction
Reno area
Boise
Flagstaff
Any of the small Oregon towns - Eugene, Salem, Bend, etc.
Or larger OR towns - Portland, Vancouver (cheaper, but you basically get Portland amenities)
Any of the small WA towns - Spokane, Tacoma
Personally, I prefer GREAT PERFECT weather more than anything lol. Which makes a lot of the above hard. I also really love the ocean. So again, the above is hard. This is why so many people still live in California. The lifestyle there, once you get past any political issues and cost of living, is fantastic. But those two issues are real legit issue hard for almost all Americans to get past.
Was in Flagstaff last summer - meh. I mean its nice enough, but still feels pretty isolated, and outside of Flagstaff, while indeed gorgeous, i mean its like a vacation gorgeous to me. You're in a desert. Fun to visit. To live? Pass. It's also a pretty small town ultimately and Phoenix felt farther away to me than i anticipated - a solid 2+ hr drive.
Fort Collins tops my list, but it still gets a decent amount of snow, has a bit of that Colorado "we think our **** don't stink" vibe many places in Colorado have, and the Rockies can be surprisingly brown and dry for people that haven't been a lot.
This pushed Bend way up my list... but i've not even visited once and my understanding is that (1) its expensive af now, and (2) it can also get VERY cold and snowy in the winter.
I really should just move to the Mediterranean coast and become an olive farmer or something lol.
I'd probably be cool with something in southern Oregon IF there was an actual large city somewhat closer.
gslilver: People have given you some good choices.
For Colorado, I'd pick Fort Collins (Loveland, Longmont) over Colorado Springs. Most of the growth, and I'd assume cheaper townhouse, are on the east side of Colorado Springs, around the Powers Drive area (east of I25). That means you are further from the mountains and closer to the prairie of eastern Colorado. Maybe if you live in Palmer Lake north of CO Springs? You might run into the same problem in Fort Collins, but the city is west of i-25, so you are naturally closer to the mountains. Our son lived there for several years after college (not CSU), and he loved the hiking in town, as well as in the mountains.
Weather-wise: Salem, Eugene, Corvallis, and Albany Oregon will be wetter and cloudier than the Provo area. You are between two mountain ranges, so hiking can be found in the Coast Range and Cascades. Skiing is in the Cascades. If the wetter weather is too much, then Bend/Redmond/Sunriver/La Pine, OR would be drier and have much more similar weather as compared to Provo. You would be close to the mountains in all those towns. The problem might be housing costs, since the Bend area is a "favorite" with work from home folks.
Spokane, WA and the surrounding towns in WA and ID would also be great for mountain access, but again will be wetter and cloudier that Provo... and likely just as expensive. You'd have to search prices and maybe there are some surrounding towns that are still in your price range, but still close enough to the city for a good dating demographic.
The in-laws lived outside of Rapid City, SD for many years, and our son went to college there. Yeah, it's nice enough, but not a great area. The Black Hills are a small island mountain range, so hiking is nice, but limited. If you like winter sports, they are very limited in the area due to the lack of regular and sustainable snow through the winter. Our son really, really, really felt the dating scene was bad from his male perspective!!! He enjoyed Fort Collins much more... night and day much more, and not just for dating (and getting married this August).
Boise might be your best bet for Mountain access, weather and dating scene. You'll have to search hard to find housing though, and it goes fast. I've seen some townhouse developments going in, and they list every property already sold, and they haven't even broken ground yet. A co worker is leaving, and she put her house on the market, and over the first weekend had five offers above asking by Monday morning. So... the market is hot to say the least. Which says people want to live here right now.
I'm originally from rural New Mexico, but I've never really liked Albuquerque in the times that I've been there, and I want at least the possibility of a social life, so the smaller towns are probably not options.
Well, New Mexico checks all of your boxes. You don't have to live in Albuquerque but still take advantage of what is offered in the metro. The communities outside of the city are attractive to some. Rio Rancho has 100k population. Santa Fe appeals to some but is smaller. It depends on what you are looking for in a social life. Everything is somewhat laid back and runs on New Mexico time...which you are probably aware of.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
