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Phoenix - Beautiful scenery, loaded with professionals and successful women, exciting growth area, very outdoors oriented
Colorado - Ultimate outdoors culture, tons of young people and job growth. This area includes Colorado Springs and from Denver to Boulder to Fort Collins. Yes it can be pricey.
Florida - St. Pete and South Tampa are big area for young professionals and jobs. Fort Lauderdale is another one along with Delray. Also Orlando which is nicer and more cultured than I expected. Jacksonville is on the upswing and now a major growth area.
Boise - Fast growing, great scenery nearby, many professionals
Asheville - Mountains, hipsters, growing
Portland and Seattle - Hills and mountains, booming economies.
Charleston, SC - booming, women love this city, beaches
From your description, wanting something exciting and scenic preferably with beaches, Tampa and St. Pete, Fort Lauderdale and Delray sound like good options. Charleston, SC is very scenic, booming, and loaded with women; you should seriously look at that one. And Phoenix (particularly Scottsdale) has an Atlanta vibe in terms of jobs and countless young professionals and prosperity but surrounded by cool mountains and desert and an outdoor culture.
Arizona is too dry for me - I had family in Scottsdale and would get constant nose bleeds - no fun.
I know nothing about Asheville, will look into it.
I keep hearing about Boise, I'll have to check it out.
I hadn't considered Charleston, I'll put it on the list.
The PNW is beautiful... but the politics... eh
Tampa is probably the number one choice. I hear the elderly population is quite large, but hey that means more business for PT right? It seems like I could just get my Florida therapy license, apply all over and find a good job. If I don't like the exact location, move to a new city!
New though - which cities might have direct flights to buffalo, would make it easy to shoot home and see the family for a weekend.
New though - which cities might have direct flights to buffalo, would make it easy to shoot home and see the family for a weekend.
This would be a weak point for Boise. While the Boise Airport has okay direct flights to parts of the West Coast, you're almost certainly looking at connecting flights for most of the East Coast. The same if probably true of Salt Lake City even though it's a bigger/busier airport.
Arizona is too dry for me - I had family in Scottsdale and would get constant nose bleeds - no fun.
I know nothing about Asheville, will look into it.
I keep hearing about Boise, I'll have to check it out.
I hadn't considered Charleston, I'll put it on the list.
The PNW is beautiful... but the politics... eh
Tampa is probably the number one choice. I hear the elderly population is quite large, but hey that means more business for PT right? It seems like I could just get my Florida therapy license, apply all over and find a good job. If I don't like the exact location, move to a new city!
New though - which cities might have direct flights to buffalo, would make it easy to shoot home and see the family for a weekend.
Direct to BUF:
Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Cancun (seasonal)
Charlotte
Chicago (O’Hare & Midway)
Dallas (DFW)
Denver
Detroit
Fort Lauderdale
Fort Myers
Las Vegas
Los Angeles (LAX)
Minneapolis-St. Paul
New York (JFK, LaGuardia, & Newark)
Orlando
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Raleigh-Durham
Tampa
Washington (Reagan & Dulles)
I have a buddy outside of Portland who runs a physical therapy practice in a fantastic community. He says finding staff is a challenge so I assume he is not alone. Portland checks your boxes. PM me if you want more details.
Lots of retired folks and a very active outdoor sports population. Mountains, lakes and lots of outdoor activities here. Beaches up at Lake Tahoe, desert lakes or a five hour drive to the Pacific Ocean for a vacation.
The Reno/Carson City area, but it's a higher COL here overall compared to the South.
OP, you're in Houston, so how do you feel about humidity? If it's as annoying to you as it is to me, I would skip Orlando and Charleston. Not sure about Tampa; I know it gets humid there, but I'm not sure if the nearby ocean would produce enough breezes to make it bearable. On the Florida east coast, the wind tends to blow from the east, so any of the coastal cities would be at least somewhat more bearable.
OP, you're in Houston, so how do you feel about humidity? If it's as annoying to you as it is to me, I would skip Orlando and Charleston. Not sure about Tampa; I know it gets humid there, but I'm not sure if the nearby ocean would produce enough breezes to make it bearable. On the Florida east coast, the wind tends to blow from the east, so any of the coastal cities would be at least somewhat more bearable.
I don't really mind the humidity. In fact I much prefer it to desert-like dry weather, as I'm very prone to nosebleeds. I once visited Arizona and my nose was bleeding before I got off the plane. The thing I can't stand about Houston is the smell and terrible air quality. Every time I visit home (Buffalo) the first thing I notice is how much nicer everything smells. I'm thinking Tampa might be my best bet overall.
I have a buddy outside of Portland who runs a physical therapy practice in a fantastic community. He says finding staff is a challenge so I assume he is not alone. Portland checks your boxes. PM me if you want more details.
What exactly is Portland like day to day? The PNW does appeal to me and seems nice overall, but did develop a bit of a bad reputation recently due things like CHAZ, riots etc. Other than that it's certainly a place I'd consider.
What exactly is Portland like day to day? The PNW does appeal to me and seems nice overall, but did develop a bit of a bad reputation recently due things like CHAZ, riots etc. Other than that it's certainly a place I'd consider.
We were out that way this past summer. Very grimy, massive homeless problem, lots of boarded up businesses. Really sad, not the tidy hip Portland I loved to visit not many years ago.
Oddly, Google Street View hasn't updated their imagery for Downtown Portland since pre-pandemic (2019) But you can find YouTube videos of people driving around to get an idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfdsHsFPsZs
My sense is that the 'burbs around Portland are still pretty nice, though.
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But you can find YouTube videos of people driving around to get an idea: 
