Which of these areas would be good for me? (home, to live in)

[Jordo15]

Hey guys, I'm currently 19 working on my pilot's licenses. As soon as I have my commercial license I plan on moving to the US. Hopefully the city I decide on has a market for it.

For all my life I've lived on Vancouver Island (Canada), mainly Victoria BC.

The problem is I know that I'm very fortunate that I live where I do, as it is a pretty nice place. It's safe, weather isnt as bad as the rest of canada (which is why I want to move to the US, only place left in CAN is east, which gets progressively colder), nice mix of city and countryside (once you're out of the city).
I've lived here all my life though and I need to make a change, I can't be stuck on this island for the rest of my life.

I have no idea what the states is like, but due to just general ideas I think I may like:

-portland, oregon, sounds like it could have nice countrysides outside of the city, as I hear theres some nice hiking in mountains and all that kinda stuff.
-was going to say seattle, but probably too big/busy for me. Also rainy :P
-new orleans, louisiana. NO IDEA why this appeals to me, I don't know too much about it, but something about it intrigues me. For some reason I don't picture myself in the south, and louisiana of all places, but the city has something different about it I think.
-somewhere in utah, love the scenery, love mountains. Seems like it matches quite a bit of the things im looking for (see below). Just no idea of what salt lake city is actually like itself.

I don't know much about anywhere else in the US.


Basically in a city/subcity I'm looking for:

-Friendly people (and possibly a city where art is common, mainly music, not galleries etc.). Besides friendly people, it'd be nice if it was easy to meet people (although its the things you do that govern this, so probably not a real issue. I also kind of mean a place where people are willing to talk to you, instead of instantly passing you off as a stranger). Hopefully open minded as well. It seems like northern states are more like this, but not too sure what really appeals to me in the north, as washington is pretty close to where I live so it wouldn't feel like a big change. I could see myself in the middle probably though, like somewhere in utah or illinois, but no idea what these states are like. I LOVE the wilderness of Utah though, just no idea if salt lake city or whatever is that great or not as I never hear anything about it.

-Pilot job opportunities (dont think too hard about this, but if you notice planes frequently then that's a good sign. Too bad I need to move from BC though as there's jobs for float planes, transportation etc for a general beginner/earlier careers)

-possibility of getting out into nature on a weekend or whatever so you can breathe. Sometimes it's nice to get a breather outside of the city, but it'd be hard to stay in the countryside year round.

-not much snow/rain. BC is envied compared to eastern canada, yet I still can't stand the winters! Everytime winter rolls around the weather just depresses me for months on end.

I don't plan on moving to California though, just so nobody suggests that. Maybe it's just the vision I have of it, but I'm not too into it.

Thanks guys, just throw anything out there and leave a little comment about them if you can

EDIT: damn, just the pictures make me want to move to utah I just have no idea what the social aspect is like there. I hear its very religious, which I'm fine with. Hopefully it'd mean they're all good people right?
Not sure how exciting it is there either. Being young and enjoying the occasional parties, the whole strict alcohol thing going on there might be a bit of a downer and affect the night life (which im not too into, but the occasional night would be enjoyed, guessing they still have bars and all that, just not on sundays?)

The thing that worries me is the worry that there's going to be nobody around that is like me. I used to live in a small town and always felt so different, I was into indie/udnerground music where others just listened to the top 40's and would look at me as weird for liking different things (this is just one example, I'm really fond of music though). Then I moved to the city on the same island and BAM, surrounded by people with similar interests and fitting in quite well.
Moving is freaky because you have no idea if it's truly a place you'll find yourself at home in, even though the small town was my home, it never felt right until I went to the city. No idea what to expect moving to an entirely new area of the world.

All I know is that I can't stay in the same place I've been for 19 years much longer, no matter how happy I am with the place statistically.
A lot of my best friends are thinking of leaving too, all to random places/countries, so I might as well start anew as well once I have my career training done.

Damn can't find the edit button again. Weird.

Anyways, HOLY ****, Jeremiah Johnson was filmed in Utah. My favourite movie :O
I knew those mountains looked familiar.

DANG! It's between Oregon (easy move from BC) or Utah I think. Would love some positives/negatives of each if you live in them/visited.

Thanks guys