Moving out of PA. GA, FL, NC, or VA (Atlanta: apartment, renting)

[aluhv]

Hello all. I am new to this website so I am not sure if i'm posting in the correct category.
So anyways. My fiance and I plan to move out of Pennsylvannia for good. There's no excitement here in PA, just boredom and it's also a commonwealth. He's originally from The Virgin Islands but he has lived in Florida. I'm originally from Brooklyn, New York. We are a young couple in our early, early 20s and thinking about relocating down south. I only visited Orlando, Florida when I was younger and fell in love, however I would not want to relocate there now after researching and discovering there's a lot of crime that transpires in the city. We have a few states in mind: Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and/or Virginia. We are searching for somewhat of a small town, lots of greenery, friendly people, access to a lot of outdoor activitie, little to NO CRIME, GREAT COLLEGES, and peace. Any suggestions? When it comes to Florida I don't care much for Orlando, Tampa, or Miami. (Or any areas very close the the cities listed) When it comes to Georgia, we are not interested in living ANY WHERE near Atlanta or Savannah. For North Carolina, Charlotte is definetly crossed off the list.
We do have two cars we are bringing so transportation will not be an issue. We are thinking about renting for now (apartment wise), we both attend college.

A.

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[NewJW]

You might look at Athens Georgia if you are looking for a college town. It's not too close to Atlanta(about 1hour fifteen minutes or so from there) My family lived their for three years. We enjoyed it! The University of Georgia is there and the town seems to be all about UGA. We found the people to be very friendly and a pretty liberal place to be in my opinion. We had to move due to my husband's job transfer unfortunately. We really enjoyed our time there. There is crime though, but we never had any problems while we were there. There are nice parks there too Sandy Creek, Memorial Park, bike trails,etc. I don't know about the job market though. I've been gone for a year. Good luck!

[midgeorgiaman]

For the record, the term commonwealth is just an old English term dating from the 15th century meaning good of all. The state government works the same. Being a native of VA, I have heard people complain about that all of my life and with a little research, one finds that the term is just that, traditional, and it has nothing to do with anything. but I guess if the word bothers you, VA is out too because it is the Commonwealth of Virginia as are Mass. and Kentucky.

[DaBurgh]

Knoxville, TN
Columbia, SC
and Athens, GA (as another poster mentioned)

[MovedfromFL]

Boring and "low crime" often go together. I wonder how exciting you will find Athens, GA to be?

I think you should give FL another look. There are plenty of areas without the crime that you see in the news. There are plenty of New Yorkers here as well. I think you need to re-think your idea of paradise in a little southern town. From my own experience, folks are not always open to newcomers. You also have to realize that many of these towns are very conservative. I moved away from FL for 4 years and just returned. I much prefer life here. Plenty of family activities in most areas too.
Also, many states are preparing for further cuts to college budgets. FL just raised tuition by 15% but I'm sure many other states did as well.

[Ollie1946]

i live in athens. high unemployment. if you don't have a job to come to, don't. in GA we pay annual property taxes on our vehicles. ad valorem taxes. it varies from county to county. my 2005 pickup will cost me well over 200 dollars this year in taxes plus 20 bucks for a new tag sticker.

rents are high given the student demand.