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Old 07-21-2013, 09:12 PM
 
91,975 posts, read 122,078,964 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn View Post
HA, some friends got married this week in Cazenovia, NY..Steve and Stephen....they
have 13 rescue dogs!

Any small town in Minn would be great, you betcha.
What people do not know is that the overall cost of living in much of Upstate NY is around the national average. Those communities I mentioned are near many college campuses or in the case of Cazenovia, has one in town(but isn't a college town). You can get plenty of house around here for $260,000 too. Plenty of lakes and rivers, including lakeside beaches. Skaneateles, which is an affluent village and town nearby, has music festivals, a Charles Dickens event around Christmas and more. Skaneateles Area Chamber Of Commerce - Welcome to Skaneateles

Another Upstate NY community that may work is East Aurora near Buffalo. It is home to Fisher-Price and has events/festivals as well. Village of East Aurora, NY

GREATER EAST AURORA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

You can find such communities throughout Upstate NY and near colleges.
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Old 07-21-2013, 09:48 PM
 
Location: Buena Vista, Colorado
2 posts, read 5,981 times
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Wow, based on some of the replies, I'm not sure what people consider a small town. Most of the suggested locations seem anything but. For example, we currently live in a REAL small town (pop ~2,500) in central Colorado since I retired but we used to live in Boulder, CO. Lots of "open space nearby and many former Californians living there and my daughter, who is married to a physics professor, lives nearby in a relatively small community called Superior. However, during the time we lived in Boulder I used to travel up to Ft. Collins (home of Colorado State University) to judge in the state science fairs and always found it to be a particularly friendly and welcoming place off-campus with more of the small town flavors than any other university location closer to Denver. You will get occasional snow in winter and early spring but would be less than an hour away from Rocky Mountain National Park which is beautiful during the warmer seasons and you would also be very close to fabulous winter activities all along the Front Range and the central Colorado mountain areas.
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Old 07-22-2013, 09:52 AM
 
1,344 posts, read 3,383,824 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tomgatliffe View Post
Wow, based on some of the replies, I'm not sure what people consider a small town. Most of the suggested locations seem anything but.
Those are the village towns. The ones that actually make it on maps.

I'll use East Aurora NY listed in the previous post as an example.
Yep, the town has a main street and village and a decent population.
- Go South 5 miles and you hit South Wales. One light in town and no village. Population is about 2000.
- Go East 5 miles (through Wales Center which has a speed zone, no light) and beyond that it's mainly farmland.
- Going North, you're heading towards Buffalo suburbs then the city itself. That's where the colleges and business are.
- Going West you'll hit Buffalo's southern suburbs. That's where the malls and such will be found.

So, you can live 5 miles outside East Aurora in rural areas. Day-to-day shopping in the village. A 35-45 minute drive to most of the Buffalo area.
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Old 07-22-2013, 01:35 PM
 
91,975 posts, read 122,078,964 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanR View Post
Those are the village towns. The ones that actually make it on maps.

I'll use East Aurora NY listed in the previous post as an example.
Yep, the town has a main street and village and a decent population.
- Go South 5 miles and you hit South Wales. One light in town and no village. Population is about 2000.
- Go East 5 miles (through Wales Center which has a speed zone, no light) and beyond that it's mainly farmland.
- Going North, you're heading towards Buffalo suburbs then the city itself. That's where the colleges and business are.
- Going West you'll hit Buffalo's southern suburbs. That's where the malls and such will be found.

So, you can live 5 miles outside East Aurora in rural areas. Day-to-day shopping in the village. A 35-45 minute drive to most of the Buffalo area.
Yeah, villages usually aren't that big in NY State. East Aurora has a whopping 6200 people. Some of the others I mentioned are lower in population and are generally surrounded by farm land once you leave them. What is cool about villages is that they offer some walkability in a smaller scale. Here are some streetviews: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=east+...48.53,,0,-0.42

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=skane...119.26,,0,1.88

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=marce...,89.73,,0,0.07

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=homer...23.37,,0,-4.93

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=tully...297.3,,0,-0.56

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=cazen...295.58,,0,5.56

Last edited by ckhthankgod; 07-22-2013 at 02:35 PM..
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Old 07-23-2013, 12:29 PM
 
Location: Sierra Nevada Land, CA
9,455 posts, read 12,467,409 times
Reputation: 16449
Quote:
Originally Posted by InLoveW/3Boys View Post
Hi there!
So we're in the process of moving out of the craziness that is Southern California and I love the idea of a small, family-friendly, community-based small town. I'm really yearning for a town where neighbors know eachother and help eachother out. Where people are warm and friendly. Where you don't feel alone in a huge sea of people. Does this still exist?
I am glad you said Southern CA. CA is a huge state and only 3% of it is urban. There are tons of small towns in Central and northern CA that fit your bill as to friendly, warm and safe

Quote:
Originally Posted by InLoveW/3Boys View Post
Thanks Everyone!!
And thanks RyanR, I'll try that as well.
We're looking for cost of living to be much cheaper then it is in California. Where you can buy a decent house for under $260k. Also, we LOVE to swim so a lake and/or rivers in the area would be great (or houses on the market with pools, which I'm finding isn't all that common outside of the West). A commute time of under 30 minutes would be ideal. Community activities would be awesome. For example, .
Sounds like my area, where the median home price is $170K and have a Community College. Tons of events, three live theatres and if you like the outdoors there a literally millions of acre to play in...

But then, *no one* has a pool. We do have stoplights and two MacDonalds!

But if you want to leave CA? Then...
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Old 07-23-2013, 10:27 PM
 
Location: Jamestown, NY
7,840 posts, read 9,140,172 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod View Post
Perhaps places like Marcellus, Tully, Cazenovia, Chittenango and Homer, among others in Upstate NY.
More NY college towns:
Allegany, NY (St Bonaventure University)
Fredonia, NY (Fredonia State)
Geneseo, NY (Geneseo State)
Hamilton, NY (Colgate University)
Lewiston, NY (Niagara University, Niagara County Community College)
Saranac Lake, NY (North Country Community College)
A couple from Western PA:
Bradford, PA (University of Pittsburgh, Bradford)
Edinboro, PA (Edinboro University)
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Old 07-25-2013, 05:36 PM
 
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains
1,912 posts, read 3,208,670 times
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Check out areas around Boone, NC. GOOD LUCK
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Old 07-26-2013, 09:31 PM
 
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,554 posts, read 57,471,708 times
Reputation: 45908
While you are looking at KY, check out nearby NE TN (no income tax).
Lots of friendly small towns and affordable rural housing.

I prefer Kingsport, Greeneville, and Jonesborough, TN. (no / rare tornado, minor snow, not as 'muggy' as mid TN and KY)

No income tax State was very good during my earning yrs (we homeschooled and took LOTS of 2 - 3 month field trips + lived Internationally several places).

Lots of options.
Good luck
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Old 07-27-2013, 08:21 AM
 
Location: New England
3,845 posts, read 7,912,758 times
Reputation: 5996
Hanover NH , and you have Dartmouth right there. You can always live outside of town

there are a lot of towns in NH that are small and near larger schools/universities. He could also commute to Boston/Mass if you lived coastal to southern NH
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Old 07-27-2013, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Central, IL
3,382 posts, read 4,065,006 times
Reputation: 1379
OP....
A town you could check into is Clinton Illinois....
//www.city-data.com/city/Clinton-Illinois.html

It is a town of about 7000, it is warm, friendly with lots of community events. within driving distance there are multiple universities and colleges. ie... ISU, UofI, Illinois Wesleyan, Milikin, Richland, hearland, lincolnland, parkland etc...

The mean price of houses are less then 100k, the average rent is less then 500. Due to its location, residents of Clinton are able to travel to large cities if wanted for large city entertainment, such as Chicago or St. Louis which are both less then 3hrs away.
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