Living in America: The BEST place to live and work?

[PADDY]

From your own experiences of what 'you' want out of life and getting a good work/life balance...WHERE is the best place in the USA to live and work..and WHY?

So think about weather; geography (eg: do you like the great outdoors, a beach life, the big city, a small rural community...etc..?); transport; things do do socially; work; house styles and prices..etc, etc

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Phoenix, Arizona

No Earthquakes
No Hurricanes
No Tornadoes
No Tsunamis
No Floods
No Snow
No Rain

 

[freebird]

N.E. Oklahoma, Lakes, Ozark Mountains, small towns (population where I live is 1,500), laid back lifestyle. Tornado's are the only drawback, but you can always have a saferoom or a storm shelter built.

 

[cookie]

AZ

No Earthquakes
No Hurricanes
No Tornadoes
No Tsunamis
No Floods
No Snow
No Rain

Future POTUS?

 

[Edward]

No Rain

That would kill me - my Celtic skin is designed for a wet climate. I can't take the sun at all! lol

Paddy.... considering a move abroad?

 

[scotrace]

"Go West, Young Man." I'd surely like to.

 

[Smithy]

No Earthquakes
No Hurricanes
No Tornadoes
No Tsunamis
No Floods
No Snow
No Rain

And no sea

I honestly couldn't live somewhere landlocked, it'd drive me barmy.

 

[RIOT]

The center of the universe

NYC

Loud noises
Busy
Public Transportation
City that never sleeps
Bar at ever corner
New York style pizza
Annoying tourist
Rude people (with a charm)
Yankees
Great bridges
If you can make it here you can make it anywhere

 

[Sunny]

I'm a little biased.

North Texas/Dallas-Fort Worth

No Earthquakes
No Hurricanes
<del>No Tornadoes</del> (I happen to enjoy thunderstorms; occasional tornadoes/hail/high winds are just the breaks)
No Tsunamis
No Floods
<del>No Snow</del> (once or twice a year)
<del>No Rain</del> (a reasonable amount in spring and fall/winter)
No sea (sorry)

Chilly to cold winters, hot, dry summers.
Low humidity!
Low cost of living.
Friendly people.
Lots of room.

Don't fence me in...

 

[nobodyspecial]

Minnesota, a great place to live but you wouldn't want to vacation there.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Minnesota, a great place to live but you wouldn't want to vacation there.

If I didn't have so much family in the Midwest I'd be in Minneapolis or Madison WI no question about it--a good dollop of culture but easy access to rural areas, lakes, etc. Decent property prices/cost of living (especially compared to Boston!). Four seasons and I didn't mind the winters (but I did grow up there!). Everyone I know seems to be moving to North Carolina and raving about the good weather, decent home prices, etc. New York, Boston and San Francisco are great but horrifically expensive.

More info on this can be found here: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/

and here

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/bigcities/

 

[PhilS]

NYC, Baby

Four seasons
Access to everywhere
Foods, people and cultures of the world
Museums, plays, and music aplenty
Cheap and reliable mass transit
Pizza and Guinness on every block

 

[Rufus]

NYC is great... But Americaners don't drink enough... You go into a bar, and people leave after a few drinks..... most disconcerting...

Grimaldi's Pizza in Brooklyn made the trip worth it though.

I also found people very polite, not rude at all...although everyone was very eager to point out how rude evrybody was! Even the drug dealers I met on the street were friendly.


I live in London...now we know hoew to be rude. We ignore everything and everyone.

Viva la NY!

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

NYC is great... But Americaners don't drink enough... You go into a bar, and people leave after a few drinks..... most disconcerting...

This is absolutely false. You clearly hang out with the wrong people. lol

I don't know what the best place is to live and work, but being a city girl, I'd probably cast my lot in with LA or NYC. Culture, hustle and bustle, something to do around every corner. With LA you have to drive, but with NYC you have winter. With both, incredibly expensive housing.

If I want to see nature, I can visit it. Both cities have natural beauty within a short distance.

 

[RIOT]

NYC is great... But Americaners don't drink enough... You go into a bar, and people leave after a few drinks..... most disconcerting...

Not when I hit the bars! Or until they run out of Scotch

 

[Paisley]

I like Denver: low taxes, low humidity, few bugs, lots of jobs, lots of swing dancing. The climate is good for gardening, as long as you don't insist on growing woodland plants. Oh, and bars and restaurants are non-smoking.

It's pretty clean, too: there's a $500 fine for littering.

Winters are normally pretty mild compared to the Midwest and north, although the last two winters have been the coldest I can remember.

 

[Rufus]

Obviously the next time I hit NYC I'll be looking up the FL Iron Liver Brigade!

Ruf

 

[Decodence]

I'll give a second vote to Phoenix, but I've been finding myself thinking about Charlotte/Raleigh/Chapel Hill/Asheville, NC lately. Maybe in 5-7 years when the RE market here is strong again. I'd like to always keep a place in Phoenix as I love it, but that may not be an option.

 

[Joie DeVive]

I'm with Paisley! I wouldn't trade Denver (or more precisely, it's suburbs) for anywhere.

We have:

• Moderately priced real estate. (It's somewhat expensive if you're coming from the mid-west, but cheap if your coming from the west coast).
• A relatively low cost of living with fairly high income.
• A great system of parks and open spaces.
• Good, affordable public transport which is improving even now.
• Fairly low taxes.
• Reasonable weather. Repeated snows in the winter, but they usually melt off in a week. I love summer rain showers, myself.
• No earthquakes or hurricanes.
• Lots of cultural, and educational points of interest.
• And really nice people!

 

[David Conwill]

Northwest Michigan!

West Michigan north of the Saginaw Bay Line. Four seasons, lots to do, big lake that the sun sets over. Medium-friendly people (we're midwesterners, after all). No congestion, but not so far away from everything that you can't get to it (I'm only about four hours from Chicago, for instance). Very few tornados, no perpetual-drought-induced wildfires, no earthquakes of any consequence, no contagious disease, and lots of trees.

Aside from the (presently) crummy economy, it's like heaven on earth. I can't stand the thought that I might have to leave here to find work.

-Dave