Good Places to Live in the USA?

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slims246
This might be a very broad question but I'm curious about peoples opinions on good places to live in the USA. I've got American citizenship but I've never lived there. I spent 7 months this year hiking the entire 2184 mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine and after that experience I've decided I want to move there permanently.

Any advice for a 23 year old guy who only has an Associates Degree in Computer Studies, loves hiking and the outdoors and has no clue where to go?
 
BIAS ALERT!

Pittsburgh is a very nice place, the scenery is beautiful and I'm sure you could get a job with a software firm. We're close to the Appalachian mountains (we have some nice hills ourselves, though), so if you want to go hiking or camping it's not far.
 
slims
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Any advice for a 23 year old guy who only has an Associates Degree in Computer Studies, loves hiking and the outdoors and has no clue where to go?
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You have just described 70% of the population of the greater Seattle area. If you're ok with a fair amount of rain in the winter, its a great place to live. Good place to find a job in computing too, what with Microsoft & Amazon here, plus a fair number of gaming studios. Tons of outdoorsy activities here too, hiking, skiing/snowboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, etc.
 
Western Washington is a good place. Lots of things to do. Hiking, biking, boating, etc. Seattle is a decent place to live.
 
West coast is really nice. California, Washington, Oregon.

Sure I have bias because I used to live in the west coast but there are three things on why it's nicer to me.

1. Women
2. Weather, greenery, mountains.
3. Culture(s)
 
Dennisch
Canada.
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Best answer 👍.

We have less people than the USA, a lot of the same stuff, and more unique things.

Personally, there's so much here that there really isn't a reason to not be here.

(I'm not saying this because I do co-op at a local tourism company, but because I actually think this :p)

But in all seriousness, if I were looking at living in the States, three places I'd consider are:

- St. Louis, Missouri
- Portland, Oregon
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
 
vandenal
Best answer 👍.
- St. Louis, Missouri
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Stay the **** away from here!

This place is not good. People are ********s and are extreme conservatives (I have no political preference)

Also the City is dead. People from Wildwood, and Chesterfield only come down here for Baseball and pizza.

The deeper parts of the city are filled with near poverty people.

No offense to you Vandenal.
 
vandenal
What, scared of an intelligent 17 year old? :p.

It's a beautiful city.
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Lol. I'm still living here. I was born here. I had to move to California for a few years then I moved back. Big mistake.

Just stay out of the Eastern parts and deep parts of the city. The Central West
End and Delmar are decent enough.

But like I said. Baseball and Pizza... Thats all. The football team sucked since 2002-2003.
 
vandenal
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
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Uh, no.

He'll live there 6 months, travel somewhere else, probably Dallas since it's close & want to move there immediately once he sees how dull Oklahoma is in comparison. It is 1 of the most-boring "major" cities in the US if you have ever lived in near any of the others.

They've done an amazing job with their own "Riverwalk" & have a sports team worth rooting for that has breathed new life into the city. Which is fine IF it's the only thing you've ever been exposed to in life.... A good chunk of the city including city hall isn't even a remotely nice part of town.

It's just a boring city to be in for tourists or people seeking several activities. You can do everything in 2 days tops because everything revolves around a 4-6 block radius. I only go up there to visit family & come straight back down b/c I can not possibly keep myself entertained long enough without tearing my hair out. And once you have done everything there once, there is no reason to do it again anytime soon.


I'd mimic the rest & tell you to move to my city/country, but I have no idea what it is you're looking for in a city. Dallas is a major bridge between the coasts so almost everything comes through here meaning it has a vast amount of people of almost all lifestyles & wealth w/ counties that represent those groups perfectly.

Texas as a whole, if you have considered here has a lot to offer as long as you can live with the summers. It just depends on what it is you're looking for in a home town as Austin, Dallas, & Houston all have their own little ways of life.
 
vandenal
- Portland, Oregon
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Eww, no. Why would you live in Portland? It's a smaller Seattle with more hipsters, less things to do and less natural beauty. It's just a worse Seattle. The only good thing is they have no sales tax; but Seattle has no income tax.


If you can, it may be good to get a full computer science degree. With one, a lot of doors open to you, and there are plenty of good cities that you can get a job in. It'll be hard to just move without some sort of job lined up, but of course it can be done.

Each region has it's own quirks, things to do, weather, food, culture, customs and laws. If you like the outdoors and hiking, then you can count out most of the middle of America (it's pretty flat out there). However, that still leaves a lot of possible places. We need a little more information; and you need to visit the places you want to move to first.

Where would you be coming from?
 
That question is almost impossible to answer. But because I am also a 23 year old that enjoys hiking and the outdoors, I'd say New England is the place to be.

Where I live in Connecticut I get the best of all worlds. I can go hiking, camping, skiing, and biking in New Hampshire or Vermont with only a short drive. But I'm also a short drive from a race track (Lime Rock Park), and a train ride from Boston or New York City.

My only complaint is the snow. I hate snow. ;)
 
SPhilli911
That question is almost impossible to answer. But because I am also a 23 year old that enjoys hiking and the outdoors, I'd say New England is the place to be.

Where I live in Connecticut I get the best of all worlds. I can go hiking, camping, skiing, and biking in New Hampshire or Vermont with only a short drive. But I'm also a short drive from a race track (Lime Rock Park), and a train ride from Boston or New York City.

My only complaint is the snow. I hate snow. ;)
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Cost of living in Connecticut is ridiculous though.
Second highest gas prices in the country iirc.
Other than that Connecticut is good for your reasons.

I love Vermont and New Hampshire though. Not sure where you'd find any sort of software job there though.

Boston is a nice city, much better than Manhattan IMO.

Just stay out of the south east: zombies and rednecks.
 
If you really liked the Appalachian Trail, then maybe them hills is the right place fer ya. North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky. Even northern Georgia and Alabama.

Deep South may be too hot and humid for you. Depends on what you're used to. When I go "home" to Oklahoma my cousins and uncles wonder at my willingness to go outside in 105-degree weather. Yeah, it's hot, but it's nothing compared to 99 degrees and 99% humidity here at home in August. OTOH, it's been years since I've seen water outdoors in its solid state, which is fine by me.

To me the midwest (PA, OH, IN, etc.) is either too industrialized, or too agriculturalized. Farms or factories, doesn't seem to be anything else. Perhaps stereotying slightly, but that's what I see when passing through.

If I could deal with winter, I really like Colorado and Wyoming. I'm just not into winter. At all.

Zombies? Really? :dopey: And there're rednecks anywhere. They just have different names for 'em elsewhere.
 
Crash
Eww, no. Why would you live in Portland? It's a smaller Seattle with more hipsters, less things to do and less natural beauty. It's just a worse Seattle. The only good thing is they have no sales tax; but Seattle has no income tax.


If you can, it may be good to get a full computer science degree. With one, a lot of doors open to you, and there are plenty of good cities that you can get a job in. It'll be hard to just move without some sort of job lined up, but of course it can be done.

Each region has it's own quirks, things to do, weather, food, culture, customs and laws. If you like the outdoors and hiking, then you can count out most of the middle of America (it's pretty flat out there). However, that still leaves a lot of possible places. We need a little more information; and you need to visit the places you want to move to first.

Where would you be coming from?
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........................................ wtf?

WTFCRASH!!!!

:lol:

I think the Seattle versus Portland argument is mostly valid, but Portland is not too far from the coast, mountains, deserts, forests, canyons, and being smaller than Seattle has its advantages. I will give you that I have to cross state line into Washington every time just to visit a decent shooting range. :D

Oregon & Washington's really both nice, but couple of con's:

1) Gray weather - Rain provides us with beautiful nature, but you deal with rain & cloudy weather for good part of the year with the exception of summer. Even I got sick of it for couple of years. I really wanted to go somewhere sunnier, like 'Zona, New Mexico, somewhere like that.

2) Expected megaquake & Canadian invasion - When Canada attack, first thing they'll take down is the Space Needle, so Seattle's out. We are also due anytime for what is expected to be a megaquake of historic scale. Lot of older structures in both Portland & Seattle, we are not sure what to expect.
 
In the US, I've only been to Buffalo, NYC, New Hampshire, Vermont, Michigan (Flint and Grand Rapids), and Orlando (Disney Land). As for a place to live, out of those places (which I've admittedly only seen on vacation), I'd choose New Hampshire. NH is a beautiful spot, with some seriously gorgeous natural spots. That being said, NH is rather small as far as population is concerned, which limits the types of services and shops you'll be able to find there. All I can say is that my trip to NH was awesome, and I thoroughly enjoyed the state.

Also, don't discount Grand Rapids, Michigan. YSSMAN lives there if you'd like some more in depth information about the city, but I visited in March for a concert (The Black Keys) and I was amazed by the city. The downtown core of Grand Rapids is very clean and really beautiful, was quite a contrast from Buffalo and Detroit.
 
Crash
Eww, no.
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McLaren
Uh, no.
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^This, is why I rarely frequent this site anymore.

The OP asks for my opinion, and I suggested where I would live. Places I think I would live. I didn't just throw these cities out on a whim, rather I researched these cities and found I would enjoy living there.

If you didn't agree with me, you could merely ignore my post, as you aren't the one who asked for suggestions.
 
Sooo much bad advise in this thread. Holy cow!

Places to consider for CS (in no particular order):

- Seattle (thread got that one right)
- Portland
- Austin
- Denver
- Dallas/Ft Worth
- San Francisco (this is not for everyone, and definitely not for me, but it fits some)

That's about all I've got. The entire east coast is pretty much terrible. The Atlantic is pathetic compared to the pacific and there are no mountains to hike/ski in. All of the awesome national parks are in the west:

- Yosemite (California)
- Yellowstone (Wyoming)
- Rocky Mountain (Colorado)
- Badlands (South Dakota)
- Grand Canyon (Arizona)
- Sequoia (California)
- Columbia River Gorge (Oregon)
- Redwoods (California)
- Death Valley (California)
- Glacier (Montana)
- Channel Islands (California)
- Zion (Utah)
- Bryce (Utah)
- Arches (Utah)
- Niagra Falls (ok got me)

You can't get to any of that stuff from the east coast without a long flight. Austin is fairly isolated from most of that stuff too, but it's an awesome enough city (fantastic food) that it's worth a consideration anyway.

If you live in some of those cities, you can drive to Vegas. From Vegas (while staying in an awesome hotel room for cheap) you can hit Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon with day trips. Vegas is so under appreciated...
 
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This is worth considering as well. Some states are poised for long-term economic pain. These are the worst:

Death_Spiral_States.png
 
Upstate NY, contrary to popular belief, we have forests up here as well as mountains.
 
San Francisco is not as weird as it's made out to be, especially if you live in the surrounding Bay Area cities. I'm hoping to move there soon myself, but will probably end up in LA instead.
 
If I had to move right now to another city that I have been too or has me interested.

Asheville, NC
New Orleans, LA
Colorado Springs, CO
Arizona
Possibly somewhere in PNW.
 
vandenal
^This, is why I rarely frequent this site anymore.

The OP asks for my opinion, and I suggested where I would live. Places I think I would live. I didn't just throw these cities out on a whim, rather I researched these cities and found I would enjoy living there.

If you didn't agree with me, you could merely ignore my post, as you aren't the one who asked for suggestions.
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They strongly disagreed because they've lived there versus your research about those locations. Their knowledge and experience trumps yours, so don't try to play it off as you're just a smart kid that knows a lot. Basically, drop the attitude.

Takumi Fujiwara
San Francisco is not as weird as it's made out to be, especially if you live in the surrounding Bay Area cities. I'm hoping to move there soon myself, but will probably end up in LA instead.
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San Francisco is amazing, and the only reason I'm not living there right now is because it is so damn expensive unless you have an awesome job.

Which a CS degree can get you for sure.
 
phillkillv2
Stay the **** away from here!

This place is not good. People are ********s and are extreme conservatives (I have no political preference)

Also the City is dead. People from Wildwood, and Chesterfield only come down here for Baseball and pizza.

The deeper parts of the city are filled with near poverty people.

No offense to you Vandenal.
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Would you happen to know how it is around Washington U and Uni of St Louis? Was thinking of taking a trip to check out the med schools there since I'm going to visit my cousin in Arkansas's CoM. I liked Kansas City when I was there for Jeopardy, but I didn't get to see a lot of the city and it was kinda dead except for the restaurant strip. Nothing but trains. But I figured that's just because I'm used to Miami-Ft.Lauderdale metropolis.
 

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