With my hunting for a job and a number of other factors in my life, an item which has been floating around in the back of my head has been a mix of “What did I like about places I lived in the past?” and “What would have me consider moving?”. And just to make it more difficult, because of those factors, it morphed into an interesting but even more thought provoking question, which is summed up as:
Totally ignoring individuals who currently live in given locations (and no coordinating with others to end up someplace jointly agreed upon), if you had to relocate to someplace at least a 2.5+ hours or 150 miles away within the continental US (or whatever country you currently reside), where would you move or not move, and why??
Now, for me this would rule out places such as Richmond, Roanoke, Danville, Blacksburg, Wytheville, or Hagerstown MD, to say nothing of Covington, or Greenbank. And places like Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Beckley WV are just barely outside of that “radius”. But outside of that area, where would I “like” or “not like” to live.
Well, first, let me rule out “big” metro areas like DC/Baltimore, NYC and a number of others. Indeed, from the list of “Combined Statistical Areas” and the associated “Metropolitan Statistical Areas“, I would have to say that you have to get down to at least the Pittsburgh CSA before the size of the CSA itself does not rule the area out, as being “might be OK to visit, but don’t want to live there”. And when you just look at the MSAs (the top 100 most populous being listed at the bottom of that second page), I have been to most of the top 50 and spent at least a day there, if not played tourist, including 3 of the top 5 (not NYC or LA), and with only a few exceptions would I consider living there if I could afford it, and even then with restrictions. For example, the outskirts of Pleasanton is “OK”, and I would love visiting Mt. Diablo again, as well as Santa Cruz, on a regular basis, and getting outside of Denver proper is the same, but most of that list still rule themselves out just on population/crowds alone, and some more than others. And for the most part most places on that list fall into the “an hour outside of them might be OK”, with only Pittsburgh being one where on its own I might consider.
But also figured into the question are the questions of job market and cost of living. If money were not a huge object, and I could telecommute or were miraculously retired with perhaps 2/3rds what I have been making, it would be something which I could otherwise ignore. And regardless, I will always have to consider the cost of living. Even were I able to make what I have been, were the DC or other metro areas not already ruled out, there is no way I could consider living there… it is just way too expensive, as are other areas. (You can see some real shockers if you check this site, select Staunton VA as where you live, and just for round numbers, select $100K for what the current salary is (far easier than $50K to figure in your head). In DC, this would have to be $167K, Arlington or Alexandria VA would be $155K, but places like the SLC, Pittsburgh or the Atlanta/Marietta GA areas are roughly comparable ($104K to $107K)
So, ignoring where friends are, where would I like? I want places with lots of green (e.g. trees, or failing that grass and farmland) with some lakes/rivers, and if all possible, skies dark enough to clearly see things like the fullness of Orion, including the nebula, and Andromeda, as well as the splendor of the Milky Way stretching overhead through Cygnus during the summer… But, I also want someplace where I can get my broadband Internet, and be able to take an easy drive (maybe an hour or so) to a decent sized Con several times a year, and have things like a good movie theatre, places to eat, stores and such. And if there is a nice airport in the area, all the better. I also want someplace which experiences winter to some degree, and does not feel like an oven during the summer (e.g. not Vegas or Phoenix).
There is also one which ends up conflicted… I really love mountains… not just hills, but real mountains, and I prefer for them to be either tree covered, or failing that, I could perhaps deal with more barren and snow-topped. But the conflict comes in that there is something to be said about being in the middle of nowhere, watching a supercell thunderstorm build, and hoping to be able to experience a storm chase. I remember one such instance, driving back to Columbus OH from visiting my uncle Bob and aunt Nancy in Cheyenne, coming across I-80 in Nebraska, and looking off at about our 4 or 5 o’clock (behind and to the right of us) as we came up on I-76, which heads down to Denver… and seeing a storm fully anviled out and overshooting. We were roughly 180 miles away, as at that time the storm was along I-25 near Ft. Collins, and it was clearly visible off in the distance. To have been able to watch and photograph that at night… and maybe even catch a few sprites.
So… where would I live? I think at the top of my list would be to live somewhat north or east of Pittsburgh… easy access to the likes of Steel City Con and several others there, and being a high-tech center on part with Silicon Valley, RTP and others (Google, Intel, NetApp, Seagate and others are there), it definitely has more jobs than here in this area of VA, and by the time you start getting a bit of distance away from Pittsburgh itself (which is halfway toward feeling like a bunch of small towns, due to the terrain, with lots of trees, parks, etc.). The area breaks away from the slightly smaller (population wise) Columbus MSA, due to the way Columbus itself (though I will say that C’bus has far better bike trails compared with Da’Burgh.) And with things like the Waterfront, Carnegie Libraries/Museums, and all… it comes out a solid #1 on my list.
Second on my list was a bit of a tough one… and one which has delayed the finishing of this post. SLC has some nice mountains, and it is a major tech center, as well, with Suse, Adobe, and others. And while speaking of UT… some of the most beautiful astrophotography shots have come out of places like Bryce Canyon NP. I just wish the area was more greens like here in the eastern US, instead of the browns/tans which a satellite view shows…
Then there is the RTP area (Raleigh/Durham NC) with RedHat and numerous others. And I have been told by friends that contrary to what my experience has been, Atlanta has lots of spread/green, and it has DragonCon as well as other bits of fun. And then the Denver/Colorado Springs region. But I am not quite sure the order of those.
Why not Columbus? While it does have a good amount of tech and a few nice Cons to attend, and some of the best bike trails, it is way too populous, and it is bad when you struggle to see even 2nd magnitude stars, like those in the belt of Orion. And while going down US 33 towards Athens and then Marietta has some nice views, Appalachian Ohio sucks for several reasons… the economy and pollution being two inter-planetary level space suckages, with Fort Wayne, IN is much the same.
And one last place I will throw on… Buffalo and Dallas County MO… were it not for other factors, I have seen pics of the area… and were I able to find a decent paying job, it would be an area with lots of opportunities for recreation, dark skies, and some good storm chasing, as well as for riding my bike. It is one reason why I fell in love with that area, mountains totally lacking. But there is no way I could stand to live there today… as it is an area which would constantly be breaking my heart.
So with that said, if you had to move someplace else, where would it be and why???