If you could live in any of the 50 U.S. states

[pennstlbu]

Re: If you could live in any of the 50 U.S. states

I grew up in Montana and after being away for 12 years, I definitely miss it and would move back in an instant. If only there were better jobs out there.

I lived in the Seattle area for about 10 years and loved it, but by the end I got sick of the nine months of rain. The months of July, August and September were awesome, but the rain the rest of the year, especially in the winter, can get depressing. And don't forget about the traffic.

I'm currently living in Vancouver, WA, which is basically a suburb of Portland, OR and for how much I loved Seattle, I haven't seen the same appeal in Portland. Sure the amount of breweries and outdoor activities are great, but the traffic might be even worse (especially between Portland and Vancouver) and there's no NFL, MLB or major college team in town.

My living arrangement in Vancouver is temporary (my GF is finishing her college degree and will be graduating next May), so we are looking where to move to after she is done. San Diego is number one on the list, but we doubt we'll be able to afford to move there. Denver, North Carolina and Tennessee are the other areas that have interested us and we're thinking of looking for jobs once she gets close to graduating.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: If you could live in any of the 50 U.S. states

My living arrangement in Vancouver is temporary (my GF is finishing her college degree and will be graduating next May), so we are looking where to move to after she is done. San Diego is number one on the list, but we doubt we'll be able to afford to move there. Denver, North Carolina and Tennessee are the other areas that have interested us and we're thinking of looking for jobs once she gets close to graduating.

Having lived in WA, NorCal, and now TN for the past 10 years, I can offer a few words about TN.

Fall, winter, and spring are nice. We have had a record spring for rainfall but it's more punctuations of heavy rain days here and there than constant rain. That might work better for you.

But the summers are brutal. June through September is very hot and humid, like so hot you don't want to do anything. Nothing like waking up for work and it's already in the 80's...ugh.

It's very cheap to live here compared to the west coast. No state income tax, but sales tax is around 9%. Home pricing is very reasonable, you can get a nice place for 150k, and 200k+ will get a really nice home.

Good work for medical professionals especially.

NBA is here w/Grizz in Memphis and NFL has the Titans in Nashville. No MLB, but the Cards triple A team (the Redbirds) are in Memphis and have a very nice park. Plus the Memphis Tigers for NCAA basketball.

Popular activities include hunting, fishing, golf, and...eating and drinking. Northwest is much more diverse for things to do outside and culturally.

East TN can pretty much match WA for some natural beauty with the Smokies. The further east you go from Memphis the prettier TN gets, by and large.

So, the short of it w/TN:

Pros:
Nice weather generally during the year, but for the summer.
Cheap cost of living
Good music scene and history

Cons:
If you don't dig on Southern culture, there's not much to do
Summers are brutal
There's tech jobs, but limited compared to the West Coast.