Affordable place to move? Young family

[SF0059]

This is a shot in the dark since I don't know what you do for a living. But I am also a Californian who moved out of the state for better opportunity and lower cost of living. My suggestions are as follows:

1) Greenville, South Carolina: Affordable living, low taxes and tons of job growth. Michelin, BMW, John Deere, Samsung and tons of other companies are located there, with more on the way no doubt.

2) Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina: Big city, lots of amenities, lots of opportunity, relatively affordable.

3) Southern Virginia: Namely, Roanoke, Lynchburg and Richmond. These are all great cities with growth, opportunity and low costs of living. Taxes and regulations here in VA tend to be a little high due to the NoVa/Mid Atlantic influence, but it is still affordable. I love it here, that takes a lot from someone who grew up on the Central Coast of California. To put it in perspective, my 2004 Mazda3 cost over $500 a year to register in CA... when I moved here, it was $50.

 

[AdmdeVilleneuve]

Spokane, WA/Northern Idaho would be on my list for sure. Spokane not as expensive as Seattle, and it does have four seasons. Lots of recreation options, plus it would still be relatively easy for the grandparents to travel to (air, rail, highway) for visiting the new granddaughter.

My mother was born in Asheville, NC, and I was back there last summer. Pretty area, but it also is getting expensive there, according to my cousins. If you are from the west coast, moving to the south or east coast would be a big adjustment.

Good luck!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: TheKracken
Only drawback about Minnesota is the RUST....

The ONLY drawback? Have you ever actually lived through a Minnesota winter?

I'd look into Raleigh-Durham, NC or Chattanooga, TN.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: Bandito440
New Yorker here. Stay away. The taxes and rust are both astronomical.

I like North Carolina and Northern Arizona for mild seasons, decent job opportunities, and reasonable cost of living. Asheville and Flagstaff are lovely.

The Philadelphia, PA suburbs are nice too, but the taxes again.


I have friends who just moved to Asheville and its housing market is extremely unfriendly to buyers right now...they got into a bidding war and ended up backing out before it got too crazy. Still looking for a place.

 

[copcarguy]

As a former NY-er, we had to move to PA about 5 years ago because NY taxed us away. We moved 20 miles into PA (65 miles from where we lived in NY) and cut our cost of living drastically.

 

[E150GT]

if you like heat and hard water, come on down to San Antonio. No state income tax and SA is the cheapest of the big cities in Texas. No rust either.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Dallas/Ft Worth or Houston.

 

[Kuato]

I can't help without some job/career input.

 

[TheKracken]

Hey guys, OP here. Sorry for the late response and I really appreciate all of the input!

Career wise my wife is a professional Nanny and I am a student studying statistics/bio mathematics. So as long as there is a university within an hour of where we live I am good to go.

Career wise for me, being near any medium to large sized city is good enough for my potential career.

Yes I know Minnesota has extremely cold winters, part of the reason we like it actually....

Lots of suggestions for Texas.... I used to visit as a kid (DFW area) and liked it but hated the heat and humidity...But my grandmother and uncles live there so that could possibly work.

We are thinking about Montana/Idaho type areas too but I feel like there will be less jobs for the wife (more spread out and conservative) I would think less people would want a Nanny VS a area like seattle where women are typically very career oriented and have less time for their kids....just guessing here.

Also being Sunny is not important to us, we like it in seattle haha.

 

[CKN]

Without mention of career-what's important in family life, Snow or not, how much rent/mortgage-it's impossible to answer the OP's question.

 

[TheKracken]

Also our Rent/Mortgage range would be 600-1k. More for a mortgage since that would be optimal. We have around 15k in savings for the move.

 

[901Memphis]

Kentucky has seasons, and lots of jobs in the metro areas. We have rust in the north but the southern parts don't get as much snow.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: TheKracken
Also our Rent/Mortgage range would be 600-1k. More for a mortgage since that would be optimal. We have around 15k in savings for the move.


OK-saw your post.

http://www.sltrib.com/home/4325794-155/utah-county-no-2-nationally-for


https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenha...h/#5857fc066d20

 

[bbhero]

I think JHZR2 is on to something here.. I would say that if you do that mind driving then the Williamsburg area is very nice too. There are some very nice areas in the Richmond area to live as well. West of Rte 288 has some very nice places to live.

 

[GrtArtiste]

My only comment...this is still true. You have been warned:

Toledo Ohio

GrtArtiste

 

[Mr Nice]

Bottom line is finding a job. Why are some people recommending places that are crazy expensive ???

I worked in Dallas / Ft Worth about 15 years ago and it's a nice place with tons of jobs in many different career fields. Sure each state has [censored] areas you stay away from.... they also very nice areas where you want to buy a house and raise a family.

I was recently offered a job in Asheville, NC and turned it down. Nice area but too slow paced for me.

 

[gfh77665]

Originally Posted By: TheKracken

Career wise my wife is a professional Nanny and I am a student studying statistics/bio mathematics. So as long as there is a university within an hour of where we live I am good to go.

Career wise for me, being near any medium to large sized city is good enough for my potential career.


Lots of advice about moving to Texas here. Its understandable because Texas does have a great economy, but please don't move here until you have a job. "Potential" ones don't count. Too many people want to move to TX expecting to have high paying jobs fall out of the sky for them. It does NOT happen that way, and too many people end up on some type of subsidized support.

My advice would be to finish up your education and find a job somewhere before moving anywhere.

 

[Mr Nice]

City Data . Com

Check out the forums for any State / City you want more info on. The people living in that area will give great info.

 

[Andrew1972]

It's seems like your getting into a school or a job would drive that .

Don't buy a home unless cheap. Your career will drive a location. Picking a location unless a place like NYC, Boston , SFO etc will likely limit career ops. I picked a coastal NH town and it's limited me career unless I get off duff and decide to commmute around Boston.

 

[hpb]

Just move to Australia and be done with it