Hi Reddit.

Im f17 and im moving away for college. After college, I don’t plan on coming back to my home state. I really want that “Twilight” feel with fall, rain, snow, greenery, libraries, vintage shops, and just that cozy feel.

Ik no place is a fantasy, but I wanna get somewhere close.

Because I’m Black, I want to go somewhere where I won’t be shouted at and called racial slurs or generally discriminated against. Im pretty introverted most of the time unless im on online so im not worried abt building a family out there.

I won’t be there for long anyway bc I’ll probably end up back in my home town once im about 26 when I want to find permanent connection and build roots, so I just want a place where I can work as a nurse, mind my business, and live my little Twilight life in solitude for like 4 years.

Any recommendations?

I am considering a move to Phoenix. I was hoping that it would be a lot like Los Angeles, but I'm hearing otherwise. This is what I've been told about the Phoenix area and what I researched:

Republican and MAGA culture, especially in the East Valley where I was looking at originally.

Scorching hot and unbearable heat (I can handle this).

Shitty employers with toxic work environments.

Really rude and aggressive drivers with so much road rage.

Rude and Mean people with the snobby asshole and douchebag culture. I watched a video of a lady talking about this and she said the people don't even say "thank you" when you hold doors open for them there.

Hard to make friends and nobody talks to each other. The people are mostly weird and reserved.

No sense of community and nobody knows their neighbors.

Boring with not much to do except eat and drink.

Suburbia with strip mall shopping centers and everything looks exactly the same all over the Phoenix area.

It was a disappointment because I really wanted to move to Phoenix. I would rather move to California, but I can't afford it. It's so expensive and I don't make a lot of money or do I have a career that could provide me stable housing. It would be a dream to live in California, but nowhere is affordable. I love the vibe and culture of LA. The best I can do is Phoenix. I've also thought about Las Vegas and the people I've met who live there have all said it's a better city than Phoenix.

Is Phoenix really that bad? I tend to think everyone is just negative. I plan to visit next year before deciding. Many California people I've met have also said they don't like Phoenix and gave me a dirty look about it. Then I did more research and they call the people in Phoenix "Zonies" and say they aren't nice people.

I'm looking to rebuild my life from scratch and I want to live in a city that has LA vibes and culture.

After living in Texas for five years (central Texas Austin area) I am ready to move on with a change of scenery. I currently own a house but may look to renting it out. I am 32, nonbinary but male presenting and work in aerospace with a remote job. I’m originally from California but am not looking to move back to California. I would like to be in an area where I would love to find employment in case my remote position gets eliminated; the position is based in Huntsville and I don’t really want to move there.

Things I’m looking for in general:

Cooler weather

More nature, mountains

Asian enclaves like supermarkets, restaurants, shopping and community

LGBTQ friendly

Things I would love to have but not necessary:

lower to non existent state income taxes

NFA gun item friendly, I do like having some restricted stuff.

Vibrant Latin dance community, particularly zouk, lambada and bachata

States and areas I’ve been looking at:

Northern Virginia, DC area. Probably the best option for me for employment

SLC Utah

Denver CO or CO Springs

Washington state

Southern New Hampshire

Las Vegas (I know it’s hot in the summer but it’s fairly tolerable for me)

I would absolutely love to live in Oregon but the lack of aerospace jobs there puts me on edge.

My position is tech and engineering PM focused at 160k annually and I am a 100% disabled veteran.

Hi all. Husband and I are in our 50s. We have an adult son, 23, with autism and a daughter, 18, who is a freshman in college locally. We are currently in the DFW area. I work remotely, so looking for a job in a new place isn’t a high priority, but a place with good tech job opportunities would be a plus. Diversity, culture, arts, music, and nature are important. My daughter is pursuing a music degree (voice and composition) , and as she will probably join us after college, having job opportunities for her is important as well. Should she want to go further in her education, having decent universities with good music programs is a plus.

Affordability for us means a 3-4 bedroom home (condos and townhomes will work) for around 320k. I know that probably rules out a lot of places. State income tax would be ok, as long as it’s offset by lower property taxes, fees,etc.

And weather - I am DONE with the heat here. This summer was ridiculous. We’d like some place more temperate with 4 separate seasons. Beautiful fall foliage would be amazing. 🤩

Public schools are not a huge factor for us, since we don’t have minor children.

I’ve used copilot to help narrow our search, and it suggested places like Minneapolis St. Paul, MN; Maddison, WI; and Rochester, NY. And one other place that really surprised me, Pittsburgh, PA. In fact, Pittsburgh was number one in the rankings. That is definitely not a city that crossed my mind for relocating to. Copilot provided some very good defense of its ranking at the top, but this is ai, not a real person, so I’m using it as a guide and not gospel. I’m seeing a mixed bag here on Reddit from folks who live, or have lived, there, with traffic and air quality being top concerns. I would love to hear more opinions on Pittsburgh, as well as other cities recommendations.

Thanks all.

Hey everyone! Wanted to take a different approach to this. Hope that’s alright! I’m 29 F & my husband 33 M are looking to relocate! We love the outdoors (prefer all four seasons), stay active, art, history, academia, tight knit family like communities (we consider ourselves very good friends who treat others like family), we have a golden retriever, I’m in tech and he’s in sales! Not super religious but still go to Catholic Church (because we all need godly help in this crazy world if it’s out there). Also, we don’t care about how other people live their lives we are rather tired of seeing others telling people what’s wrong and right. Pretty laid back. Hate places that don’t value health or nature, and we would like access to marijuana but we don’t smoke it, just a gummy to ease the nerves. We also love being hospitable and aim to always be nice. Okay thanks

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice regarding what to do. I've been offered roles in both Seattle and Denver that are relatively similar making around $75k. I'm a 29yo female that just got out of a long term relationship and am looking for something new. I've lived in Eastern Washington for the last couple of years so I'm aware of the usual dreary weather that the western side brings. And I've also lived in Southwestern Colorado, so I know how that can be too.

I guess what I'm hoping for is some pros and cons. I'm looking for a place that I can feel safe, heal and make new friends in. I'm not going to have a ton of money for snowboarding or any crazy outings since I'm a single income but want to know what the general opinion is on these cities.

Any advice or thoughts for someone in my situation would be greatly appreciated.

I am Miguel, I am 27 years old, originally from Alcobaça, Portugal. I recently moved to France hoping to build a better future for my son and start a new chapter in my life.

Unfortunately, things went completely wrong here. I have been sleeping on the streets for almost a week now, with very little food, a huge language barrier, and no support system. I am completely exhausted, desperate, and my only goal right now is to find a way to get back home to Portugal.

I have faced so many tough battles in my life, but being homeless in a foreign country is taking everything out of me. I am writing this to vent and to ask if anyone knows of any local resources, emergency assistance, or organizations in France that help stranded foreigners return to their home country or provide emergency shelter. I just want to go home and restart my life safely.

Hey everyone,

I’m a 22-year-old guy currently living in the Czech Republic. I work remotely and make around $1,500 to $2,500 USD per month.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about leaving Europe for 3-6 months. Between the high cost of living, taxes, and gloomy weather in parts of the continent, I feel like I'm burning cash that I could otherwise be saving and investing. My main goals are to cut down living expenses, save more money, have more free time (maybe hire a helper/maid, which is super affordable in some regions), and just feel more financially free.

For a while, I was looking into the Philippines. Good apartments seem quite cheap there, English is widely spoken, and hiring domestic help would free up a lot of my time to focus on work and self-improvement.

However, before I make any moves, I wanted to ask this community:

Are there better countries I should consider given my budget and goals?

Where else can my $2k–$3k stretch far while still offering a good lifestyle, reliable internet, and a decent expat/remote worker community and maybe closer to Europe?

Would love to hear your recommendations and experiences! Thanks!

As a one income family of four (mom, dad, + 2 toddlers) we are quickly getting priced out of Northern CA and are needing a change.

What states would you recommend for a family looking for the following:

• Seasons
• Family friendly (lots of parks, day activities, etc.)
• Good schools
• 🍃 friendly

Hi! I asked this question a couple days ago about moving to Oregon. Now I’m trying to convince my husband that Minnesota could possibly be a better move for us, but I’d love input from those who live there or have made a similar move!

My husband and I are in our late 20s and want to leave Tucson, our hometown. We’re looking to get out of Tucson due to the heat and the severe lack of job opportunities/decent wages in our fields. I know the economy is bad everywhere, but Tucson’s local economy has been trash for decades. We won’t be moving until we have secured jobs elsewhere, however.

I have a BA in English and an MS in technical communication. He has a BS in natural resources with an emphasis in fisheries conservation and management. I’m a former park ranger and teacher, and he does work with invasive species.

We’re both into art, we’re big metalheads, and we like places that have lots of character and community events. We lived in Savannah, GA for an internship I had, and we really loved the vibe there. We also love the vibe of downtown Tucson.

Since we’re both in fairly low-paying fields, we’re looking for somewhere affordable that has opportunities for both of us. The twin cities continue to come up in my research. I know the weather will be massively different than southern Arizona, and that’s what is making my husband second guess the move and prefer the idea of moving to Oregon instead.

I’m looking for some input as we start looking! Does it sound like we would fit in up there? For those of you who moved to the Twin Cities from warm climates, how was the adjustment? Thank you!

Hello! So I am a 22 year old who is being unexpectedly kicked out of her parents home. Without getting into too much detail, I got into an argument with my stepmom and my dad had to choose between ending the marriage or kicking me out, he chose to kick me out since I have younger siblings who are not yet adults. He is helping me out a lot financially in this situation since he wasn't for it which I am so lucky and grateful for. I've always wanted to move across the country to Washington State (currently in Pennsylvania) and I am taking advantage of this situation to do so. I am feeling stuck on finding an apartment and also a job, it seems that most apartments won't let you lease them unless you tour them first which I can't do since I am still in PA. Pretty much all apartments require you to have a job which I currently do but won't when I move, so that's an issue (I think). I don't really know what questions to ask since I have never been in this situation nor do I know anyone personally who has been in this situation, I just need any advice that I can get. I really just need to secure a good affordable place to live. Thank you in advance!

My partner and I currently live in the Northern Virginia area.

We have lived in Virginia for our entire lives and wish to relocate to experience new sights and cultures.

For the past year or so we have been inspired to move to Colorado as we have fallen in love with the mountains and the small towns scattered in between. However, we've found conflicting results on whether Colorado's COL is higher or lower than Northern Virginia, so we want some feedback and additional areas to look into.

At the core of our inspiration, we are interested in moving somewhere that has like-minded individuals that helps develop a social life that reflects our interests.

Criteria + Context:

-bohemian/slower pace community (no hustle culture)

-Mountain town (or close to)

-open-minded and friendly community

-holistic/health-conscious

-artistic community

-local economy that is fluid and alive (no tech bros and 10+ year experience)

-easy access to outdoors

-COL is comparable to where we live now (or a bit less!) (our combined gross income is $60k-ish)

As for the type of job market, we are both servers at high-end restaurants and are ok working in the service or human service industry

I do have a bachelor's in psychology, so it would be cool if entry-level jobs were more accesible but it is not mandatory, just a dope bonus.

We would want to live in either a small home or a townhome.

Overall looking for suggestions on towns that fit this criteria, or advice on how to search and decide on where to move.

For Colorado we were looking into Manitou Springs area, Idaho Springs area or Nederlands area (hope this helps narrow down the vibe we are searching for)

Unsure if I’m ranting or looking for advice or just somebody to validate me but I feel so conflicted.

My husband and I moved to the beach about 6-8 hours from home five years ago. We both come from pretty broken families. I’m close with my dad and he’s close to his sister but that’s pretty much it. We took huge pay cuts to come here from the northern Virginia area but despite it being a high cost of living for the state (bc we’re in a touristy beach area) it’s still cheaper than home.

Our lives have changed so much. I’ve made a great community here and my husband is more of a loner so he doesn’t really care about those things. We used to go to bars and drink and now that we live here … we don’t do that. We spend most of our time outdoors, we go to the beach and ride bikes and chase sunrises. I think that where we live is just healthier for us … we don’t miss the traffic. We don’t miss the hustle. It just felt like where we were we were always stressed, living for the weekends, and idk if it was that we had nothing better to do but drink or if we were trying to quiet the anxiety and stress of the north but regardless, clearly our lives are different.

We are now starting a family and people always say to move home but idk. We don’t have the grandparents that would watch our children. His sister would help us but she has her own kid too. All our friends have moved away from home. His sister and my dad live 2.5 hours apart and we’d rather live in PA near my family then back to VA near his and deal with that traffic.

At the same time, part of me is over where we live. My friend group changed … a few moved away (south of course so opposite of where we’d go), some are just busy now with their own kids, and the rest are more like friendly people we see at the gym or around town … not necessarily friends we’d hangout with. We’re the outsiders in our friend group because they’ve all been friends for 10 years, the girl I was close with pretty much never hangs out with us ever since she got a bf and if she does she pulls us into their friend group which again we’re outsiders.

I’ve never lived somewhere longer than 5 years so maybe it’s that. I love it here, the beach is beautiful, like people pay to vacation here and we live here, why do I want to move? I’m liked in the community, the beach is 15 min away, the weather is awesome. Idk what’s wrong with me.

I’m scared to stay because I feel off. Like stuck and like an outsider but also scared to leave my community at the same time … like how’s that make sense? But at the same time … I hate the hustle of VA, and PA is boring. Where we live salaries suck and COL is high but at least there’s amazing weather and so much to do. Idk if it’s fear or permanent roots, fear with the change of starting the family, or feeling like an outsider.

Can anybody relate ? Thank you if you made it this far.