www.city-data.com would be a more appropriate place of this. This is a trav el forum. I would not want to live in any of those states.

Just a bit of input - get jobs first, then move. Don't think that the economy is so much better anywhere else. If you move first, you could find yourselves without jobs for a while, unless you are in high demand careers or can continue same jobs remotely.

DebNM is right. Job seek, then visit. I can't imagine the economy is better here than there.

Agree with DebitNM and suewoo. Seek the job wherever there are jobs. Travel seeking a job is deductable on your taxes in most cases.
The state with the lowest unemployment currently is North Dakota due to the big oil/natural gas boom.
Construction and services to the oil workers is also booming.
I wouldn't want to live in any of those states.
Consider home schooling your son if you can't find a job.

Where are you moving FROM? Are you okay with living in a rural (country) setting? Do you enjoy living in beautiful mountains? If so, you may like northern Georgia or western NC. The public schools are good but not affulent. Jobs may be hard to come by. Some counties have 14% unemployment. What are YOU looking for - other than cheap housing?

But she can take the train to visit!! Anyway, the advice to find the job, and then consider the move is probably key.
We live in Charlotte and have raised a fine family here. It might not be for you at all.
You might need to consider your political leanings. You could be very happy==or very miserable.
There are good public schools many places--search them out. You don't say how old your son is==and whether this will be a single parent household with one breadwinner.
Visiting various places after a good bit of research for jobs, living standards, schools, life quality could be productive.
Where are you coming from?

The OP said 'ri" which I'm assuming is Rhode Island.

Oops! Missed that. Thanks suewoo!

yes were from rhode island and it is me my fiance and my son who is 15 months so no school for him just yet ! and i love the country! My fiance will get a job first depending on what he is making will determine whether i need a job too or not. The cost of living here is so high and the weather is horrible i hate snow ! i vacationed down south a few times it is beautiful

Cost of living is much lower, the mountains are gorgeous (and rarely get snow but it melts quickly when it does snow), and it's a wonderful relaxed place to live...IF you like a slower pace. Public schools are usually good. Maybe not as affluent as you may be used to but good.

Some parts of the South are beautiful, but some parts are downright ugly (and I say this as a lifelong Southerner). There's a lot of variance within each state - Charlotte is different from Raleigh/Durham, and both are really different from Fayetteville or Jacksonville, all in NC. What sort of work would your fiancee be looking for? That would make a big difference in where you might start looking (for example, banking is a big part of Charlotte's economy; manufacturing is more prevalent in small towns in those states). Bigger cities like Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham are generally more used to Northern transplants than smaller manufacturing towns.

What does your fiancé do? That will be a big factor in finding work which, as everyone says, it what you need to to first. Unemployment is high, I know many people in the part of the county you are considering that have been out of work or just doing menial jobs for more than two years. How successful your fiancé will be in finding gainful employment is dependent upon too many variables for anyone here to give you meaningful advice.

Wherever you choose to live don't base it on a "vacation experience" - everyplace looks good when you are on vacation. Once you and your fiancé do your job search consider making a pre-move visit to the area. Go not as a tourist but as a potential resident. Check out housing, schools (your child will grow up quickly and in a couple of years schools will be important to you), commuting, utility costs, grocery shopping and other day to day living routines. Find out if you really like living in a rural area or if you'd rather be closer to a city.

Research what the weather is like year round, some areas in South Carolina and Georgia can get very hot and humid in summer - almost as oppressively hot as it gets cold in RI during the winter..

Anyway, do your research - when it comes to where your and your family lives personal experience is far better than input you get from strangers on a travel forum. Remember too, that no matter where you live you'll still have to face everyday life - you need to earn a living, clean the house, care for your child, do the laundry, go grocery shopping and hundreds of chores you do in RI - none of that will change when you move.

Good luck in your search.

Unemployment is still high, BUT it depends on what job you are looking for. For example, DS is in IT at BofA and says he needs to hire 20 people and cannot find the skill set.

You must also consider costs carefully. Housing in these places may seem more reasonable then RI - but are salaries the same. In my experience places with low housing costs often also have very low salaries - so you really need to run a balance sheet on the financials.

Also - there are other intangibles - and several reasons I could never live in any of those places: weather (way too hot), politics (way too right), access to cultural institutions and fine dining (nothing like NYC).

You should make a list of what is important to you - to qualify places - then look seriously at job opportunities (with realistic salary levels).

NYtraveler has some valid points--but it is really really NY points (and I have lived there too!!).
Believe it or not, we have VERY acceptable cultural attractions and restaurants down heah. We've just gotten a new IHOP as a matter of fact. Really, try not to be too insulting.
And I NEVER go to NYC in the summer--the heat is oppressive.

Look at Greenville, SC. Their economy has suffered less than most places because it is very diversified. The climate is more moderate than the coast and certainly better in the winter than New England.

Who can get jobs: mechanics, medical and hospital workers, building trades beyond nail bangers.

http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/a106c8188f/the-map-of-america-as-seen-by-a-new-yorker

Ack has a good suggestion. Nice town. University. Charlotte has a lot of diversity also--good sized city. Smaller cities around it. It's just about on the SC line so there is Rock Hill SC just over the line. Fort Mill SC was just listed as one of the 10 best places to live (for smaller cities, I believe). State taxes are less in SC than NC--another thing to consider when settling.

nytraveler, I'm genuinely curious - where in the South have you been?

I fully admit that I am partisan for NYC. I'm a native - and it has everything I want (except cooler summers). But, I was trying to point out that there are a lot more issues than just being able to get a job and the price of housing.

One of my cousins lived in Texas for a a couple of years but they had to leave not only because of the heat but because she simply wasn't comfortable with the entire lifestyle. Yes, housing was dirt cheap, but she wanted her kids to get a different type of education. Originally from Boston, they now live in Richmond - which was a life/job compromise (she can work anywhere but her husband has limited opportunities or she would be in CT of MA.)

AND I recognized that you DID bring up other ideas. But then you just dissed anything other than 'the big apple". It's FINE to love where you are, but they are asking a different question.
I could give them all the reasons we love Charlotte. It's in one of the places they are asking about. It may or may not be what they need/want. Tom doesn't want to live here either and AMTRAK actually services us!!. It really doesn't matter a tinker's dam--they didn't ask about Oregon or NYC.
Politics in a small NC, SC, or GA town could make a HUGE difference as things have become recently--which I mentioned earlier--could be fine, or not.
There are also MANY very good reasons for living in the South from a quality of life point of view that maybe they haven't even been exposed to, and would love.

You didn't say what it was about RI that makes it a bad place to raise a child.(?) I understand the high housing costs and the long winters, as I live in MA, but am curious about you mean about your young son?

nytraveler, we all understand you're partial to New York. I'm partial to where I live. But it's the consistent implication that everywhere else is inferior to NYC that gets a little old. Hence my question about where you've been; I'm truly curious as to where you're drawing the comparison from. No one's going to argue that it gets hot, but there are several southern cities I can think of where if you can't find culture and great food, you're just not looking.

RI has the highest unemployment in the country, and the tax base has been desperately impacted by the housing collapse so everything that depends on property taxes is under pressure, especially public schools. There is a long history of political corruption. The mayor of Providence, Buddy Cianci, went to jail several years ago after doing a wonderful job of revitalizing the city. In the 1995 economic collapse of 1995, (remember that one?) the joke was that things were so bad that the Mafia was laying off judges.

It can be one of the most beautiful states in the East, okay, in the whole country, but it has very limited options for people who cannot insulate themselves from its problems with money. Think New York under Abe Beam and David Dinkins. As we have seen, a state or city can pull out of those depths, but it can be a while.

I have lived my entire life in the south - Georgia, Florida, Alabama - and have traveled extensively (42 of the 50 states and many international destinations). My kids are grown, but for Georgia I would recommend Oconee County - just outside Athens (University of Georgia). It is an hour by car from Atlanta and the interational airport, has great schools, cheap housing, steady employment with the University and several manufacturing plants, and very family friendly. All that being said, and nothing against Georgia, but have you thought about northwest Arkansas? Specifically Fayetteville (University of Arkansas) or Bentonville (home base of Wal-Mart)? I spent several months in Bentonville on a job assignment and the only drawback I see is the small airport that would make international travel more expensive. On the plus side, as the home base of Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods, and several other very large corporations there is incredibly low unemployment in the area, you have the scenic beauty of the Ozark Mountains, school quality is amazing (and 4 years will go by before you can blink), there is a thriving arts / culture scene. In short - a great place to raise a family.

I'm not advocating everyone live in NYC. I know a lot of people don;t like large cities.

But the OP wasn;t really very clear about what they are looking for other than a job and cheap housing. Said schooling - but what about schooling that they don't get where they are. There are good school and bad schools all over the country - that's not really a function of the state (as far as I can tell) over even the city - but more the specific neighborhood.

I was hoping the OP would start to consider other factors - but not sure really what they want - because I think they may not.

(And not to be pedantic, since obviously most cities have cultural assets - to me it's a matter of both quality and quantity.)

Actually, international flights out of smaller airports aren't always higher than from major airports with direct flights, sometimes, the eventual flight leaving the major airport is cheaper starting from a smaller airport.

I have been to all 50 states and there are great and not so great points to all. It all depends on what one wants. I live in a rural area, and while I love to visit cities, I would not want to live in one again. That doesn't mean those who love living in cities shouldn't. We all like different things.