So in a couple of years, my partner and I will graduate from University, and being young in our lives we decided to move to America (we live in the UK, and besides we can always come back)

Now obviously we wont be seriously searching for a while yet, and all we are doing at the moment is looking at all 50 states to see where we'd like to live and where we would not.

It was while researching America I came accross this site and realised that getting input from Americans might be helpful.

So the Question is: What do you think is the best/worst all-round state and why?

Thank you for any and all input you may have.

Sean: What will your degrees be in?

Engineering is on the wane in the great midwest. Tens of thousands of skilled workers in W. Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois will lose their jobs and income between now and 2010. All that work is being farmed out to the Indian Sub Continent.

Arts and Letters are thriving on the U.S. East Coast/West Coast/Gulf Coast.

The USA is being restructured from an industrialized powerhouse to a service economy. If you and your partner have the skills to thrive in a service economy, than this nation will be the place to relocate for at least a generation. If your education is all technical, start looking at SE Asia.

Good luck in your planning.

Mine is a Masters in Human Resources and hers is a Bachelors in Computing

Welcome to America, Sean.

You can fairly choose anywhere you and your partner have feelings for, with those degrees.

Microsoft in Seattle, Washington--the great northwest, might be worth a flyer to both of you. Also Boeing.

Nike in Oregon has "regained" its' dominance in the recreation industry.

You should begin to consider Texas also, I thing that States' economy is starting to percolate.

I hope other local voices chime in here to give you more valid info than I can.

Sean - As you know the continental US has 48 states and, quite honestly, they are significantly different from each other as to population, climate, job availability, life styles, etc. etc. so it is difficult for anyone to tell you which one is best/worst. Much will depend on what interests you. For instance, if you love snow skiing you might want to consider one of the New England states or perhaps one of the rocky mountain states. If you like large cities, New York might be just the place, if you crave wide open country side, good hunting and cold winters Montana might be perfect, similarily, if you enjoy beaches and year round sailing southern Florida would be a nice place. You get the idea.

Also, you do releaze that as a non-US citizen you cannot just show up in the US to live and work. You must apply for a work visa. These are not always easy to get. You have to have a unique skill and your potential employer must demonstrate that there are no US citizens qualified to do your job. I personally know several British citizens who have been trying for years to get work visas but have been unsuccessful. I also know others who have been fortunate to get their's. It's not impossible but it is difficult. You can check the US Immigration web-site for full details.

Good luck following your dream.

Yes am well aware i require a job initially to get a visa, im simply researching and welcoming all input

that and like you just demonstrated i know nothing about all the profiles of each states so the examples you gave are the kind of things im after.

Enjoy the search - if I had one thing in my life I could do over it would be that I took more risks/tried more things when I was younger.

Other than the obvious - where can you get a job and does it pay enough to live in a region - I will try to give a few overviews.

I hate snow, cold weather and dark days - so if it were me I would look at weather as an important factor. (Of course, I live in Boston which has rotten weather - so maybe that is why I put weather first). The southern part of the US can be horribly hot and humid in the summer, even though most places are air conditioned. I love the climate in California and the part of the East Coast south of Washington, DC (North Carolina, western Virginia)

The northeast part of the US is the one region of our country, especially Massachusetts, that is losing population.

Northeast and California are the areas most dense in educational institutions and used to be areas of jobs requiring higher education - but this is changing and is no longer the case.

Lifestyle is very different in different parts of the country. The northeast tends to be more fast paced, the south more polite and operates at a slower pace.

Florida does not count as "the south" despite its geography - most people move there rather than being born there.

The vast middle part of the country was traditionally a farming area - now mostly giant corporate farms - and a more family-oriented, conservative and in some areas religious part of the country.

In rural areas you tend to find more similarities among residents and more people who were born in that area - cities tend to attract a more diverse group of people who relocate to that area.

I would look towards coastal areas - either east or west, since I love the ocean.

Despite what your elderly relatives may tell you, people do not regularly and randomly shot at in our major cities - everyone is not walking around carrying a gun (when we have had guests and exchange students from Europe, that is what their relatives are most afraid of for them)

I might go with the find a job first approach, since there is so much good and bad about any part of our country. With your areas of education, you will likely find jobs near or in a larger city - but in many parts of the country that means you are only a short drive from some more rural area.

There is a post on this board titled something like "Do you speak American" which is really funny and would also give you some insight - maybe you can find it on Search or someone can reference it for you.

Do not move anywhere without posting here about that area - most regular posters here are self-described experts on someplace and the arguments about a particular area will be amusing at least.

I think Gail has summed up some of the issues quite well. You should also bear in mind the current "political" climate in the US and realize that this also varies considerably. There is, also a certain amount of xenophobia but that often doesn't extend to persons of the Caucasian race although in some places, anyone with a "foreign accent" may be viewed with suspicion.

There are, traditionally, some parts of the country which have gained a reputation as being "more friendly" than others; there was a recent thread here about the "friendliest state" or something similar.

Finally, be aware there are more than a few people here who, for whatever reason, are seriously thinking about moving to Europe and, hopefully, you'll hear from one of them soon.

Thank you that was a wonderful post and very insightful insights. I will attempt to track down the article you mentioned.

Obviously yes, the find a job is key, but the reason for my research, is that say - and im tooting my own horn here - i get three job offers of similar wage in (off the top of my head) Florida, Washington and Texas, it is the latter things that will make our choice. For instance while i can go through reams and reams of statistics for things such as pollution, average wage, average house price etc etc, theres a thousend and one things about all 50 states i dont know. Guess thats why im here.

I think that you might be terribly unhappy in the Southeastern part of the US. It gets terribly hot and humid there. Perhaps it was an exaggeration, but I seem to remember the temperature in the UK being in the 80s one summer and it was considered a "heat wave." We would have thought that 80 was a pleasant relief to our nearly 100 degrees F.

yea tempreture wise id say 20F to 85F

so any states outside that?

Hi Sean,
I actually did the same thing when I was younger but in reverse - I went over to England to work for a couple years. It was such a great experience and I felt so welcomed by so many warm and caring Brits.
Good luck and welcome;
Sherry

Sean, if you have read this and other message boards you will realize that some people exist for the sole purpose of being obnoxious. Ignoring them is the only course of action required.

My family emigrated here in the early 50's from Austria and I thank God every day we did. I can only speak for Michigan but we have become an amalgam of nations. My neighborhood is made up of people from many different countries and we all get along great. In fact, an accent is often a plus - Americans are especially fascinated by Britans, imo. We had a German exchange student for a summer and he was the most popular kid around. If you are friendly to people they will generally be friendly to you as well.

In general, you would probably do better in an urban area where there is already an eclectic mix of people. Do you drive? If you are used to walking or taking the tube, you might want to concentrate on areas with good mass transit where commuting by car is not a necessity. Chicago, Boston, Atlanta spring to mind.

Lots of luck!
Maggi

"yea tempreture wise id say 20F to 85F . . . so any states outside that?"

Um, yeah, pretty much all of them. We do not have the same moderate ocean climate that Britain has.

I'm issuing a challenge to my fellow Fodorites: ARE there any states that never go above 85 or below 20? My cousin who lives in Hawaii said that it never goes over 85 there (that moderating ocean influence again) but I checked and she's wrong.

Most states will be outside of that temperature range. The New England area, across the top of the States and some of the West Coast would be your best bet climate wise.

but be aware, that where it snows, it can snow DEEP.

Every New England state can guarantee you temperatures BOTH below 20 and above 85 every year.

Maybe the area around San Francisco would be an OK temperature, oh wait, then you have to worry about those dratted earthquakes.

Thanks for the information about the temperature, guess we will have to decide wether to be warmr or cooler than we are used to!

Id also like to thank the many people who have taken the time to help me, and I wont let the bad apples spoil the thread, so yes I shall ignore them!

On an off topic question - I know what red blue and purple states represent but where are they roughly?

Hi again,
I would guess that Sean meant those temp. as averages and not something written in stone. I live near the coast in RI (New England) and it hardly ever dips below 20 or above 85. Lot's of the coastal areas in New England, NY and NJ are the same although there can be some cold pockets within those areas.
Sherry