Humidity is a strange thing. It has to be hot, humid, and still (no wind) for it to feel uncomfortable. The west coast fog belt is very humid (I'm talking to you, San Francisco.) But only my hair notices the humidity, my skin doesn't feel the humidity, only the cold and wind!)

The 'San Diego area' is quite a bit like Orange County in respect that both have vast areas of sprawling family suburbs. If you live in one part of San Diego and have to commute to the center it can be awful because the geography is such that transit corridors are constricted (kind of like SF Bay Area but without the public transit). San Diego/OC are much more conservative politically than San Francisco. But the weather is a lot better!

The public transit of San Francisco makes all the difference, though, doesn't it? Changes everything (in a good way).

Boston. I know you haven't considered it, and no one has mentioned it since it's in New England and everyone thinks snow and cold. Well there will be some of that, but if you are from upstate NY it will be much less than you are used to. I've lived in both upstate NY and Boston (and NYC) and the snow, with the exception of the occasional nor'Easter is much less. Spring and fall are each a month longer than in upstate NY.

It has beaches, it's a city that you can have a car. Cost of living is less than NYC or San Francisco (but more than the southern cities). My 25 year old daughter lived there for two years (after NYC) and loved it. She will probably move back there (she's in Paris for a year now). Lot's of young social life. There are tons of colleges/grad schools there so lots of cultural and educational offerings and the people who want those things. Think also about the social/political views of the population. I have a 20 something friend who moved from New England to Charleston. She loves the city and lack of snow but feels the political views of many of the people are quite opposite of her and she feels a bit uncomfortable because of that. My sister in law is from S. Carolina (and still lives there, but western part) and she says the same thing. It's not something most people consider when looking for a place to live, but maybe it should be at least one factor.

Just a thought.

I actually lived in Boston for 6 years (college and right after) and it was still too cold for me. It is a great city just ready to try something new :)

Is Austin very conservative bkluvsnola? Do you feel it will feel similar to living in the south? I've only been to Dallas in Tx.

Austin is the most liberal place in Texas. It's not like Dallas at all.

Austin is wonderful. I'd move there in a heartbeat. It's got a great vibe. Folks I've know have moved there for corporate reasons and have dug in their heels and refuse to move back "home" - or anywhere else.

I can't explain it, San Diego just strikes me as booooring. Besides the good weather it just doesn't float my boat. That said, I do love Los Angeles and would consider living there.

For San Francisco area, no, I don't think the surrounding communities offer as much as downtown. That's why I didn't move there (I looked very seriously at relocation from Seattle about 10 years ago) it was not economically feasible for me.

There are a few cute parts of downtown San Diego, it's the overall atmosphere of southern California "surburban sprawl" (even worse in Orange County) that I don't find all that appealing.

Agree with suze. The few parts of San Diego that have more of a young/village feel tend to be a bit lowlife surf-bum or very upscale and expensive. Also there isn't much of the great mixing of cultures and ethnicities that you might expect in cities. It's Mexican and white and never the twain shall meet.

I like LA (obviously cuz I live in the area), there are lots of different communities (I think Long Beach is good for young people, Belmont Shore and parts of East Long Beach especially have that vibe). The downside is the sucky job market, and if you pick the wrong spot (I'm talking to Santa Monica now) either bad commuting or high housing prices. It can be harder to meet people (although not impossible) unless you work in a large office or go to school. Other than smog and a few humid days in mid summer the weather is as good as San Diego. Actually the weather here is just about as good as it gets.

Austin may be the most liberal spot in Texas, but it's still Texas!;)

THANK YOU (I've been trying since the suggestion first came up, to think of how to politely say something about the great state of Texas).

It's funny you say that about SD Suze because when I went to visit a few months ago and I was really surprised. I had been hearing so many great things about it that I was kinda shocked to see how small the downtown area was and how spread out it was. We stayed in the Gaslamp and on Sunday night it was absolutely dead. I'm moving by myself so it just made me a little worried as it is very spread out and may be difficult to meet people if I'm not in college. I mean it's still a beautiful place I was just surprised.

I said it because it's true ;-) some of these places I just would never think of suggesting for a single person wanting a lively social life and ease in finding work and meeting people, to move to (the 'burbs of so. cal. being one of them). I believe San Diego would be a fine place to raise kids, etc.

You asked about differences between Raleigh and Charlotte? I think Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill (called the "Research Triangle" because of all the hi-tech) is more diverse than Charlotte - it is also more progressive, politically. I'm not sure when or what the previous poster who had been a grad student meant about the "way of life" here, but I'll assume it had more to do with the tightness of a college town.

There is fantastic music - and lots of it free - in various outdoor locations. You are a short drive to the wonderful beaches of Wilmington NC (a tad over 2 hours drive) and it's also not hard to get to the mountains near Asheville.

There are also wonderful arts and crafts venues. And, of course, there is also a lot that residents can take advantage of that takes place in the universities. NC State is in Raleigh, Duke is in Durham and UNC is Chapel Hill. We go to Durham Bulls baseball games (easy to get to the beautiful stadium from anywhere in the Triangle) all the time. Plus right next to the stadium is a fabulous complex of restaurants surrounding a cool outdoor music pavillion.

I agree with other posters, however. You should pick 2 or 3 of your top choices and visit for at least a long weekend. You should also checkout real estate pages/websites to get an idea of what it costs to buy a place. It's one of the reasons my daughter moved down here from NYC, because it's hard to imagine buying $300K studio in NYC anytime soon, but even as a single person she knew she could buy a condo or house in a great neighborhood down here for under $150K.

Boston: Freezing, cold, wet, rainy, gray, icy, colorless winters and hot, steamy, humid, stagnant summers. Spring lasts about 77 minutes or so. I love Boston, it's the ultimate college town, but the weather is really awful. Bostonians escape to Cape Cod in the summer to catch some ocean breezes and fresh air.

Boston's winters can be as Bowsprit describes, or not. Sometimes it's snowy rather than rainy. And there can be warmer stretches, too. Expect snow as at least a possibility from late November to the end of March. Precipitation regardless is usually solidly expressed and not of the misty and drizzly sort. And there's always a good chance of windy weather in any season.

However, summers are not uniformly as this poster describes -- that's in my experience more true of cities like St. Louis or Cincinnati. Boston typically has anywhere from one to three weeks, not always consecutively, like this in summer -- but the rest of the summer is usually more pleasant.

Spring as experienced around much of the rest of the country can indeed be short in Boston. But fall (especially late August, September, and much of October) is usually very nice, with pleasant daytimes and cool nights.

As with any other city, there are good and bad weather circumstances possible in the Boston area. Depends on what you like, I guess.

I live in Charlotte. While I do like it, I don't think it has what you are looking for. Their are young professionals here, but the city isn't really "happening" too much meaning there isn't much of the late-night scene that it seems you are after. The weather here is, imo, great but that's because I came from the midwest where it is even hotter, more humid and colder in the winters than it is here. But with that being said, it does get hot and humid here in the summer and can get cold in the winter.

As far as positives are concerned, we are close to the mountains (I like to hike), not too far from the beach, and the cost of living is incredibly low especially compared to the cities you mentioned on the west coast. The people are really friendly and, since so many people relocate here, it's very welcoming. The city has a very new and polished feel to it.

But, I can't agree more with the above...find a job first! My husband is in HR as well (HR IT) and he found the job first and the company relocated us. Charlotte is growing, but the job market seems rather stagnant right now, like most places in the US, due to the economy.

Tracy

Did I miss an answer to question about the cities around San Francisco?
We live in Oakland. It is a very cool city. And it's a very young city. There's a funny thread on Chowhound someone posted about moving from San Francisco to Oakland you might want to look for, as it speaks to some of what's here.
We have a great art scene, a huge park (Tilden) directly behind us and better food (I know that's subjective!) than San Francisco.
We also have the views.. of the City! And the prices are lower.
If you're interested I can direct you to neighborhoods.

The weather in some of the East and South Bay communities is definitely better than in San Francisco. I worked for a summer in San Francisco, commuting from Marin County. It was foggy in the morning, maybe a peek of sun at noon (if you squinted) and foggy in the evening. After a sunless summer I decided that LA wasn't so bad after all. But I've had friends/relatives over the years who live in some of the surrounding communities and although cooler and wetter than Southern California it's still better than the east coast. Really the job market and housing costs are the big constraint. There are ups and downs but seems that it can be easier to find employment down here (Although at the present I'm not really sure. I think it's bad everywhere in California!)

North Carolina was just a bit too good old boy for me. And I was in Chapel Hill. But I did meet a lot of friendly people (and even ran in to some of them here in LA after grad school...they escaped!)

Travelgirl0909,

You asked about how liberal Austin is. Well, it is the most liberal city in the state of Texas, which is not saying much, but I believe the core downtown areas, from Midtown down to South Austin, are almost as liberal as parts of San Francisco. There are some really weird and wonderful people there. The only difference is that as you leave the downtown area, the political views of the residents get exponentially more conservative, even within the city, whereas in a city like San Francisco, some of the hinterlands (Marin Co.) are almost as liberal as SF itself. This is something that must be taken into account.

While the downtown and South Austin areas are extremely liberal, Midtown is a little more conservative, and Northwest Austin is even moreso, but not to the degree of Dallas. The northern suburbs like Round Rock and Georgetown are as conservative as Dallas.

When they say Austin is the "liberal oasis of Texas" they mean it, but just as an oasis is just a sliver of green in a vast desert, so too is Austin within Texas.

Hope this clarifies things.

California is awesome for traffic and high taxes (which you might be used to).

The South is nice because of very low cost of living, nice but conservative people. However, it can be brutally hot.

The northwest is awesome for cloudy days. Just search for the sunny day ratio in a given city.

Austin is really a great place to be. It is the only place in America with positive job growth right now. However, everybody else thinks it is awesome too. So traffic is becoming a problem. If you could work downtown and live there it would be perfect.

I might suggest Nashville, TN as well. Tennessee has no state income tax. I believe Texas does not as well.

Do not live in Atlanta unless you are a fan of horrible sprawl and terrible heat and humidity.

I would consider Denver. I don't think of it as cold (and that is after 50 + years in Phoenix, So Cal, and Florida). When it is sunny, even temps in the 20's are pleasant.

Boston has 'weather'. It sounds like the op would like to live in a place with a little less metereological personality. :)

People keep bringing up Boston. But the OP said she has already lived in Boston for a period of time, it's not in the running for this move.

Sounds like the decision is among SF, Seattle, Austin, and Denver. I don't really agree with the "mild" assessment of Denver. It can get single digits or below and with massive amounts of snow. I know, I've been there during those times.

SF is prohibitively expensive so that doesn't meet your requirements as stated.

So, it sounds like the choice is between Seattle and Austin. In my opinion, if you're from upstate NY, Austin would probably be more different for you than Seattle and it seems you are seeking to experience something totally different than what you are used to. Also, Austin is significantly cheaper than Seattle which is important.

I think I'd have to give the nod to Austin, which is the logical choice given your preferences. But either would be fine for you I think.

I'm not going to duke it out with a Texan (and I mean that in the nicest way bkluvsNola!) but moving to Austin or moving to Seattle couldn't be two more *different* experiences!

I wouldn't rule out San Francisco, because it IS fantastic. And I do have friends who happily live there, you'd just need to rent out in Oakland or other outlying areas and use the BART to get around, not plan to rent a fabulous apartment right in the city (because that ain't going to happen in our price range).

Or better yet find housing & employment in the same general area if possible (actually that is good advice for moving anywhere, try to avoid a long "commute" been there done that & it's a drag).

Travelgirl
I think you have dropped Atlanta from your list, but I was just reading where you mentioned the importance of a good "social scene" for a someone in her late twenties so I thought I mention that you are exactly my daughter's age. She lives in Atlanta and if her experience is any indication, the social scene is incredible.
Oh, the summer temperatures in Atlanta range from 88-94 degrees most of the time.

suze, I agree, Seattle and Austin are like polar opposites in some ways (weather), but very alike in others. For weather, the pros of one city's season is the con of the other. For attitude towards environment stewardship and funkiness, I think both cities are very similar. Basically Austin = Seattle minus rain plus hot sun.

The question is "Is Austin more different than upstate New York than Seattle?" I think the answer is a resounding "YES!" The reason why is upstate New York is very green, lots of precipitation, mild summers, very similar to Seattle except much colder in the winter. Austin is more of the Desert Southwest feel, with some South mixed in.

That's why I feel the OP would probably "grow" more in Austin, IMHO. But we *know* I'm biased!

Have you lived in Seattle before?

While I think Boston is a beautiful and amazing city I just really do not want to deal with those winters again so it's not really an option right now. It would be perfect if it wasn't freezing!

I looked into Denver a little more and they do get a lot of snow, more then I want at least, haha. Maybe if I liked snow sports it would be a great choice but I prefer the water.

Lgnutah I'll do some more research on Atlanta thanks for bringing it up. :)

I'm going to still consider the San Fran area but in one of the surrounding areas as San Fran itself is not really an option financially. It would be like me trying to find an apartment in NYC. I love the culture, laid back vibe, outdoor activities and of course the nearby wineries. One thing is that the summers never get that warm. Suze - It does seem like Seattle and Portland have warmer weather then SF but do you have 80 degree weather in the summers? Does the weather differ much from Seattle to Portland?

I think Austin is a place that I probably have to check out in person. I hear so many great things about it and the cost of living is definitely appealing. To be completely honest my main concern would be culture shock.

Althouh it's not really an issue now I would like to find something with good neighborhoods nearby if I have a family later on in life. Although, I love the beach, the lack of yards and greenery is one thing that bothers me about Southern Cal. No place is perfect right? And right now I'm going to be in an aparment or condo anyway. I just want a liveable city and I don't even mind living slightly outside of the city if I can have a car, dog, etc.

I'm going to have to make sacrifices so it's helpful to look at all options and hear from people that have experience living in these places. Thanks guys :)

Yes we have 80 degree weather in the summers in both Seattle and Portland (the two cities have very similar weather patterns). More typically probably mid-70's. Occasionally we will have a real heat wave when it hits 90 for a couple days and everyone complains like mad (we are "weather whimps" here in Seattle, we don't like it too hot or too cold).

I'm not sure why you say the summers never get warm in San Francisco. It does have unusual weather patterns but it does most certainly get hot some places some times!!

You should absolutely come visit both Portland and Seattle, you can live either place eassily with a car and a dog. Both would be great for raising a family if that happens for you later on.

I lived in the Bay Area and it's quite unique in its "micro climates". It can be cold and foggy in San Francisco and hot and sunny somewhere else (usually East or South Bay).

Since you stated you couldn't afford SF, then you would most likely be living in the East or South Bay, which are considerably warmer than SF.

I've actually been in SF when it was 97 degrees and we went swimming in the Pacific. I've also been very thankful for a light jacket or sweater many a summer evening in SF as well.

Winters are very mild there, it never got below 40 the 3 years I lived there. It does rain quite a bit in the winter though.

You also mentioned settling down eventually and having that option available. Again, I think it points towards Austin. Part of the reason I left the Bay Area was I wanted to start a family and homes were prohibitely expensive.

Austin is a great place for singles, but it's also a great place for families. I've experienced both of these while I've been here.

Also, one last thing, we have green yards and greenery here, but it's a little different than what you have in upstate NY, and it's not always green. But it's a little more lush than the Southwest or LA for instance.

My advice would be to come visit for an extended weekend and figure out if the city appeals to you.

If you are interested in the Bay Area - but not necessarily SFO, I would suggest Los Gatos- very upscale community, not far to SFO or San Jose- and close to Santa Cruz too. Many company headquarters close by for employment opportunities - my daughter lives in the area and I love opportunities to visit.

For quality of life, you can't beat Charleston, SC or Asheville, NC. Both are small cities in lovely settings and are great for singles. Charlotte, NC may have a better job market (it depends on your profession) - it's between the other two.

San Diego, hands down.

San Francisco! There's a reason it's expensive; everyone wants to live there ;)

San Fran is also good, but the OP wants nice weather which SF rarely has (this past Saturday being an exception!)

I absolutely adore living near Charleston, but get a job first. It's been pretty tight around here. But you can't beat the beaches, the food and the entertainment value of SC politics :O

sunbum, a person on a limited budget isn't going to find themselves in Los Gatos! Maybe Campbell, or San Jose, or Santa Clara or Sunnyvale but not Los Gatos. To Travelgirl, the weather in the South Bay (this year excepted) is pretty good, never too cold, doesn't USUALLY rain from Spril to October, and gets in the mid 80's all summer long with a couple of weeks usually around 100. Yards and houses and trees abound.

I'm not a big fan of cold winters, do not like humidity and I love being active outdoors especially the beach. I'm laid back and although I want a city I would like to still have a car. Dog friendly too! I would prefer a larger city as I will be moving alone and want to have a better networking of meeting people.

Places I've been considering are...San Diego, Denver, Santa Barbara, Orange County, San Fran, Charlotte.
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cold winters-scrap San Francisco and Denver.
humidity-Charlotte is out?
dog friendly- OC and Santa Barbara are out.
Coonclusion- San Diego. Very dog friendly, lots of hip young professionals, laid back and great weather all year long.