mlgb

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!

Bowsprit

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

isabel

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.

Travelgirl0909

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.

starrs

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.

suze

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.

suze

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.

mlgb

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.

mlgb

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

suze

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).

Travelgirl0909

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.

suze

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.

uhoh_busted

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.

Bowsprit

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.

bachslunch

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.

tcreath

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

welch

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.

mlgb

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!)

bkluvsNola

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.

radiomixme

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.