Looking for the most beautiful "liveable" city in the western U.S.
 

Every summer during our very, very hot days in the desert southwest I dream about TRAVELING to and then moving to a lovely city somewhere in the western U.S.

I'm thinking of a 4 season town that is NOT in a high-desert area. Probably a minimum of 60,000 people. Good schools for the kids. Within 1 1/2 to 2 hours to a decent size airport. My spouse will probably be retired by then so we won't have to worry about job prospects.

My main priority is natural beauty, as in green scenery, lakes, streams. Nothing dry and dead like the desert southwest... Some snow in the winter is okay. Desire refreshing spring days, warm (not hot) summers and crisp autumn days and nights.

I want to visit several prospects over the next few years and see if anything clicks. Looking for ideas on where to start.

You'll get a hundred replies to this one because everyone will interpret your question their own way. You have described your criteria pretty well, but I assume that in spite of having a "main priority" of great scenery you still will have good schools at the top of your list.

I also don't know how far east your idea of the west goes. Is a midwestern state such as Kansas not acceptable? (Not that I'm recommending it)

So I'll put my own interpretation on your request. Of the hundreds or possibly thousand of nice towns/cities that will fit your bill, any one person only knows a few. My observations aren't biased by living in any of these cities, but you'll get lots of answers from those who recommend their home towns.

My list would include (in no special order): Boulder, CO; Lubbock and Amarillo, TX; Flagstaff, AZ; Laramie, WY; Eugene and Portland, OR; Los Alamos, NM; and lots of places in the northern half of California. But there are so many more that you will have to narrow down your search with more definite criteria before getting some really meaningful inputs. Good luck.

Portland, Ore., would fit. Nice scenery. Nowhere near as rainy as Seattle. Relatively cheap area to live. Great restaurants, too.

You've described my corner of the world- largely, Denver. More specifically, I'm thinking of the southern towns of Parker, Castle Rock and Larkspur. The seasons and scenery found here are everything that you are thinking of.

The lake Tahoe area may not have 60,000 people just around the lake but there certainly are that many in the immediate area. It's a great place but quite expensive to purchase a home, at least with lake access or lake view.

Boulder, Colorado also fits your criteria very nicely as do several of the mountain foothill towns if you consider the population of the front range and not just the town (Evergreen, Golden, Fort Collins).

Park City, Utah is a nice area as are many of the other towns in the SLC-area canyons. Also Provo is nice but it would not be really high on my list (personal opinion only-lots of people like it a lot).

Spokane, Washington is also a very nice place. I have not visited Boise except for pass-thorughs but I have heard others speak well of it. I like some of the Idaho pandhandle towns really well (Coeur d' Alene, Sandpoint) but I don't think either of them would meet your population criteria.

Flagstaff may also be worth considering. I don't know a lot about the town but the weather patterns should fit your criteria. Portions of Northern California may also fit (Lake County, Mendicino County, some of the rural parts of Marin County, the Sierra foothill counties along Calif Hwy 49 south of I-80).

I hope this list helps.

Isn't the Front Range area of Colorado, including Denver, generally pretty dry? I know there's great scenery with the mountains, but the cities being talked about don't get a whole lot of precipitation and have fairly low humidity, don't they?

One of the most important questions IMO Kennedy is what do you have budgeted for a house?

LoveItaly: We could spend up to $800,000 for a home.

I noted several responses suggested locations in Colorado. I'm under the impression that the Colorado mountain towns are located in high desert areas.

$800K for a home? Shoot, why not come to Portland and buy two for that price?

There are some nice outlying towns from Portland such as McMinnville that you might like instead if you dont want a huge city. Meanwhile, you'd be near some incredible scenery.

Andrew

I suggest looking at Fort Collins, Colorado, and Flagstaff, Arizona.

Flagstaff is high, and can be cold in the winter. If memory serves me correctly, it is at about 7,000 feet. I was there in May and got hit with a very cold rain shower. Brrrrr.

If you're against desert, that pretty much puts you in Western Washington, Oregon, or California.
I think you need to look at the taxing systems of the states, rather than specific towns, then work from there.

Bingo BBQBoy!!! I think you're right in that Oregon, western WA and northern CA have the climates and topography I'm looking for. Any suggestions for specific towns in those areas?

In the Portland suburbs, you could buy an attractive house (some would say VERY attractive, but we don't know what kind of house you have now) for $500k and still have money left to send your kids to private school (ex: Catlin Gabel) if you didn't care for the local public schools.

You might like to swan around the www.windermere.com and www.johnlscott.com web sites to see what you could get for your money in various parts of western WA and OR. And of course, consult with a good financial planner for the complete tax, etc. picture.

Happy hunting!

Boise, Id. 4 seaons, plenty to do for the outdoorsy type, summers may have some hot days, but it is nice in the morning, then cools off again at night. Plenty of natural beauty and it is a very clean town. Just spent a few days there 2 months ago. Driving distance to nice resorts like Sun Valley (winter and summer), so is Cascade Lake.
I also second Spokane, the DH and I made several trips there last year with the intentions of moving.

Another well known realty company here in the Portland area is Hasson (www.hasson.com). The housing prices in the suburbs are rising rapidly. You can still get a lot for that amount of money, but people are often surprised once they start looking around here at how much prices have risen.

I second Boise, ID. Visited there last year, and I think it fits your need. And 800K will do very well there.

I'm revisiting this old thread... Several people suggested Boise. I've been there, but it was some years back. Isn't the landscape more high desert? I don't recall it being particulary lush and green.

Yes, the city itself is very dry. But just drive a little bit to the north and it's all forest.

Portland, Oregon
Boise, Idaho
Flagstaff, Arizona
Lake Tahoe, California
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Hi Kennedy,

Sounds to me like you have a real adversion to sagebrush! Where, exactly in the desert SW do you live now?

From what you describe, the Pacific NW sounds about right.

Inland is pretty much all "high desert", which I just love by the way!