My husband and I currently live in Austin, Texas and are considering moving. Austin has grown a lot fairly quickly, and we want to move to a small town (< 50,000 people) in either Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, or Colorado. Important: jobs, recreation (outdoor), cost of living and housing, and tolerance (we are a mixed race couple). We like trees and four distinct seasons, but do not like not plains. Our ultimate goal is to buy 10-20 acres with a house for us and the pets. Any suggestions out there on any of the above states or others?

Well, Ive been to all of the states you mention. Colorado is my favorite of those, although the others are not far behind!!! Depending on where in Oregon. It rains all the time out there, but everything is a shade of green like no other green you've ever seen!! The farther east, the less rain. I personally wouldn't go there except to visit. There are many towns in Colorado that meet your criteria though. If I were you I'd contact the state visitors bureaus and request any info they have. I do that just for fun, and you get some awesome stuff!! Enjoy your hunt for the next place to call home!!!

Please take weather into consideration. Small towns in snow country can become even more remote during a long winter. My in-laws, Floridians no less, are always talking about moving to Montana or Wyoming, but I think they have no clue what winters are like out there. Good luck!

Land will probably be the cheapest in Wyoming as it is the least populated state. Of course, that means less jobs AND the weather can get mighty cold.
I would suggest Oregon as it has the mildest weather, affordable housing and no sales tax.

I'd definitely visit a place before making this sort of decision.

I'd be wary of small town and rural Oregon. I'd be happy if someone told me I were wrong, but rural and small town Oregon does not have the reputation for racial tolerance. In fact, it has the reputation for quite the opposite.

The Medford area is particularly notorious for White supremacists. Also, lots of methamphetamine labs and drugs in the hills of southern Oregon. I'd definitely avoid that part of the state.

Eugene, where the U of Oregon is located, is a liberal area you might consider.

Portland is very open minded and a great place to live, with lots of neighborhoods. It sounds like it is bigger than you are looking for, though. Forest Grove is near Portland, but a nice little town with a college in it. This might be a possibility.

Washington is a lot like Oregon, geographically, and, if you are considering Oregon, you should throw this question out for Washington, also. I don't know the buzz on Washington, but it has more mid-size towns than Oregon.

hello nw31, just for the record I agree with all of Orcas comments.

I agree with Orcas about Oregon. We lived in Eugene for a few years and loved it. BUT the housing there has become more expensive and you won't be able to find 10-20 acres without going pretty far out of town. And once you leave Eugene, the area becomes a lot more conservative. We had our own redneck encounters with some blockheads from Springfield.
I would suggest Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Sequim, for example, is still reasonably priced with larger lots still available and has a GREAT climate (unbeatable, really, lots of sunshine, mild weather, beautiful vistas, clean air). Port Townsend is great small town, lots of buzz, but housing there is more expensive. Both are tolerant communities with a lot of artisans.
Around Portland, be careful as well with some of the outlying communities on the Washington side of the border...Battle Ground is also a notorious racist hotbed.
I'd guess that Montana would be more tolerant that Wyoming (a brother in law is from Wyoming and he is one of the least tolerant people I know, so I'm biased).
Frankly, if you want small town life, beautiful countryside, tolerance, why on earth aren't you considering Vermont? Ticks all your boxes and then some.
However, none of the places in your list or the ones I've added have booming job markets unless you're a healthcare professional. Are you self-employed with a business you can run anywhere? Or will you need someone to hire you on a full time with benefits basis?

I also agree with Orcas. WA has a lot of the same scenarios. There are some smaller towns close to the mountains that are hotbeds for meth, and not exactly tolerant of anyone that seems different. I am not saying that all towns are like this, but definitely go visit an area first and check with the local police to see what their usual problems are. That can give you a good insight to an area.

Orcas is right on. Eugene has a nice quality of life feel to it. Sequim or Port Townsend are great areas.

Except for the job part, Orcas' namesake would be a consideration. If I could figure out a way to live in the San Juans, I (and too many others) would be there.

Bellingham, Wash., is a bigger than 50,000 -- not really a small town -- but might be worth checking out.

As for Montana, Bozeman and Missoula are fabulous towns -- mostly because of their universities. While the cold wouldn't bother me, the lack of diversity is an issue that's harder to avoid.

http://www.findyourspot.com/ This site may be helpful. Based on your responses, they offer suggested regions/towns/cities...Good luck!

The small town west is not famous for either tolerance or plentiful jobs...In any intermountain West state, I'd only condsider college towns.

The San Juan Islands are not exactly liberal. And especially Friday Harbor. A lot of people moved their to get away, and this is NOT my statement please be assured, "from all those people we do not want to be around".

Have family living there too - and they love it. A vacation is fine but I could not truly live there 24/7.

Hey, we did the same thing several years ago. We are so glad we moved to Madison, WI from CA (our next door neighbor was on America's Most Wanted, and that was in a good neighborhood!). We started with the Places Rated Almanac and then visited a few places. Madison is a city of 200,000 but still feels somewhat small town. Tolerant, good jobs, and plenty of people where I work downtown live about 30 minutes from town, on several acres. We almost moved to Oregon where we do have connections, but hard to find jobs. Good luck.