5 ms·
There are so many economical, livable cities in the West within a 2-4 hour flight of SFO or SJC. Seattle is already too expensive, and I find Phoenix quite unpl
by fernly 10y ago
There are so many economical, livable cities in the West within a 2-4 hour flight of SFO or SJC. Seattle is already too expensive, and I find Phoenix quite unpleasant, but Portland, Eugene (go Ducks!), Corvallis (go Beavs!), Spokane/Pullman (go Cougs!), Boise, Reno are all civilized, attractive, and relatively economical places.
- bran-dog 10y agoPhoenix is a miserably hot place 7-8 months out of the year with cuckoo politics.
- x0x0 10y agoI just looked and it's 86.9F at 10:35pm. Ugh. Max temps for the 10 day forecast: 102, 100, 101, 103, 103, 98 (cool!), 101, 105, 107, 109 (!!!). You better like being indoors all the time.
- rblatz 10y agoYeah summer gets hot, but 86.9 at night isn't really hot. I wouldn't open my windows, but if you are outside it feels good. Yesterday my wife and I were walking around (in the shade) after getting coffee, and commented how nice out it felt. Turns out it was over 100 out. Desert heat feels different than any other heat I've felt.
- niftich 10y agoNight desert heat is a... unique experience that I too find enjoyable, but your air conditioner is running 24/7 to keep the house below 80. And in Phoenix, there is not enough night activities and/or legit nightlife to take advantage of pleasant nights as opposed to oppressive days. Scottsdale or Tempe may be a different story, but then you're driving anyway. Or you do live within walking distance, but then you're no longer paying Phoenix rents.
- rblatz 10y agoI live in south Scottsdale, I work in Phoenix roughly a 7 minute drive or maybe 20 minutes by bike on the canals. I'm not as familiar with downtown as I am Arcadia/South Scottsdale/Tempe. But I do love getting downtown for a change of pace.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- notadoc 10y agoScottsdale is really nice, Tempe is too but it's a younger crowd
- ladytron 10y agoThere is very little humidity here. I would say 88 degrees feel more like 72 degrees in a place that is not a desert environment. Also, when you live in Phoenix, your body changes and you truly do acclimate to the heat. Anything under 65 feels like below freezing after a few years of living anywhere that is warm year round.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- karma_vaccum123 10y agohot as a furnace and high crime rate
- ladytron 10y agoI would disagree. Phoenix weather is fabulous 8 months out of the year, from October until May. It is why we have world class luxury resorts and a huge tourism base. I agree that we have wacky politicians, but so does California! Our mayor Greg Stanton is pretty cool. He wants to encourage more investment in high tech industry.
- refurb 10y agowith cuckoo politics Compared to what? San Francisco?
- rblatz 10y agoPhoenix has great weather 7-8 months of the year. The summer sucks, no doubt, but the rest of the year is amazing. No natural disasters to worry about, the worst we get is a bit of flash flooding in low lying areas and dust storms. We also have great hiking, some of the best sunsets to be had, low cost of living.
- DamnYuppie 10y agoBoise is terrible, please don't move there. Sincerely Yours, Idaho
- cholantesh 10y agoThis is the first endorsement I've ever heard of Spokane. Has it changed in recent years?
- fernly 10y agoI've visited Spokane for weekends several times in the past decade, usually following the Stanford women's basketball team to games with WSU or regional tournaments. So I haven't any experience in living there, but for a tourist, Spokane's not large but it is very pleasant with a walkable downtown core centered on Riverfront Park and of recent years, several very decent restaurants. The airport is small but efficient with lots of flights to SEA and PDX and a few direct flights to SFO. Good highway connections in all directions. WSU is an intellectual asset, a major campus, but it is located a 90-minute freeway drive away in the smaller town of Pullman, which don't get much respect but isn't so bad either. Edit: Under the heading of intellectual asset, I completely forgot Gonzaga U, which puts some brain-power right in Spokane.
- davidw 10y agoPullman is out in the middle of a bunch of hills with wheat fields. Didn't strike me as having much besides that, whereas lots of other places mentioned have some pretty good outdoor activities.
- beauzero 10y agoNo. Choose Boise or Bozeman, MT.
- __derek__ 10y agoMy understanding is that Portland and Seattle have effectively the same cost of living thanks to the same boom in Cascadian urban real estate prices. Seattle is building, though, so it's possible that its costs will level off or at least grow more gradually.
- prodigal_erik 10y agoSeattle partly has San Francisco's problem; it's so boxed-in by geography that most available land is far away and hard to reach. Portland can grow if they decide they want to.
- davidw 10y agoSan Francisco's problem is disfunctional NIMBY politics. With real estate prices there, they absolutely have room to build up.
- notadoc 10y agoSeattle is cheaper than Portland at this point for being anywhere decent. Have friends in both and visit often, Portland has really jumped the shark and is very overrated. Also have a friend who just left Portland for San Diego because San Diego is now cheaper, and the weather isn't atrocious for 10 months. The other places you mention are little college towns without any industry, could be appropriate for people in their early 20s who have their own job to bring. Spokane and Pullman are really cheap, but they're in the middle of nowhere. Reno is probably the best of the bunch, it's nice and has more of an economy, plus it's a relatively short drive back to civilization and San Francisco. Some parts of Phoenix are really nice, as is Tucson, affordable, great weather, etc but the always-in-your-face abrasive politics of AZ can be off putting. It's a bit further out, but I think the South will be major growth areas for tech. Highly affordable, friendly people, good weather for most of the year, great cities and culture, etc.
- gee_totes 10y agoIs there any startup/hi-tech activity in Pullman besides Schweitzer?
- davidw 10y agoBend is really nice too, but getting expensive thanks to rapid growth and NIMBYism that mirrors that in the bay area. Way better climate, IMO, than west of the Cascades.
- xeromal 10y agoDon't forget Salt Lake City. Tons of jobs, low cost of living, and a great outdoor community.