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Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

• pheasant3 4y ago
  Wyoming! Move to Wyoming lads. Reconnect with nature and quiet. Towns near the Tetons. Jackson of course is crazy expensive, but the towns nearby are amazing. And the place is more progressive that you might think - for WY
  • anon291 4y ago
    > And the place is more progressive that you might think - for WY Please don't move somewhere only to introduce the same problems you're fleeing.
  • 1270018080 4y ago
    I've looked at this in the past, and it seems like if you want to live in a reasonably sane part of Wyoming it's going to cost $800k+ in housing.
  • cjonas 4y ago
    The few towns nearby are just as expensive. I own a home in Alpine WY and the market has gone up almost 100% since we bought in 2017. Victor/driggs is even worse (especially when factoring state tax). Only slightly better situation in Pinedale, Dubois and Lander. It's also deep red everywhere but Jackson and Lander... A lot of libertarians though, which makes it seem less oppressive than what I experienced growing up in the south...
• MilnerRoute 4y ago
  If you're looking for an incentive program, here's a place to start looking.... https://www.makemymove.com/ https://www.makemymove.com/ I think this site will even contact cities for you that don't have incentive programs. Another advantage of these city programs is you're part of a cohort of relocaters - so you always have people sharing the newcomer experience with you.
• duped 4y ago
  Try the Midwest around rail commuter routes. Most of them developed small yet thriving downtowns that are quite quaint and affordable For example check out Geneva Illinois
  • jbhouse 4y ago
    illinois winters though...
    • mandeepj 4y ago
      In the recent years winters got very short, only two months - Feb and March
      • deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    • duped 4y ago
      Winter is the best time of the year. It keeps housing prices down from people that can't deal with it.
      • Kon-Peki 4y ago
        Ain't that the truth? But seriously, if you want a small town with a functioning downtown that isn't ridiculously priced, you are going to have much better odds of finding something east of the Mississippi River. Because the type of town you are looking for needed to be established before the automobile became big. Geneva, IL and its neighbor to the north (St Charles) are really, really nice. But they're not a cheap places unless you are comparing them to coastal towns. Try this: make a list of all the counties in all the eastern states. Find the county seat of each one. Look at a satellite photo of the downtown area and if it seems solid, check out the street view. If that is also promising, look at real estate prices. Narrow it down to a list of 25-30 towns. And go visit them.
      • nxm 4y ago
        High property taxes keeps people out and home prices down in Illinois more than the weather.
• rswerve 4y ago
  College towns. Pick some states, and go visit towns with colleges in them. They'll have restaurants and groceries, and those faculty kids have to go to school somewhere. Internet should be passable, too. They won't be the cheapest small town option, but houses should come in well below a million bucks. The one town you mention, Lancaster, PA, is a model of the type.
  • D13Fd 4y ago
    This is a great answer. The two college towns near me also happen to be home to all the best restaurants, and are both far more walkable than the nearest city's downtown area. Not sure that the real estate is going to be all that cheap, though.
  • novia 4y ago
    please don't price students out of college towns...
    • cpach 4y ago
      Doesn’t US students mostly live in dorms…?
      • grapeskin 4y ago
        The first year, yeah. After that, people start moving out. I don’t know anybody who lived in a dorm from the third year onward. But yeah, what poor college students trying to get a start on life and grad students making pocket change really need is some 400k/year tech workers to flood into their town, say “wow! Only 2500 a month!” and make it impossible to live anywhere. Also, dorms are insanely expensive. And wanting to be near noisy, drunk, high college kids as an unaffiliated adult is honestly just weird.
        • cpach 4y ago
          Not really sure what to respond. Should people in the US not be free to move to any town they want? Seems like an odd take IMO.
• User23 4y ago
  • fredsmith219 4y ago
    Who made you the judge of where people get to live?
    • User23 4y ago
      • dang 4y ago
        You've been breaking the site guidelines egregiously lately—in fact, you've been an asshole repeatedly, such as in this thread and these: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32465482 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32465482 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32464502 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32464502 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32459965 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32459965 That's seriously not ok. We ban accounts that do this, and in fact have had to ask you many times in the past to stop doing this. I don't want to ban you, because you've also posted good things and it doesn't seem like you've been breaking the rules consistently. But if you don't fix this, we're going to have to. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.
    • kcplate 4y ago
      You may not like their delivery, but they make a reasonable point.
      • edmcnulty101 4y ago
        But what if their community sucks though? Being serious.
        • deleted 4y ago
          [deleted]
• s5300 4y ago
  Check out smallish public research university college towns. Ohio University is a pretty cool place, though slightly secluded.
• mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
  Just pick any mid sized US city and pick a suburb that has a Main Street type of area and it’s not in high COL area. I would look for ones with fiber internet available. The houses should not be anywhere near $1m when you do this. Avoid high tax states like CA or NY. I imagine you have other factors like distance from family, area of the country, weather, proximity to mountains/beach/parks/major metro for things to do, etc. so those should narrow down what states. Then go on a mini vacation and explore or work remotely from where you’re exploring.
  • ajross 4y ago
    > Avoid high tax states like CA or NY. Why? This sounds (especially given the two specific states named) more like an impression from partisan media than practical advice. Those two states do indeed happen to have comparatively high tax burden and metro areas with high real estate costs. But the relationship isn't well correlated. Maine and Minnesota are "high tax" states with cheap housing, and Alaska has (IIRC) the lowest tax burden but wildly higher cost of living. Similarly Miami has low tax and outrageous real estate, etc... (Also recognize that state and local taxes make up a comparatively small share of an individual's tax burden in the US, anyway. The difference in total tax between NY and TN is something like 20% if I'm doing the math right)
    • mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
      I suppose I should have clarified to include property taxes. If someone is looking for an area to move to and possibly settle, when you pay off a house you may not want $800-1000/mo in taxes on that house. I said “like” I didn’t do an analysis of 50 states and tax rates. I think it would be common sense if someone was looking to move anywhere in the US to consider taxes and avoid places that were high. Similarly consider 0 income tax states like TX, NV or FL too (I’m sure there are others, those I know off top of my noggin), all things being equal if you net an extra 5-8% per year of a Tech company Eng Mgr salary that could be $10-15k more per year.
      • ajross 4y ago
• protomyth 4y ago
  Check a bandwidth map so you are not frustrated. You probably also want to make sure the politicians in the area are of your preferred party since that will tell you if your family will have people with your beliefs in the area. Being the odd person out from the local folks isn't fun.
  • lotsofpulp 4y ago
    I would not rely on bandwidth maps. Even the FCC's official one is very inaccurate. I would put the address in the ISP's website to see what is available, and then call them to double check because even the ISP's website is wrong sometimes.
  • ltbarcly3 4y ago
    Who cares about the political party of local politicians? Make sure local government services are delivered on time and on budget (water, power, garbage collection, etc). Make sure the schools are good and aren't run by weirdos. Beyond that, why would you care?
    • sneak 4y ago
      Because there is a culture war and in a lot of places if you aren't deemed to be in the in-group you will suddenly find yourself with problems that were created just for you by the locals.
      • deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    • kube-system 4y ago
      > Make sure the schools are good and aren't run by weirdos. Is approximately equal to > the political party of local politicians
      • ltbarcly3 4y ago
        This is completely false. There are lunatics of all stripes.
• braingenious 4y ago
  Grafton, New Hampshire
• davidw 4y ago
  I think 'decent airport' is perhaps tricky, at least on the west coast. I think you'll need to be more specific about some other things like how small is too small or how big is too big, and what 'cold' means for you. This site seems to have some good search facilities: https://www.bestplaces.net/ https://www.bestplaces.net/ Also agree with the 'college towns' comment.
  • noahtallen 4y ago
    Lots of other places, too. If you’re not near a moderately sized city, it’ll be at least 1-2 hours drive to an airport that has any commercial flights. Even in more populous rural states like Ohio, that means being pretty close to Cleveland or Columbus. Or in Montana, you’ll just have to accept having very few options even if you live in the second largest city (Missoula). I’ve lived in more than one small town, and the airports within an hour or two drive were not decent. Agree about defining small town — for me, that’s under 10k pop, which is extremely limiting. Places others might consider “small towns” (40k pop) I would consider cities.
    • davidw 4y ago
      Here in Bend we have an airport that gets you to Seattle, San Francisco, Denver. For some people like me who do not travel much, that kind of thing might be 'good enough'. I think that sort of thing is reasonably common in regional airports. It'd probably be annoying not having more flights if you travel regularly.
• ulfw 4y ago
  How about Bozeman, Montana? 50K people small but got pretty much everything you'd need.
  • davidw 4y ago
    "Not too cold" is probably not something that Montana does well, despite all the other attractive things there.
  • subpixel 4y ago
    Isn’t Bozeman the poster child for towns negatively impacted by tech workers swooping in, driving out local salaried families, and driving suburban growth? I’ve read a version of that in half a dozen stories since 2020.
• w1 4y ago
  Emporia, KS. Home of a small college and a few large obscure athletic events (Unbound Gravel and disc golf nationals). Kansas is also a very reasonable state, politically, compared to much of the midwest. Less than two hours from decent sized airports (MCI and Wichita).
  • wishfish 4y ago
    Nice to see Emporia mentioned on HN. A bit of a surprise but a nice surprise. I've always liked it. I've personally never lived there but do live in the region. Eastern Kansas in general wouldn't be a bad place for a remote worker. Many of these towns have fiber. Homes are incredibly cheap. I picked up a 120 yr old farmhouse with broadband, a few acres and several 100 yr old trees for well under 100k. There's a deep calm here I really enjoy. One interesting choice in Kansas is the town of Humboldt. Locals got tired of seeing their town decline as many others in the state. They've taken some impressive steps towards reversing that. Revitalizing their downtown with a string of new businesses. Here's a (paywall free) Kansas City Star article on the town and their newfound success. https://archive.ph/Bhntu https://archive.ph/Bhntu
• pbuzbee 4y ago
  I just saw an interactive tool for this recently: https://www.movemap.io/explore/us https://www.movemap.io/explore/us
• spaetzleesser 4y ago
  New Mexico has a bunch of nice small towns. I live in Albuquerque (not a small town but there are quite a few others) and I have some shops, restaurants and bars all in walking distance.
  • davidw 4y ago
    I would like to visit Silver City some day. Looks like it has the makings of a place that could take off. Abundant sunshine, national forest, small college. I mean look at this gorgeous house for the same price you'd pay for a porta potty in a lot of places: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/515-W-Broadway-St_Silver-City_NM_88061_M15236-94779?ex=2945045823 https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/515-W-Broa...
    • jazzyjackson 4y ago
      Silver City was a cool town, used to be a great restaurant there, "Curious Kumquat". The "big ditch" is a very pretty trail to walk, and there seemed to be lots of artists studios and galleries. I also enjoyed Cloudcroft. Between all the biker bars there we found an excellent book store to peruse. Taos/El Prado/Arroyo Hondo is a beautiful area along the Rio Grande (lookup "black rock hot spring"). There's a pub out there, off the grid, with a patio looking out to the mountains and live music broadcast from the solar powered radio station, "KTAOS"
    • msrenee 4y ago
      It's super pretty down there. No idea what it's like to live in the area, but I wouldn't mind finding out.
  • mariojv 4y ago
    How's Las Cruces? We were looking at possibly relocating to a friendlier state than Texas if gay marriage were to be overturned. Thankfully, that's looking less likely, but it's still on the back of my mind a bit. We have some family in El Paso, so that would be convenient. Main consideration would be quality of public schools. Some semblance of a social life for folks in their early 30s/parents would be nice but we could deal with that being not as great with El Paso close by. Availability of decent groceries, especially for cooking Mexican dishes, and fast internet would be pluses as well. I imagine the real estate market there is quite cheap. We'd love the climate if it's the same as El Paso.
• binwiederhier 4y ago
  Fairfield, CT -- it's not cheap, but it's got charm and few beaches. Been living here for 6 years and we love it.
  • Dracophoenix 4y ago
    Two things I hear about CT are that there are new taxes every year and people are leaving in droves. How has your economic situation Fairfield fared?
• pzd 4y ago
  Johnson City, TN
• bombcar 4y ago
  There was a map tool that would show you every place within an hour of a major airport - but I would limit myself to airports that are a hub for an airline or otherwise "large" - Burbank would be ok, Santa Barbara not by my theory. Then I'd look for towns that have had the population grow in the last decade, or at least stay level, towns that are dropping in population often have issues (though if everything else about it seems right, check it out). And then I'd visit - stay at a hotel for a week and see what it's like, if it seems good consider a longer stay. I would visit in the "worst" part of the year, not the best! So if you're looking at Duluth you'd visit in the winter, not in spring or fall.
• luckyhn 4y ago
  > I don’t need more than a good diner, a supermarket, and a friendly bar. You'd better be sure about that. Having a favorite diner, grocer and bar and only patronizing those businesses is a world apart from having exactly one option. What do you do when the bartender/regulars decide they don't like you. Or your neighbor, for that matter. The one whose family's been there for generations and is buds with the sherrif. IMO you should find another suburb that you and your wife like. There are major downsides to small town living you're probably not taking seriously.
  • more_corn 4y ago
    The sweet spot is probably five or ten options. Go visit first.
  • jxramos 4y ago
    I was just telling someone that fallacy of extrapolating known experiences out into the unknown. We caught a bit of this moving out to the town we now reside in. The previous city we came from had a dedicated child urgent care. We assumed every decent sized county had the same such thing. Not so.
• ipnon 4y ago
  Best way to do this is to find a place on your own. Take off a few weeks, or months, from work and drive across the country. Make it to every corner you can. Eventually you’ll stumble across some little town that feels more homely than the rest.
• atarian 4y ago
  Bend, Oregon
  • davidw 4y ago
    It's not very cheap here :-( Sure, less than a million, but not 'cheap' either. It's a small city at this point rather than a small town. And winters are cold. The airport will get you most major destinations on the west coast. Happy to have beers with anyone who comes through to check it out, though!
• ltbarcly3 4y ago
  I just moved to Ocean Springs, MS from Los Gatos, CA. We have been looking for about a year, this is the place that checked the most boxes for us. Most places we were looking at either had terrible schools (Alaska, apart from like 3 magnet schools) or were very remote (Islesboro, ME) Very happy I got out of CA before PG&E killed my family (we had a fire break out in June about 100 meters from my front door, if it had been windy we had 0 chance of escape as it would have blocked all the roads to our house. This forces us to bite the bullet and make the move, and Ocean Springs was top of our list). Great schools, very progressive area (at least for MS). No homeless people leaving needles in the streets or throwing poop at me. Quite humid! 5Gb/s fiber to my house from multiple competing providers. Paid way way way below $1M (way below $500k lol) for 2500sft house with a huge yard, walking distance to the gulf of mexico (and a nice beach area) and about a mile from dozens of downtown restaurants. 10 minute drive to Biloxi and casinos and other nightlife. I have lost count of the number of people who have gone down my street on bikes or jogging (or on golf carts, which are street legal here). Gulf Islands National Seashore's entrance is less than half a mile away.
  • selimthegrim 4y ago
    How often do you go to NOLA?
    • ltbarcly3 4y ago
      Well not too much yet, but my kids are begging me to go because they want to go to the mall there. It's about 1.5 hour drive, which seems like a long trip, but my commute to SF was longer than that (each way) via Caltrain so it's not really that bad I guess.
      • selimthegrim 4y ago
        Well happy to recommend things to do. Kids seem to love City Park.
  • heartbreak 4y ago
    I also moved to a beach town for remote work (albeit one I had deep family ties to). I love it here, and I had to accept higher risk of natural disaster by making this move. That being said, I would not have wanted to move to the gulf, and certainly not that part of it. Lake Charles got hit by multiple strong hurricanes in 2020, and I drove through a few weeks ago and they’re still covered in tarps and boarded up windows. Look at all the blue roofs on Google Maps! And then compare the distance of Lake Charles and Ocean Springs from the gulf. Edit: To clarify, I’m sure you know this already. You can’t live there for long and not know. The above is more for the benefit of others who might read your post and not realize the extreme danger posed by rapidly developing, strong hurricanes in the gulf.
• pontifier 4y ago
  My method sure hasn't worked very well... or has it? I was looking for cheap warehouse space to start a business in, and did a nation-wide search for the largest, cheapest building in the entire continental US. I found one that seemed too good to be true. a 220,000 sqft metal warehouse and office complex on 17 acres. I thought the price was a typo at $375k.The agent assured me that the price was correct, and I flew out to see the place. It was in a little town called Pine Bluff, Arkansas. I offered about 3/4 what they were asking, and they accepted the offer. Fast forward 2 1/2 years, and I've had nothing but problems. Break in after break in. Can't work through the red tape with the city so my warehouse sits empty. It feels like they are actively working against myself and other entrepreneurs I talk to. At least 2 others who bought buildings and tried to open businesses left after getting nowhere. Maybe I'm daft, but I ended up buying about 75 more properties here... all surprisingly cheap. The town is killing me though. I haven't seen my kids very much lately - I don't think it's safe enough for them. I'm probably going to be moving back to Utah in the next couple of months because it's just too much out here.
  • GauntletWizard 4y ago
    Promote yourself and your town. I'm looking for a new home in the same way as the OP, and my best hope is that a few dozen like-minded nerds will gentrify a small town, because they have been so undercut by cities of late.
    • neilv 4y ago
      > a few dozen like-minded nerds will gentrify a small town How does one do this in such a way that it's welcomed by people who already make their home there? (I can imagine a lot of ways this could go work out badly, but don't immediately know a good approach.)
      • solar-ice 4y ago
        You don't. Gentrifying a place pretty inherently means removing at least some of the people who live there. Why would the people of a small town go for that? Unless you're planning on subsidising the existing residents' lives forever as rent goes up. If you have the money and influence to "gentrify" somewhere... just build a new planned community in the middle of nowhere. The US has plenty of nowhere.
• pugworthy 4y ago
  Corvallis OR. Housing costs are higher, but probably not the $1M you mention unless you really want to go overboard. Walk to the store, city bus is free, great place to raise kids, bike paths and trails, and you're out of town into the woods or farm fields in 15 minutes of driving. 1 hour to the coast, or 1 hour to the mountains. University as well as HP, NuScale, and other smaller companies. People that come here can definitely turn into lifers.
  • davidw 4y ago
    It's got a lot to say for it, and it's not too cold, but that gray weather can be a real downer. Source: grew up in Eugene. I would visit in November or March and see how it goes.
    • more_corn 4y ago
      Ashland is a bit sunnier. Southern Oregon university, Shakespeare festival, cute downtown. Oregon is progressive libertarian.
      • wrp 4y ago
        Ashland has dramatically beautiful surroundings and an active arts scene, but it's a long drive from major urban areas and the "university" is a very, very minor outpost of higher education.
        • davidw 4y ago
          It's not super clear what OP wants, but Ashland offers a ton more than just a 'small town with a few stores'. The problem is the cost of housing, and that some years that whole valley fills up with smoke.
  • bredren 4y ago
    Did my engineering undergrad in Corvallis at Oregon State. Lots of good speakers and events free to the public put on by the school. The city also has "Da vinici days" in the summer which is great. Had a friend with parents who lived there and a mentor too. There is a fair amount of suburb-type housing I didn't really like, but there are also little hippie areas and cool spots in the hills. OSU also has the Open Source Lab, a notable non-profit. Go beavs.
• scarecrowbob 4y ago
  Travel. Just book yourself for two month long stays at a bunch of places and see what you like. I tried that but sucked at it and eneded up staying in the first place I did a stint at... but to be fair there are worse places than Colorado's west slope, especially if you bike and climb and ski. You say that you just need a bar and a supermarket, but you've probably never lived in, like, Brady, TX or Cuba, NM. Stuff gets small fast, though those are cheap places to live. You can buy amazing houses in defunct oilfeild towns like Pampa, TX. But really, if you have a heart attack there you're in for about an hour drive to get to definitive care.
  • xur17 4y ago
    > but to be fair there are worse places than Colorado's west slope, especially if you bike and climb and ski. Where exactly did you end up?
  • SOLAR_FIELDS 4y ago
    If you’re pretty good with QGIS and willing to spend a couple hundred USD for some data sources I bet it wouldn’t be too tough to go and find a bunch of data (a lot of which is already mostly publicly available) to find a suitable location that meets your criteria. What you would do is load all of the data as layers in QGIS, then, probably starting with house listings that met your criteria, select all homes that were within X miles/meters to stuff like - grocery store - hospital - lake - bar - climbing spot/bike trails/hiking - etc etc etc what ever you want for criteria Hardest part would be hunting down all the data and some geocoding would probably be involved (there would probably be several data sources that you would have to convert from list of addresses to lat/long points) but there are enough free geocoding services out there that this wouldn’t be tough at all. All in all could probably be done in an afternoon or two for someone familiar with tech but a newbie to QGIS
• sneak 4y ago
  Without a symphony/opera, theater, decent concert venue, and some art museums, life is going to get real boring, real fast. I did a stint in a cheap culture wasteland through covid. It may be economically cheaper but the toll it takes on your soul is real.
  • s0rce 4y ago
    This is very personal, lots of people go their entire lives without going to those venues and aren't bored. You can ride a dirt/mtb bike in the desert or hike in the mountains, surf in the ocean, etc.
    • Gigachad 4y ago
      It is an odd list to pick but the areas missing those things tend to be devoid of almost all entertainment that isn’t playing in the dirt alone.
      • jxramos 4y ago
        It’s always a question of accessibility too. Should those things be truly necessary how long would one be willing to drive to attain them. Then are they still as important compared to a two hour drive or do they not stack up that high? Are they only important because they’re about 25min away and fit into the conveniences that proximity affords? It’s something to think about because that distance pushes the calculus out for doing things spur of the moment that now have to be scheduled and planned. That kind of activation energy and transportation costs I could see nixing many activities by default.
  • atdrummond 4y ago
    I grew up in a town with all of those things that was under 40k people and in the Midwest. Just admit you hate “flyover country”.
    • sneak 4y ago
      Then it’s clear I’m not talking about your town. I hate places that are devoid of culture, because they generate local societies of people who without exception are fine with it (as evidenced by their not moving away).
• KingOfCoders 4y ago
  We moved from Berlin to the Baltic Sea last year (after 20+ years) because remote allowed us to do so, and we love it. And the home was much cheaper. So I can't help you with a city, but encourage you to move forward.
• dcolkitt 4y ago
  Generally think college towns around land grant universities are a very underrated option. Outside the immediate area around the campus core they tend to be cheap because of an abundance of land. These towns tend to be very educated and cosmopolitan, with maybe not a ton of cultural options but certainly a few high quality ones.
  • oplav 4y ago
    +1. I currently live in a college town like you describe (land grant public university, surrounded by farmland). The “downtown” is vibrant. The university draws a lot of international students so cuisine and culture are diverse. Housing is cheap.
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    • brainbag 4y ago
      What is the town?
  • brainbag 4y ago
    How do you find these?
• cssanchez 4y ago
  You should consider Puerto Rico. The entire island has a small town feel, but the west coast is mostly what you describe. There's also great weather and tax benefits.
  • mandeepj 4y ago
    > There's also great weather Until a hurricane hits
    • nxm 4y ago
      And they’ve recovered since. Tornadoes can strike most mid west and southern towns
  • duped 4y ago
    They lost 100% of their power network to Maria. Hurricanes are becoming more common and higher intensity. Humanity's days in the Caribbean are numbered.
    • windows2020 4y ago
      That's what they said about Miami until we built appropriate structures and infrastructure.
      • duped 4y ago
        Florida is actually a good argument about this. They have mangrove forests, highways, and railways. The islands do not. I was there for Irma actually - the amount of out of state resources needed for the cleanup and recovery was not negligible. The islands don't have those luxuries or the port capacity to keep up.
      • selimthegrim 4y ago
        How’s the drinking water holding up?
  • spoonjim 4y ago
• chaosbutters314 4y ago
  Ithaca NY
• suhastech 4y ago
  I have experimented with a lot of different types of living situations during the pandemic - mountain tourist towns, suburban areas, countryside. At the end of the day, I felt the most fulfilled when I was able to connect with a community. I've had better luck with acceptance when they, themselves, are new to the community.
• basyl 4y ago
  I'd also check how the place is bound to be impacted by climate change, e.g. https://coastal.climatecentral.org/ https://coastal.climatecentral.org/ You don't want to end up in a coastal city just to find yourself under 1m of water in a few years!
  • jhugo 4y ago
    Just a heads up that your apparent definition of "few" may be a bit confusing for others.
• telebell 4y ago
  West Chester or Kennett Square, PA, especially if you were already considering Lancaster. Both fit the bill.
• s0rce 4y ago
  Take a look at the great main street awards: https://www.mainstreet.org/mainstreetamerica/mainstreetawards https://www.mainstreet.org/mainstreetamerica/mainstreetaward... I'm currently living in Carson City, it has some walkable (older) areas of town but not great. You could try Walla Walla, WA or Baker City, OR.
• tlianza 4y ago
  Seems like a useful app idea. Probably not something that would get much repeat use though.
• 13of40 4y ago
  IMHO, I think Hawaii would be a good place to do this. One issue with Hawaii for people used to living in other latitudes is that the sun basically sets at 6:00 PM every day, all year, so if you worked a nine to five job there you'd be getting off right before the sun went down. However, if you got up at 4:00 AM and worked in sync with people on the mainland until early afternoon, then you could get off and have a few hours of daylight to hit the beach or whatever else.
  • goodcanadian 4y ago
    A lot of people in Hawaii work 7-3 for exactly the reasons you mention. It is generally not cheap, though, and it is very car dependent.
• CSMastermind 4y ago
  > this mid-sized town dream exists Of course, but you should figure out what specifically you're looking for beyond what you've described. Do you care about tax implications? Are you planning to rent or own a home? Do you have friends or family in any of these areas? If you haven't traveled much I'd recommend doing it. This is the most accurate map breaking down regions in the United States in my opinion: https://i.redd.it/q79o3qo8zz991.png https://i.redd.it/q79o3qo8zz991.png Just for reference, here is a 'cleaner' version that most people like: https://i.redd.it/y4pxyq5eslh51.png https://i.redd.it/y4pxyq5eslh51.png > ... and/or how we’d go about finding it Others in this thread have some good search ideas but personally I'd start at the top and narrow it down from there. If you go to https://www.naco.org/ https://www.naco.org/ and click on `county explorer` you can filter the map on a county level across a bunch of different dimensions. I'd definitely limit your choice to places with high internet speeds, good education, growing population, high scoring infrastructure, etc. Just keep pruning down until you find a few you think you'd like. > ideas for cities I could list dozens but maybe check out: Beaver, PA; Mason, MI; Wilson, NC; College Station, TX; Macomb, IL Assuming your wife is willing to drive some then: Longview, WA; Castle Dale, UT; Wisconsin Rapids, WI;
  • atdrummond 4y ago
    As someone who grew up near Macomb I’m not sure how close it comes to being desirable. Quincy is a much nicer place and still has huge issues that doesn’t make it stick out as a top choice if you can move anywhere in the country.
  • MarkPNeyer 4y ago
    “Clarify your requirements” is really good advice here. How much do you care about: - climate - schools - transportation - proximity to a big city - red state / blue state / purple state - time zone Etc etc etc. Be more specific in thinking about the details of what you want, along as many dimensions as possible.
• shrubble 4y ago
  The warning I would make about PA is about their road system, which is tremendously, comically, confusing (every road has at least a name and a number) and leads to driving taking so much longer than you would think. Lancaster PA: drive from Park City Mall to the center of Lancaster City, which is the Greist Building, the tallest in the area (has many telecom antennas there) and is near the Fulton Opera House. On the map, it shows 3.5 miles as you pass by Long's Park. Unless it is in the middle of the night, you will be lucky to make it in less than 20 minutes.
• Arete314159 4y ago
  Make an excel spreadsheet, list the things you want in a town. Then start researching towns and list whether they have those things, point by point. One thing I would suggest is that if you're moving, bear in mind that climate change is making some previously pleasant places much more unpleasant. Look at recent years of fire data, flood data, air quality from smoke, drought, heat, etc. And finally, make sure the place you're moving to is going to have ample, clean fresh water, and no other environmental problems looming. Don't move to Vegas. Don't move to Salt Lake City. Don't move anywhere that is going to lose power if Lake Mead or Lake Powell dry up. You can search EWG for your prospective towns. Be aware that many, many towns in the US have way higher PFAS / PFOA / etc. than you probably want. Many have very high levels of other contaminants as well. Some whole-house filters can filter that out but they're expensive. Here's the EWG report for a sample California town: https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=CA0110009 https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=CA0110009 Search "town name + superfund". Search "town name" + "pollution". Search "town name" + {various natural disasters}. Search "town name" + "smoke". Search "town name" + "smell". Search "town name" + "water." Go visit everywhere that's on your short list. Ask people about the town. Good luck!
• spudlyo 4y ago
  Olympia WA. Home to The Evergreen State College, Washington State Capitol, and Sea-Tac International is just under an hour away. Winters are mild, but very wet. Violent crime (20.4) is under the national average, while property crime is nearly twice the national average at 61.2. I grew up in the Thurston County area in the 80s, and went to school at TESC, a hippie liberal arts college I remember the downtown as being charming, with lots of hip cafes, bars, and restaurants. I've considered moving back there myself. That said, in recent years epidemics of homelessness and drug addiction have taken a bit of a toll on the city, but I still think it's worth checking out.
  • slaw 4y ago
    It is raining 10/12 months.
• voydik 4y ago
  Go to Montana.
  • rr888 4y ago
    Didn't it snow in June this year?
• zxcvbn4038 4y ago
  A number of states are offering grants for remote workers to relocate, offers vary but generally you can get monthly installments of around $1k paid out over one or two years. You have to apply and be accepted, be verifiably employed full time, 100% remote, and if you leave within the first couple years you either lose out on the balance of the grant or you might need to pay a portion back. The programs are generally designed to bring people into rural areas, you need to pay close attention to make sure there is sufficient internet for you to work remotely. Places like Frontier top out at 1.5mbps, a little further down the road your internet might be line of sight wireless. Then inexplicably the other side of a hill might be top of the line cable internet. You can’t really trust the web sites, they need to come out and confirm an address can be serviced at the speed you need (without you paying them $10,000+ to run cable) Oh! Your employer might need to be registered with the state so they can submit your withholdings. You should verify with your HR department which states they can support.
  • nucleardog 4y ago
    Frontier may offer 1.5Mbps, but from second-hand experience their speeds are basically just made-up numbers. Had a friend working with the NC AG's office because Frontier sold him 1.5Mbps, he never saw more than 0.3Mbps, their solution was to tell him to upgrade to the 3Mbps plan (?!) and the engineer he talked to told him that the node he was on was so oversubscribed he was lucky he was getting 0.3Mbps. Which kinda leads into my suggestion--find somewhere that has at least two options for internet if you can. Confirm by calling the companies--they can usually see if they've provided service to that address before and have access to more accurate and up-to-date information than any of the web systems. Then sign up for two connections. You won't really know for sure until you use it whether the speeds are what they're selling, whether it's reliable or is going out every time it rains, etc. Particularly if your plan involves some sort of WISP, coverage is very location dependent and you don't really know for sure until it's installed and operational whether or not they're going to provide you service. If they show up and start setting gear up and the signal's too bad, they may just pack up and yell "sorry!" out the window as they take off down the driveway. When I moved I had bog-slow DSL and fixed LTE installed the same day to make sure I'd have internet for work the following Monday. I had to fail over from the LTE to the DSL a few times over the next few months, but it was _generally_ reliable. Once my Starlink order came through I ran three connections for another few months and finally dropped the DSL. Personally the dual connections is a 100% requirement for me. The internet is how I make money. Missing one day of work because I have no internet would set me back enough to pay for something like 10 months of that shitty DSL. It's not the place I'm taking risks, especially when the cost to mitigate it may be spending $10-30k to have someone run a connection out or _having to sell a house and move_.
• notatoad 4y ago
  If you are just looking for a cheaper city, you're going to be disappointed by any small town. "A friendly bar" is kind of a big ask in a small town that might only have a couple bars. There could easily not be one that you like. Same with schools - in a city you have choice, in a small town you are going to end up with whatever the local school is. Maybe it's good. Maybe it isn't. And maybe the town that has a friendly bar doesn't have a good school. Honestly, it sounds like you belong in a city. A town isn't just a collection of perfect versions of the things you like from your city, and cheaper housing. That isn't going to exist. The bars will be worse. The schools will probably be worse. The stores will be further away, or else the housing "just off main street" will he more expensive. The social opportunities will be fewer. If you want to be happy with small town life, you need to find the advantages that exist only in towns and not cities: Outdoor recreation opportunities, family to be closer to, or non-social things you can do on your own with more space like gardening.
  • Blackthorn 4y ago
    Yeah, agreed with everything you said. Something to understand about small town life is it's a slower paced way of living than most people are used to. There's not much to do out here if you can't entertain yourself. People will come visit and ask what there is to do around here, and I'll be like well... We can go pick fruits at the farm, or we can go shoot, or we can work on projects with the tools we have. It's a slow paced life that doesn't match everyone. Understand what you're getting into.
  • strken 4y ago
    As someone who grew up in a very small town with exactly one pub and no other shops, this is a bit melodramatic. You can just walk in, order a meal and a beer, talk to the publican, and work out for yourself whether you like the place. There's something to like about most pubs. The shops being further away also isn't a big deal. You'd think it would be annoying, but your habits quickly adapt. After running out of milk a couple of times, you learn to keep a can of evaporated milk in the cupboard. If you're out of eggs, you either have porridge for breakfast, defrost some frozen egg whites, or if it's really important you drive into town. It's not practically a problem. From what I understand, the real things people struggle with are dealing with being alone, and learning how to have a social life with the different rules and constraints. My mum claims that when a new family moves to town, she can tell if they're going to leave by whether they leave the light on out the front of their house: the ones who're uncomfortable with darkness will go back, the others will stay. It's harder to maintain friendships unless you're organised, so clubs and groups are important to keep you socially active. Even your neighbours are further away and you don't have as many of them, so having a good relationship with them becomes more important than with neighbours in the city. In a small enough town you know everyone you see.
• blahedo 4y ago
  What you describe is a perfect literal match for my town (Farmville, VA) up to your ask for a "mid-sized town". We're a town of 8000, half of which are the university students. I like it a lot (and you might well consider it, email me if you like) but it's not at all what I'd consider "mid-sized", and I'm not sure you'll get all the other stuff you describe if you aim for "mid-sized". But yes, right on, 20 or so shops, walkable downtown with houses an easy walk away, a few good restaurants (including a great diner! :) and at least two friendly bars. Good internet connection if you're in town. I don't get in my car for weeks at a time---and that's probably your hardest item, because anywhere between "pretty small town" and "sizeable city with good public transit" living without a car (in the US) is going to be very very difficult. (Even in a place like Farmville, you don't need the car around town but you'll need it to get out of town.) ETA: I see from your profile you're in DC now. Come visit! We're only 3 hours away ;)
  • suzil 4y ago
    I can confirm that Farmville is great. It has a walkable downtown with cute shops and restaurants. Both my husband and I work as remote programmers 20 minutes outside of town on a 40 acre farm with fiber.
• xboxnolifes 4y ago
  When you say "a little downtown area" and "homes you want", what exactly would you specify as being the minimum to satisfy these? I ask, because at least one place I know of exists to some definition of having a downtown, with homes in the $200k-400k range. Because if you really just want a home, a supermarket, a few local restaurants, a bar, a few shops, and an airport within an hour drive, some New Jersey areas come to mind. But these aren't likely to be dream towns. They will have flaws. Almost certainly will has less walkability than any city you may live in, unless you live on, and never leave, the main strip. There will be less variety in foods, the bar culture you imagine may not be the bar culture that is actually there.
• throwaway787544 4y ago
  I live in the outskirts of a poor rural town in NY. We have 2 bars, some restaurants, a coffee shop, a fast food chain, some dollar stores, a grocery store, hardware store, antiques, gas stations, etc, Library and a little theater, farmers market on weekends. River runs nearby with a put-in for kayaks and fishing. Biggest town/city nearby with big box stores is about 45 minutes. They have fiber internet here but it's very expensive and the 300/20 Mbps is fine for me. 5G varies by region & provider. Honestly... It's kind of great. The people are nice, the scenery is gorgeous, it's pretty quiet, and most everything you need is right in town. Since the community is so poor, all the housing is cheap. Nearby towns are all bought up as second homes for expats. Everything outside town is an old farm. The worst thing about the place is it's a minimum 2 hour drive to anywhere, and having a car is mandatory to get here. But if you have everything you need, there's no need to leave. There is no Uber/Lyft/Instacart/GrubHub, don't expect any startups here. Cell service outside of towns is mostly nonexistent. Also know that none of your old friends will ever visit because it's way too inconvenient. The only things I miss are "big city" things and more people around into the same things I'm into. And an international airport would be nice, but it's not like I was flying around the world every weekend before.
  • 2Gkashmiri 4y ago
    I'm curious, how do you people deal with medical emergencies? I live in a city and I have 3 24x7 hospitals within walking distance. I have gone dozens of times on foot at 3 in the morning to get medicine.
    • Blackthorn 4y ago
      Lots of America just deals with them poorly. The nearest hospital might be an hour away. Or more. Usually better than that in New York state, at least. Something to think hard about before you embark on your small town life journey.
    • jjav 4y ago
      > I live in a city and I have 3 24x7 hospitals within walking distance. Where is that, just curious? I can't think of any place with three major hospitals within a mile or less?
• hax0rbana 4y ago
  You have at least some of your requirements already. Pick a few candidate towns and scope them out (home prices, weather, healthcare, public transit, culture, local hangouts, art, whatever appeals to you). When you think you found a good one, go visit in person and see if it meets expectations. If you want a specific instance, check out Champaign-Urbana, IL. There's Research Park, the University of Illinois, a bunch of bars and restaurants, fun art sprinkled around town, gigabit fiber and homes are under $200K. We walk to the grocery store with our wagon and just fill it up instead of using a shopping cart. If you come visit, be sure to check out Black Dog (a barbeque joint). https://yourewelcomecu.com/ https://yourewelcomecu.com/
• tonfreed 4y ago
  You also have to remember that the culture is very different in the country. If you've been a city person for a long time, you're probably going to struggle to make any friends until you start acting like the locals. Not so prevalent in a city where there's enough people to form smaller subcommunities, but in a small town you can't really do that and will need to put in effort to fit in.
• cbanek 4y ago
  Just wait a bit and see what happens in the housing market. I'm not saying it's ready for a crash, but sometimes renting for a year means everything will change. You can rent in a small town (cheap) or just stay where you are at for a while. Everyone is thinking like you during the pandemic when remote work was the norm. That pushed up housing prices in weird places, like Boise, and other places like Sedona. Places that are small, typically tourist places, but very nice and pretty. The lack of housing has pushed up prices to ridiculous levels, but once the market corrects, it'll be a different world.
  • OJFord 4y ago
    It's a bit of a fool's errand to follow that advice though, you could have been doing renting in urban Canada for years (decades even?) being told a crash is coming any day now eh has too. And now it's extremely unlikely that one would wipe out the compounded growth from if you'd bought when you first thought of it. I think if it's to live in, just do it. Save market-timing for a second home/investment/flip - and even then be opportunistic in an observed dip rather than waiting for it to happen.
    • cbanek 4y ago
      I think if it's to live in, AND you can afford it AND it makes sense financially on a fixed rate mortgage, go for it. You are absolutely right on market timing, but that doesn't mean it'll go up forever, but over time, it does seem to generally go up a bit. But it's not really an investment, its a place to live, so don't pay so much on a mortgage that you are risking your financial health - think it should be about equal to rent or maybe a little more. Just remember, turkeys think everything is great, until Halloween, when they get put in the freezers for Thanksgiving. If you look at the graph of their weight from birth to death it's always going up, so it should go up forever. But on Halloween it'll go down a bit, then level out forever. ;)
    • refurb 4y ago
      That’s a funny statement considering parts of Toronto are down 30% in the past 4 months and the Bank of Canada hasn’t finish hiking rates.
• deleted 4y ago
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• zeroth32 4y ago
  I am DN, I follow pensioners, they usually live in boring accessible cities. There was documentary about some town in US, where people mostly use golf carts to get around.
  • Mountain_Skies 4y ago
    Sounds like Peachtree City, Georgia. Ninety miles of cart paths and about 10,000 of the households have a golf cart they use to get around town. Lots of airline and airport employees live there as it is an easy commute to Atlanta's airport.
• orangetuba 4y ago
  There are many reasons why college towns are great, but particularly this one: In small towns, people are very nosy, and it gets incredibly tiring after a while. People stare at you and look you up and down. Except, when it's a college town, because they're used to having strangers around.
• danwee 4y ago
  Anything near to the Canada border? I'm thinking about climate change, and I have changed drastically the idea of " where my future home" will be. In 10-20 years things will get worse I imagine.
  • blackshaw 4y ago
    Tangential, but you might benefit from reading the book "How to Prepare for Climate Change" by David Pogue - it has (among much else) a lot of information about how different areas of the US are likely to be affected by climate change, which should inform any sensible person's decision about where to move to or away from. (Protip: don't buy coastal property in Florida.) I liked the book but the only problem for me is that I don't live in the US, so if anyone can recommend a similarly detailed examination of climate issues for the UK, let me know!
    • avtolik 4y ago
      I don't know why you and the parent post are being downvoted. I also live in EU and would be interested in information specific to this region.
• 28194608 4y ago
  • smcl 4y ago
    you realise all of these spam comments are immediately flagged and are only shown to logged-in users who have specifically turned on "showdead"?
• deleted 4y ago
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• herbst 4y ago
  I don't know about the culture for this in the US but I live far from any actual shop in the swiss Alps and there are many fridges around that sell all the necessaries for everyday life (milk, cheese, ..). Everything else I order from a farmer shop/supermarket online. There are restaurants and bars sure, I would ask myself if you actually need 'shopping' Personally I highly prefer to buy only HQ products which I can look into from my couch other than buying whatever the store has in stock.
  • magneticnorth 4y ago
    I think this is culturally very different in the US, and now I'm curious about your non-urban swiss life. Would you mind elaborating on what you mean by "there are many fridges around that sell..."? I'm having a hard time imagining what you mean.
    • herbst 4y ago
      Literally fridges next to a farming house with a QR code to pay (or cash) that sell some local cheese, milk and usually also some stuff related to the fridge owner. Also cold drinks and ice cream. Most my neighbors are small farmers and there are plenty of wandering tourists around so it makes sense I guess. From what I know similar concepts are getting more usual in surrounding countries as well. It's honestly my favourite way to shop, I just take my pony mofa and drive to 2-3 fridges.
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• xupybd 4y ago
  Move to New Zealand. We're full of small towns with great life styles.
  • mkl 4y ago
    Small towns, yes, but without a car? Maybe my New Zealand definition of "small town" is smaller than they're thinking.
    • xupybd 4y ago
      Yeah, New Plymouth or Napier might be about the right size. You are right about the car but we don't have suburbs far away from the cities like the states so it's possible to get around without a car.
  • pneumatic1 4y ago
    I’m on the mailing list. They just started sending job listings again after 2 year hiatus. My wife and I are serious about it but there’s a pretty narrow window we’d have to hit to time it well for our kids.
• fastball 4y ago
  One of the main sites many (most?) "digital nomads" go for such information is Nomadlist[1], though this might be a little less US / small town-centric than what you're looking for. [1] https://nomadlist.com/ https://nomadlist.com/
• RonaldOlzheim 4y ago
  Is there a dedicated website for this somewhere?
• mkl 4y ago
  > I don’t drive but like to walk to the supermarket and restaurants. This doesn't seem like most small towns would work. Cars become required outside cities in my experience, and small towns mean lots of long drives for basic things.
  • hunterb123 4y ago
    I think you over estimate the size of most small towns. Pretty much everything from residentials to main street is 1 mile away. I can walk across my entire town in 30 minutes, almost fully on sidewalks, the few streets with no side walks have no traffic. Usually there's one main road through town and it doesn't go far, neighborhoods are on each side. Personally I've found small towns much more walkable than cities contrary to HN anecdotes.
    • mkl 4y ago
      The problem I'm thinking of is that a town that small is probably missing lots of things many people consider important, so they'd have to drive to a neighbouring town. My sister lives in such a place, and does more driving than I could stand.
      • hunterb123 4y ago
        Wrong again. We have a Walmart Super Center, ER, quite a few good restaurants, and many other things. The city with more stuff is 20 minutes away, less time then you'll sit in traffic in the city going a few miles to the same thing. So less time commuting than in the city and I prefer the privacy of driving over public transportation. I hate people, especially crowds.
        • eertami 4y ago
          > less time then you'll sit in traffic in the city going a few miles to the same thing Most people aren't going to drive for just a few miles though, surely. I'd just cycle or take one of the busses that arrive every 6 minutes. Although this is purely hypothetical, because I already have access to everything I need within walking distance. It's a bad faith argument. You've claimed that it takes much longer to get somewhere, but only when you take the inefficient route. Ok sure, you have some special needs that means you must take the car, but this is not a problem you can claim most people would face.
• journey_16162 4y ago
  South Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iysw5I50Cr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iysw5I50Cr0
• quickthrower2 4y ago
  This is where the UK is great. It has lots of well connected by train towns. You can commute for a night out in London but live a generally quiet life in anything from a tiny hamlet to something like Cambridge which is a small city.
  • pm215 4y ago
    Most places close enough for "take the train for a night out in London" will (practically by definition) be "you can commute into London for work from here" places, though, with correspondingly high house prices. Certainly Cambridge is not cheap for housing!
    • rowanajmarshall 4y ago
      This, but "commutable to London" covers a very large area, and you can still get cheap(ish) housing there. If you're in a town an hour away from London, daily commuting is uncomfortable, but doing it once a fortnight for a night out (especially if you've got somewhere to stay overnight in London) is much more doable. I used to do that when I lived in West Berkshire.
    • TrueGeek 4y ago
      My wife and I just spent a month in the UK to see how we’d like it and if we’d want to move there. If you are willing to commute 40 mins (by train) there are plenty of towns with 2 bed apartments for £400k.
      • pm215 4y ago
        A 2 bed flat for 400K is definitely what I would call expensive housing! It may not be central-London prices but it's certainly high, and unaffordable for many people.
        • quickthrower2 4y ago
          Was going to post a counterexample, but in the time I have been out of the UK ... man the prices have gone up a lot! You can probably get a 1 bed for 200k but that is not cheap. For an American it might be OK (GBP seems to have lost a lot of value) If you need affordability you would need to move away from the south east. As a digital nomad ... you can!
• daedlanth 4y ago
  Go Away
• dncornholio 4y ago
  Probably not the answer you want, but the EU is literally filled with towns like this. Cycling and public transport can get you and your kids anywhere.
  • ryanwaggoner 4y ago
    This is ultimately the conclusion I've come to: if you want walkability, good transit, good weather, and a couple other things, you basically have zero options in the US, and dozens of options in Europe. It's sad, but the US is built around a car-centric lifestyle that just isn't for me.
• mikewarot 4y ago
  The type of town you want was made illegal to build about a century ago, so your best bet is old towns near water that somehow survived deindustrialization.
• emiliobumachar 4y ago
  If you want an airliner airport with a wide selection of time and destination options, as opposed to somewhere to base your private airplane, consider starting the search around those. Look in the opposite direction than the big city it serves. And beware of noise issues caused by the airport itself.
• Falkon1313 4y ago
  Yes. The way my wife and I found ours was that on vacation we'd just drive to somewhere we hadn't been, stopping in small towns along the way. When we found a town we liked, we'd get a hotel room or B&B and wander around and explore the town. Ended up buying a house in one of those towns that we had passed through on vacation. Within walking distance of everything we need. It's much cheaper than the big city, or even a suburb near a big city.
• suprjami 4y ago
  > restaurants > 20 or so shops Forget eating out. We just moved from a city of 2.5M to a town of 1500, the next biggest town over has 3000. The thing we miss the most is the variety of food, especially Asian food. However that's all we miss and the benefits are many.
• pneumatic1 4y ago
  We considered: Lansing, MI Chapel Hill, NC Wilmington, NC *Ithaca, NY*
  • subpixel 4y ago
    Ithaca is interesting but we have two sets of friends there and one of them loves it (grew up and returned from abroad) while the other endures it (university tenure).
• shusaku 4y ago
  Consider Muffy Aldrich’s list of “New England Preppy Towns” https://www.saltwaternewengland.com/2022/07/new-england-preppy-towns.html?m=1 https://www.saltwaternewengland.com/2022/07/new-england-prep...
• wikitopian 4y ago
  French Lick, Indiana is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere that some billionaire invested his fortune in renovating a historic hotel, building up a resort casino, and fleshing out the downtown into a charming experience. There's even a ski resort nearby. And it's all at rock bottom prices. Louisville airport is about an hour away, and since it's a major UPS hub, it's quite nicer than the population of the area would otherwise support.
  • toastal 4y ago
    But be warned that Indiana politics can be a huge turn-off
• christophilus 4y ago
  Every state I’ve lived in had great small towns. Most recently, I’ve been in NC and SC (finally settled in the latter). I say buy an old school road atlas, rent a car, and take a long road trip. The town that inspired Andy Griffith’s Mayberry is in the mountains of NC (or maybe it was VA). Stuff like that is all over the place here. As for me, I chose a small, walkable town that isn’t too far from Greenville, SC (which is itself considered to be a small, walkable town by some folks).
  • juve1996 4y ago
    Curious how your experience has been so far? Where did you come from and why did you decide on this town?
  • rlawson 4y ago
    Where did you end up? Simpsonville, Travelers rest?
• xtiansimon 4y ago
  Got internet? How about healthcare options? Intersect that data with crime and population. Sounds like a cool data project.
• e-clinton 4y ago
  I’d get a dozen aggressive rottweilers and let them lose in there.
• scythe 4y ago
  >We’d likely both be happier in a town, living just off some Main Street with 20 or so shops. The city is great but honestly I don’t need more than a good diner, a supermarket, and a friendly bar. Nice to haves are a pleasant climate (not too cold), an airport within an hour or so, and decent public schools. Study. You can type "Las Cruces NM climate" into Google and get a free graph. You know your interests better than any of us, and you can look at local event listings, restaurants, venues etc to see what's a good fit. Zillow will tell you about schools and crime, and airports are on the map. When people go by word-of-mouth based on where other people went, you get a situation where everyone moves to Denver^W Austin^W Nashville, and then it isn't fun anymore. Nobody goes there, it's too crowded. Especially when the discussion is on the Internet.
• hyperboreanChad 4y ago
• NickSingh 4y ago
  College towns I found have been great for this - things to do, access to airports and good schools, top-notch hospitals usually in the middle of "nowhere". Look into Charlottesville, Virginia - went to UVA and loved the town. Have also heard good things about Ithaca NY, Champaign IL, and Ann Arbor MI.
  • JKCalhoun 4y ago
    Lived in Ann Arbor for almost a year, can concur it was a nice town.
  • UncleMeat 4y ago
    Charlottesville is indeed an amazing town but it isn't cheap (well, it is cheap compared to the bay area but it isn't cheap compared to other places in central Virginia). The airport also sucks, IMO. You are better off driving the 2.5h to Dulles for most travel.
  • jwx48 4y ago
    I currently live in Charlottesville and would recommend against it. Its general infrastructure is crumbling. Sidewalks and bike paths, while they exist (barely), are neglected. The city government just bought a parking lot, for example, when there is already ample parking [1]. And yes, it's very expensive relative to what you get. I'm fortunate that I can bike to work because I live in town, but > 90% of my co-workers have to commute (by car; there's not much of a shuttle/bus system outside of UVA/CVille proper) because they can't afford to live here. [1] https://www.nbc29.com/2022/06/22/charlottesville-city-council-approves-16-million-parking-lot-purchase/ https://www.nbc29.com/2022/06/22/charlottesville-city-counci...
• subpixel 4y ago
  We recently did the same, though in our case opportunity drove our decision and not careful consideration. We got quite lucky under the circumstances. My observation, fwiw, is that the American small town, self-sufficient and independent from a neighboring city, is a dying breed. Not all small towns will die the same way or on the same schedule. But here are some things to think about. - Is there a tourist draw? Do short-term rentals address this opportunity? Every vacation rental is a unit unavailable to the local salaried population and where we live this cannibalizes the fabric of the small town. - Is the local industry durable? That could be a university, it could be timber, it could be a BMW factory 90 minutes away, it could be a fishing fleet. Where we live the local industry will be eradicated in our lifetime due to climate change. And the state university system is retracting, not growing. - Do the local schools suffer under-enrollment? Where we live they do not, but neighboring towns have so many retirees and houses turned into short-term rentals that the schools are threatened. In short, the internet means there are no undiscovered places, and the economics can undermine what makes a place special in the first place. Add to that some places are going to be significantly impacted by global warming. Today we live in a sort of paradise but we are aware that it may not be our forever home, if such a thing exists.
  • jason-phillips 4y ago
    > My observation, fwiw, is that the American small town, self-sufficient and independent from a neighboring city, is a dying breed. Some are, some aren't. I'm more than willing to share my story but I did my research before I left Austin for the Hill Country and couldn't be happier.
    • jamauro 4y ago
      Please share
      • jason-phillips 4y ago
        After living in Austin for 24 years and working at Samsung Austin Semiconductor for a decade, I decided that I wanted to work remotely. I learned new skillsets and started working for smaller startups where remote work was a possibility. This was pre-COVID. I researched every town and county between Brenham and Junction for about 18 months, studying publicly available data as well as traveling to the towns to see them for myself. I tried to introduce myself to the locals, asking them about the town and their businesses. Sometimes I would call the sheriff's office or school district to ask them questions about the community. I would walk into rural hospitals and start talking to staff about their facility and services they offered. I moved to San Saba in 2018 and then bought a second house in Lampasas in 2021. These towns are northwest of Austin, at the northern tip of what's known as the Texas Hill Country. San Saba is more remote, more pristine. The population density is three people per square mile and there are two traffic lights in the entire county. The downtown has been revitalized over the past decade and the local ISP is very forward-thinking, offering gigabit fiber. Lampasas is closer to Austin (an hour away), has a hospital and definitely has bit more bustle than San Saba, but nothing like the congestion one experiences in Austin. The people out here are incredibly neighborly and hospitable, with a live-and-let-live ethos. They do not like to be preached at or lectured by outsiders, so respecting their way of doing things is of paramount importance. I've been very successful by attending city council meetings, joining volunteer organizations, teaching classes myself in the library on weekends, things like that. Figuring out how things work and contributing as best I can without being too loud about it. People will appreciate you if you can do that. It's important that one be fairly self-sufficient when moving to an area like where I live. For example, I had to tear my house apart in San Saba to fix some structural issues caused by water penetration leading to rotten wood in the structure. Working with the contractors was definitely a learning experience and something I never want to do again. But you have to be able to figure out things like that if you live out here. The peace and quiet, the pristine environment, the quality of life, the low crime and great community, these are all things I wouldn't trade for a spotted hog. It's not for everyone, but after living in Austin for 24 years, I much prefer it here now.
• rlawson 4y ago
  Let me give you the scoop on the Carolina's. I'm a developer living in the upstate of SC. I am an agnostic liberal which makes me a rarity but I was born here so I can go under the radar thanks to my deep melodious southern accent. Pros - Great climate 10 out of 12 months - Friendly people - Lots of outdoor activities - Beautiful beaches (Fripp Island and Kiawah especially) - Low cost housing (altho going up rapidly) - Greenville and Charleston are very nice Cons - Heart of MAGA land (this may be a pro depending on your politics) - First question is about what church you go to - Can still be shockingly racist at times (altho getting much better) - Weak zoning so sprawling construction and walkable areas limited - Food choices can be limited for vegans/vegetarians - July/August - the heat and humidity are rough
  • amoghs 4y ago
    Curious, do you actively hide your agnostic liberal views?
    • rlawson 4y ago
      I don't lie if directly asked but I don't volunteer unless I know the person. Have definitely been told I'm going to hell, etc
    • UncleMeat 4y ago
      My parents are retired in SC. Other than "no guns at our house" they hide their liberal views and end up finding left wing friends through weird whisper networks. The huge majority of their friends and neighbors are red (they live in a very white and quite wealthy area).
    • oceanplexian 4y ago
      I mean, you change them. A big part of politics is contextual to where you live, and rural people have different problems than people in cities and suburbs. You might still be a liberal but the type of liberal that lives in, say rural New England is vastly different than a California liberal. They are going to be much more practical. Demonizing cars like you might in a big city makes no sense in a place that will never get public transportation. Social services, especially things like public housing aren’t high on list of needs or wants. Public (K-12) education is a majority of tax dollars, for cultural reasons and a stigma against people who are uneducated. And so on. Different parts of the USA will have totally different value systems.
• JackFr 4y ago
  Just from what I know anecdotally, you’re going to do best in college towns or vacation spots. And while that doesn’t preclude affordable homes, it means you might not get the pick of the litter. The economics of supporting a walkable downtown are just real tough in many places.
• deleted 4y ago
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• inrhafi 4y ago
  I’ll let you in on a little secret in the middle of California, it’s hot, but it’s an affordable little town, with just the amenities you mention. I know because I lived there most of my life. The town is Exeter. Like I said, it’s hot there over the summer, and it’s the red middle of a blue state, but the people are very kind. They have an absolutely wonderful coffee shop downtown, a tiny brewery and pub across the street, a couple nice super markets (not so walkable), and some gas station/markets that are very walkable. We lived five minutes from downtown in a neighborhood. We paid $215k for our house, in 2015, so I’d imagine that price has gone up quite a bit, but it’s definitely affordable.
• jason-phillips 4y ago
  I went through this exercise pre-COVID. I started working remotely in 2017 as I had 17 years of experience at that point. I left Austin and moved to a small town in 2018 that's two hours west of Austin. > Any ideas on whether this mid-sized town dream exists... Sure it exists. > ...and/or how we’d go about finding it? Sure, you need to do your research and figure that out for yourself. I researched on the internet for about 18 months and did a lot of boots-on-the-ground investigation. I eventually moved to a small town in the Texas Hill Country that I adore. Low crime, very clean and beautiful environment, low cost of living, absolutely fantastic community and gigabit fiber internet. I then bought a second, larger home in a small town a little closer to Austin that is logistically a little more convenient and not so remote. But again, it has low crime, a local hospital, HEB grocery store, fantastic community and gigabit fiber internet. Just do your research. It's not so hard but it will take a little time. The peace and quiet combined with the cost of living is priceless. I couldn't be happier. I love it out here.
• snarf21 4y ago
  You should definitely come to Lancaster PA!!!! There are lots of houses downtown for less than $400K and even new "luxury" condos going up everywhere. There is a convenient train that can have you in Philly in an hour for <$20. (also goes to NY) You can be in Baltimore and DC in a few hours and you can be in the Poconos for skiing in the same time. There is the oldest continuously operating farmer's market downtown. (and tons outside the city) There is a thriving art scene (and college). There are tons of ethnic restaurants (there are a lot of relief and refugee orgs). You can be at the beach in two or three hours (depending which one). There are tons of outlets for shopping east of town if that's your thing. There is very little traffic except for 3 specific bottlenecks that you'll learn to avoid. There is a thriving tech community with several weekly meetups that discuss new tech at a local bar. Come live with the cool kids. (Source: I live in Lancaster and there is no place better net net)
  • NonEUCitizen 4y ago
    Which beaches are within two or three hours? Thanks.
    • snarf21 4y ago
      You can get to Lewes, DE or Rehoboth Beach, DE in 2.5 hours during off hours and 3 hours in traffic .. So all the DE beaches, South Jersey beaches and Ocean City MD beach are just a bit more time .. You can also get to the Chesapeake Bay in less than two hours
• vlunkr 4y ago
  Just know that wherever you go, people will probably complain, even if it’s behind your back. I don’t think it’s justified, but I hear lots of problems attributed to “California people” moving in. I think complaining about any change is just part of small town America.
• NiagaraThistle 4y ago
  I'm not sure if it would have small to midsize towns like you are looking for, but Nomadlist might be a good place to start as it is a curation of popular places for nomads (and no by extension remote workers) to relocate to. It uses a LOT of filters to weed out places you don't want and find the places that hit your "must haves" so it might be worth a quick look.
• dogline 4y ago
  Now sure what to make of "I live in a ~1000 pop town" yet can be in a bigger town in 10 minutes via car (in the East), and "I live in a ~1000 pop town" and it's 45 min to anything (in N. CA and the west). (Have lived in both.)
• mitchellst 4y ago
  One note on small towns: most of the people there aren't transplants, so you get their culture with them. American cities have a reasonably standardized culture, courtesy of hundreds of daily direct flights to each other. Small towns are still highly regional. Not saying there's no difference between Seattle and Miami. But most people on HN could find a social group in both. Not so for Muleshoe, Texas. If you're from the east coast, you might find the perfect physical scene in Oregon. But be prepared that west coasters are different from you, potentially in important ways that affect your ability to find a sense of belonging. Ditto if you're from California and looking at Georgia. Northerners and southerners, of course, look sideways at each other for lots of political and cultural reasons, but there are plenty of reasons to feel like you do or don't belong in a culture that aren't historically, culturally, or racially charged. Most functioning communities consider themselves to have "good schools." Do you share their bar for that? "Good" for what? Important questions. Climate isn't he only thing that varies by region. If you don't know the regional culture in an area that interests you, go stay a while. (I've lived in the Pacific Northwest, both urban and rural California, both urban and rural Texas, Chicago, and New England, and spent substantial time in NYC and the Deep South. Trust me. It's not all the same.)
  • Dracophoenix 4y ago
    One note on small towns: most of the people there aren't transplants, so you get their culture with them. American cities have a reasonably standardized culture, courtesy of hundreds of daily direct flights to each other. Small towns are still highly regional. Not saying there's no difference between Seattle and Miami. But most people on HN could find a social group in both. Not so for Muleshoe, Texas. > But be prepared that west coasters are different from you, potentially in important ways that affect your ability to find a sense of belonging. Can you elaborate on this point?
    • mitchellst 4y ago
      Values - status is built on the east coast by affiliation—to family, to schools and universities, to political groups, to elite employers. Status is built on the west coast in an anti-establishment way, mostly prizing creativity and individualism. (Though, the lefties of them would consider that a dirty word. If you call them "indie" it's a compliment, though.) That applies to lots of art and music, but I suspect the whole hacker ethos of the Internet and "10x engineer" tropes are related. Dress and Appearance - follows suit. The west coast has very little sense of "dressing for the occasion." Things like neck tattoos and large earrings are more common. I've been to things like polo matches and crew races on the east coast. Showing those pictures to friends in the west sometimes prompts outright laughter. They can't be _serious_, can they? Conversation - east coasters name drop constantly. Especially rich ones, who feel they have lots of names to drop. But all of them, really. West coasters are more inclined to discuss land and the environment at length. (Politically, sure. But mostly just... experientially.) Lots of outdoor hobbies, yes. But more than that, too. My wife has a running joke that every time she encounters my family in a new place, at least one conversation ensues about which way is North, and how we know. She can't really play, doesn't see a reason to figure it out, and presumes that naturally all civilized places have their roads on a grid anyway. (Chicago native.) This is, of course, an exercise in stereotyping. There are exceptions everywhere. But culture is also real and self-reinforcing, so the exceptions are just that—exceptions, not fully-baked countercultures, especially in small towns. There's a sliver of New York in San Francisco. But there isn't a sliver of New York in Bakersfield, just a few random guys wondering why they can't, for the life of them, get a decent bagel.
• sheepdog 4y ago
  We did something similar with a move to Columbus, GA. Cost of living was super-low, but 200k people means you get theater, airport, etc. One thing to keep in mind as you get older: smaller places may not have all the medical facilities you need. For example, if you get an unusual cancer or need a transplant, your family will be regularly shuttling you 2-3 hours to the nearest large city. I think that being ~50-60 minutes south of Atlanta would be nice. It's small enough, but you can hop right up to one of the world's busiest airports and get a flight to about anywhere.
• sharno 4y ago
  I have a feeling that many towns in Rhode Island might fit your criteria here. The state's culture is generally about things being close to each other as any driving more than 30 min will get you out of the state anyway. Having BOS airport an hour drive away is a blessing too. It's cold in winter though. But I'd say you kinda get used to it.
  • scythe 4y ago
    But beware the parking at BOS is upwards of $34/day! Usually it's cheaper to fly out of PVD even if the tickets are a little more expensive, in my experience.
    • letouj 4y ago
      You can also get from Providence to South Station in Boston via MBTA commuter rail or Amtrak (and from there, continue to Logan on the Silver Line).
• deleted 4y ago
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• throwaway6734 4y ago
  Asbury Park NJ is on the beach, pretty small, and a train ride away from nyc
• lovetocode 4y ago
  Honestly -- I think you will be disappointed. The market wrecked everyone who was trying to buy. I live in a town of 70k and I got priced out of my own neighborhood -- and I make good money. Just because it is a small town, doesn't mean you are going to get bottom of the barrel prices. For example, a 3000sqft home in my area goes for $515k and you have to bring extra money to closing to be even competitive. The areas with smaller homes are _less_ than desirable to be in so don't think you will be getting a good deal there because you are just as likely to get robbed in your front yard.
  • turndown 4y ago
    Where are you from that 70k is a small town?
    • lovetocode 4y ago
      Warner Robins, GA -- sorry its 80k now apparently
• rwultsch 4y ago
  We recently moved to Frederick, MD. Walking distance to the very lively downtown, inexpensive housing, close to an airport, yada, yada...
• ogou 4y ago
  I spent a month driving around the country last year. Be warned that entire counties have been decimated by meth and fentanyl. Low income doesn't always translate to violent crime and theft, but meth absolutely does. When looking at crime maps, always filter by overdose response and not posession arrests. https://money.cnn.com/interactive/news/meth-lab-map/ https://money.cnn.com/interactive/news/meth-lab-map/ Absolutely stay away from Tulsa, OK. Greenville, SC is very nice though.
  • the_only_law 4y ago
    Yeah, as much as small towns are treated as some panacea to the problem of large cities, in last small town I lived in, half the people I know were selling coke or heroin on top of working shitty minimum wage jobs. The entire town felt propped up by the existence of a single military base.
  • avisser 4y ago
    I've read in multiple places how most meth in the USA today is Mexican cartel meth. The bans on pseudoephedrine have succeeded in stopping home-brew meth. So not sure how valid that map is anymore.
    • ogou 4y ago
      Based on my "anecdata" of driving through many of those areas, I would say the problem is much worse than the map shows. Also, it is one of the few maps that showed meth activity by county, in a national context. Recent DEA and CDC reports are all PDFs filled with statistics and not mapped out as well. But, the numbers are only climbing and these areas are still centers of the consumption.
• freemint 4y ago
  Look along old railway lines.
• jollyllama 4y ago
  Pick somewhere: that you fit in politically or that your values match, otherwise you could be viewed as an outside agitator. where agriculture is feasible, preferably with as little non-local inputs as possible (i.e. water)
• giantg2 4y ago
  If you live near Lancaster, you could start driving a horse and buggy. I think you'd have to elaborate on what you think a good school is and what a good climate is. It certainly gets cold for part of the year in PA and MD. It can be quite humid in the summers too. I've heard it can be tough to find a "good" public school in parts of SC (I looked at some SC and NC schools when I entertained the idea of moving there a decade ago. The scores were considerably lower than most MD and most PA were).
• bbatha 4y ago
  I've been fulltime remote for a few years, and just moved to Lancaster, PA. I'm loving it here. Its enough of a city that I'm not missing the amenities or multi-cultural atmosphere. The housing prices are great, and I can get to my NYC office very easily on the train or even driving. I'm very happy to have moved.
• codingdave 4y ago
  It definitely exists, but there are so many small towns across the country, we could not possibly list them all. You need to narrow it down - do some road trips, explore regions and states, and pick a target area. Maybe choose a big city you might want to be within a few hours of. Then get a realtor from that city to educate you on the towns in the area and help you narrow down to a few actual potential locations. Then you can start looking at homes.
• foxyv 4y ago
  The two major funders for small towns are military bases and colleges. Small college towns are stabilized by a steady stream of federal money from student loans and subsidies. They will often have better services and healthier businesses. The same goes for military towns that get a ton of money from soldiers spending cash and buying/renting housing. Small towns that are supported by companies and agriculture have been drained dry by corporate greed. Jobs have been off-shored and taxes have been almost completely avoided. Sometimes a town is supported by a major military contractor, but they aren't terribly dependable. Some places are supported by retirees, but they aren't nearly as affordable. So if you want to look for a stable small town, look for towns near universities, colleges, or military bases.
• matthewcwise 4y ago
  I’ve been playing around with some data to try to answer this for myself. It’s still very work-in-progress so I’d love feedback from you and others—you can explore the data at https://myplace.guru https://myplace.guru
• jimlawruk 4y ago
  We moved from DC to Camp Hill, PA for similar reasons. Camp Hill has a decent walkable/bikable community (stores, schools, etc.) Harrisburg is the capital so it has just enough going on. I miss DC for sure, but it is nice to have an affordable house and a less complex lifestyle.
• trcarney 4y ago
  The first place that came to mid is Northwest Arkansas, especially Bentonville. It still has a small town feel but has much nicer amenities than a town of its size normally does because of all the money brought in by Walmart being headquartered there. The surrounding towns, Fayetteville especially, are also nice. This place is especially awesome if you are into doing things outdoors, especially mountain biking. Another place to expand your search are these YouTube channels, From Here to There (https://www.youtube.com/c/FromHeretoThere/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/FromHeretoThere/videos) and The World According To Briggs (https://www.youtube.com/c/WorldAccordingToBriggs https://www.youtube.com/c/WorldAccordingToBriggs). They might help find places your aren't currently looking at.
• prennert 4y ago
  Find data sources and optimise for your objectives. For me it was: - travel-time, via connections like airports, train stations, motorways, etc. You will need them when you want to travel, or your spouse needs to get to an office - weather. Now and predictions of how it will change in the future - water levels and flood risks and how they are predicted to change over your lifetime (especially important of you like the coast, rivers, etc.) - forest fires, draught etc might be a factor depending on your climate - proximity to industrial or academic centers - general social-economic situation of the place that is interesting to you Most of this data is likely freely available from public / state sources. If you don't know the place, rent first, buy when you are happy. Data is unlikely to provide the full picture and you need to live in a place to get a full picture of it's quirks. Make sure to use the facilities you care about to get an idea how they work in practice.
• stevenalowe 4y ago
  In most US places get too rural and your worklifeline (internet service) options thin rapidly Will be interesting to see if/how starlink changes this
• twoxproblematic 4y ago
• __derek__ 4y ago
  Check out the site Make Me Move[1], which lists towns offering incentives for remote workers to move there. Some offers are nominal (e.g., co-working space memberships), but there are some nice towns actively looking to attract and support folks like you. [1]: https://www.makemymove.com/ https://www.makemymove.com/
• listenupyall 4y ago
  In the pat seven years I traveled the western part of the US a lot with my camper and if I had to live in the US (I am Dutch and currently live on Curacao) I would probably go for Frisco, Colorado. But I am pretty outdoorsy so that’s a big part of why I would like to live there. Not to big, not to small, year round outdoor activities, an hours drive from Denver and an overall good vibe.
• rythmshifter 4y ago
  I chose three rivers mi
• poulsbohemian 4y ago
  In 2010 I moved from near a US tech hub to a small town 5 hours away. There are lots of pros and cons, but main thing I'd say is to be honest with yourself about your economic situation and your lifestyle needs, and don't make the jump lightly. Within just a few years I looked around and realized that all the young families our age that we'd met had packed up their bags and left because they couldn't make it work economically + job opportunities were greater elsewhere. Yes a lot has changed especially re: covid and remote work, but it's still way easier to find work if you are in a tech hub or major city. Especially now being a real estate agent (which in itself is a story of the changes that come with small town life...), I meet lots of people of all demographics moving into our area. Many have never spent any time here, but are drawn to the pictures in the tourist magazine, so to speak. I'm already starting to see people who bought during covid lockdowns who are now having buyers remorse as they realize that maybe small town life isn't for them. All I'm saying is, do more than spend a weekend in a place before you decide to buy a house and shake up your life - I've legit seen people buy houses having basically never been here, and that's not a wise approach. Frankly, if you really have the means and don't have family ties keeping you in a place, I'd ask: why stay in the US at all? But regardless of where you go, hone your research in quickly. Don't keep looking at every last little burg in all 50 states. Go rent an airbnb for a couple of weeks and live as though you live there - and make yourself a study of the tradeoffs you'd be making with each place.
• bitcoinmoney 4y ago
  Anybody have answer to the question but add constraint about diversity? Especially being non Caucasian?
• skoocda 4y ago
  Try this tool: https://www.movemap.io/explore/us https://www.movemap.io/explore/us
• MauroIksem 4y ago
  People like you are destroying other people's ability to live in their small towns..they don't want you.
• radiojasper 4y ago
  Move to The Netherlands and you can suddenly walk everywhere. Also it's rather easy to get into NL with the Dutch American Friendship Treaty. [0] The only thing you need is a company in NL and keeping $4500 on your bank account. Registering a company in NL is as easy as buying milk. One visit to the Chamber of Commerce [1] and you're good. [0] https://dutchamericanfriendship.com/ https://dutchamericanfriendship.com/ [1] https://www.kvk.nl https://www.kvk.nl
• webwright 4y ago
  20 or so shops isn't mid-sized, is it? I just moved to Orcas Island in the PNW after living in cities (Seattle, Anchorage) for most of my adult life. I'm near the one town on the island (which is REALLY quiet outside of the 4 warmest/touristy months). ~4,500 people year round population. Weather is perfect with near zero rain for 4-6 months but a bit gray / drizzly for the rest. It's rarely cold, but decent ski hills are 2h inland. The population (like a lot of small towns) is pretty old, but I found the small group of newer folks (lots of tech expats) to be really welcoming. I can walk to the small airport, which has regular $180-$200 flights to Seattle (show up 10min before departure, 45min flight). Ferries are more work but sometimes you want your vehicle on the mainland for a big group of houseguests or whatnot. I'm 15min away from getting a paddlboard into two mountain lakes-- both are popular swimming destinations for locals. I have friends pulling crabs and prawns out of the water all summer. There are zillions of islands and inlets around-- it's a playground if you're a boater. 4-5 good hikes on the islands with breathtaking views. There's one (never crowded) gym in town with a racquetball court. There's a board game meetup. A few fancy restaurants, one killer cocktail bar, a good locals dive bar. I leave my door unlocked. There's a "village green" with frequent concerts and a Saturday farmer's market. The schools and kids on this island are amazing. Ferries and small planes can get you quickly to Victoria/Vancouver Island, Vancouver (the city), and assorted other cool small/medium towns. I'm pretty new to this, but am LOVING it. There are downsides-- not a lot of food variety in town, tough to make new friends if you aren't the kind of person who makes the effort. The gray season is long and VERY quiet, so you definitely need to budget time/$ to travel. The schools are pretty understanding about missed days in the winter because of this. Hit me up if you (or anyone) ever wants to check it out. I'll buy you a drink and talk your ear off about it.