Where should I move to? CO, OR,WA,TN, other?

Question

I currently live outside of Chicago. Our weather is horrible too hot and humid in the summer and to cold and dreary in the winter. Land also cost too much and there are too many people. I want to get away from the craziness for a while.
This is what I'm looking for ideally:
*mild climate (I can handle some snow in winter)
*somewhere where I can buy 5 or more acres for a good price (0-$10,000.00 an acre)
*within 45 minutes of a major city
*colleges
*beauty with trees and mountains
*parks/trails
*stuff to do nearby
Where has what?

Answer 1

I'm not very familiar with all of these states that you've mentioned, but here is my limited input.

Oregon gets hotter than Washington in the summer, and is not as wet and rainy.

I live in Washington (near Seattle), and it's beautiful. The climate is mild (a couple days of snow, not too many days above 90 degrees), and there are tons of trees, mountains, parks, trails, and things to do around here. There are also a number of colleges in/around Seattle. In Washington, the western part of the state is greener and wetter than the eastern part of the state. Also, I know the southeastern part of the state gets a lot of snow in the winter. The only criteria of yours that Washington probably won't fulfill is the cheap acreage. I'm not sure about that, but with houses costing so much (starting around $300,000 or so for a nice house), I doubt that you could find an acre for less than $10,000. But I could be wrong.

There are a lot of places in Washington that would be considered rural, with not too many people or homes around. However, then you'd be further away from larger cities.

Olympia/Lacey sounds like a place you might like. There is land available (a few farms already exist there), it's in a quiet area away from a busy city, but there are enough things to do there, places to shop and eat, etc. It's beautiful there, green and rainy, with only a little bit of snow in the winter.

If you can afford it, you should take a trip to some of the places you're thinking about moving to. You don't want to just move someplace without checking it out yourself first. Good luck with your move.

Answer 2

I live just outside of Memphis, TN and our weather gets very hot in the summers (90-111 degrees so far this summer), our winters are very mild (although in Feb. we do get ice). We have a longer summer than most people and tend to be able to keep doing summer activities (lake, fishing, water sports, etc.) for several months of the year (April - Sept. sometimes still in Oct.) We rarely need heavy coats and layered clothing (although we do wear them due to our extreme summers we think it is cold when it is 60)! We have beautiful hills and valleys, Arkansas right next door has some of the most beautiful lakes you will ever see as well as the Ozark mountians. The people here are very friendly and welcoming. I grew up here, but have lived all over the world. Somehow I always end up back down here. This part of the country is more laid back and the people tend to take life more slowly while enjoying the simple things. They dont rush anywhere and when on southern time you wont either! lol If you ever visit here you will go back up north and wonder why everyone is in such a hurry! Such is life down here in God's Country. lol Although you may miss your privacy! (Since down south everyone knows everyone and if they dont know ya, they make it a point to do exactly that... get to know ALL about you! lol)

Answer 3

Every place has it's pluses and minuses. In Colorado there will be no humidity, the summers will be hot, but not hot and humid like Chicago. The winters can be fantastic or cold - one never knows. Certainly no ice storms. Cost of land, can't tell you. To be 45 minutes from Denver and have mountains etc.. means living on the front range between Fort Collins and Colorado Springs (near I25). There are lots of people in the Denver metro area - everyone wants to live there - I'm a displaced Colorado native. 20ish years living in Fort Collins.

Washington and Oregon will have very mild summers, some humidity, but tolerable. The winters will be long, cool, damp, dreary - but little to no snow if you live on the west side of the Cascade mountains. On the west side of the Cascades, it's more like Colorado - but no major city. Portland, OR, while and NBA city is hardly a major city in my opinion, nothing remotely close to Chicago. Seattle is closer to Denver in major city status. Housing is expensive around Seattle. Seattle has a ~8% sales tax. The traffic is awfull. Seattle is a city with lots of bridges, many lanes of traffic funneled over few lane bridges = big backups. You could easily live outside of Seattle - to the North/South or West (via ferry), have the land you want and be close to the city. I lived in Seattle proper for several years and lived in Gig Harbor for several years. We regularly went to Seattle to go shopping etc.. but lived and worked in Gig Harbor. Lived in the Puget Sound region for 15ish years. Have family in the Portland, OR area. Brother lives in AK.

TN - will be humid - just like or worse than Chicago. I have no first hand experience with living in TN.

Currently live in NH, on the seacoast - 1 mile from the beach, 45 minutes from Boston, 1 hour to skiing in the mountains. Winters are long and cold and snowy. Summers are probably the best in the nation. I think it's very hard to beat a New England summer, spring, fall. We pay for all that great weather in the winter. We have no income tax, no sales tax, high property tax. Couldn't tell you what an acre of land goes for, but there is lots of it around if you want it. Must like hardwood trees and granite.

Answer 4

Grand Junction, CO
College town, mountains, beautiful. An hour to Utah 6 hours to Salt Lake city. 10 hours to Las Vegas. snow melts by 12 noon. lot of trails, housing reasonable. Not much humidity! Why did I move?

Answer 5

I live in Chicago and am sick of the weather as well. hence, austin texas is where I am moving to next Friday.