The Best Place to Live in the United States?

[Bullitt]

What is the best area of the United States to live?

The criteria I am thinking about include:

Freedom of the country
Close enough to a metropolitan area for jobs
Good weather
Lack of natural disasters
A reasonable cost of living


The area I think would be best is in California north of Sacramento. Here are my reasons.


Freedom of the country -- There are many areas north of Sacramento that are unincorporated and not in towns, or small towns if preferred. The Sacramento Valley has some of the best farm land in the world.

Close enough to a metropolitan area for jobs -- The Sacramento area would be good for jobs, and this is the state capital of California.

Good weather -- The upper Sacramento Valley in Northern California has good weather with mild winters. The 18 inches of average annual rainfall may be on the dry side, but there are rivers and many irrigation canals through this area.

Lack of natural disasters -- Sacramento and areas north are far enough from the San Andreas Fault Line so that severe earthquakes would be very rare. The chances of tornadoes or hurricanes are very slim. The nearest volcano would be Mount Lassen and it does not seem active. Flooding could be a problem in low-lying areas, so I would choose high ground for a house.

A reasonable cost of living -- The cost of living in Sacramento is less than the national average, and it would be even less expensive living away from the city.



What do you think?

What area in the United States do you think would be the best place to live? Why?

 

[RHRanch]

Northern California is a very good choice - I used to live there and I loved it. If you can afford it, San Diego is even better. Where else can you surf in the morning, play in the snow midday and camp in the desert the same night?

 

[Bullitt]

San Diego is good for weather and jobs, but I think San Diego falls short with some of my criteria.

You don't have freedom of the country, and the land inland from San Diego is very dry.

San Diego is also an expensive area to live.

Southern California has earthquakes, grass fires, and mudslides.

 

[BoutrosBoutrosGalusGalus]

I've been partial to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Valley since I read a Sci-Fi series about a post technology society set there.

 

[wolftracks]

Quake hit where they hit, but yeah, most have hit from the Bay Area south. I've been looking in the same area. Sorta. I'm on the Central Valley about equal distance from the Bay and Sac. Even though it usually takes me longer to drive to Sac and back or at least seems like it. It's pretty here for the most part and although I've often thought over the years that I wanted to try somewhere else, there's no place like California.I don't care WHAT other people say about us. Most have no idea. They say if you live here 2 years, you will either hate it and move back to where you started or you'll love it so much you don't want to leave. You do have to remember that some areas are cheap for a reason. In other words, don't buy on a whim and then show up. show up and scope out the area. Visit in the daytime, weekends, weekdays and drive through the area at night. Then again that goes for just about any place.

Not trying to chase you away at all. You can move out here and hang with us on the California thread. Matter of fact, come join us anyway. Might as well make some friends before you get here and maybe get sme ideas for there right areas to look for. Here's a link to the thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/565482/california-the-whole-state-thread/0_20

 

[Bullitt]

I've been partial to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Valley since I read a Sci-Fi series about a post technology society set there.

That is an interesting reason.

Do you remember the name of that series of science-fiction books?

That is a very good area. There are many rural areas, there is a lack of natural disasters, and it has a reasonable cost of living outside of Portland. You would have to live close enough to Portland, Salem, or Eugene for jobs. It can be pretty rainy in that area. I suppose each person would have to decide if they liked that weather.

My father has been thinking of moving to southern Oregon in the Klamath Falls area. He doesn't need a job, though. This area has less rain than the Willamette Valley, but it can snow pretty good sometimes in the winter. Overall it has pretty good weather. There is freedom of the country, lack of natural disasters, and low cost of living. It might even be close enough to commute to Eugene for jobs, or there is Grants Pass and Klamath Falls.

I think these are good areas to meet the criteria.

 

[Bullitt]

Quake hit where they hit, but yeah, most have hit from the Bay Area south. I've been looking in the same area. Sorta. I'm on the Central Valley about equal distance from the Bay and Sac. Even though it usually takes me longer to drive to Sac and back or at least seems like it. It's pretty here for the most part and although I've often thought over the years that I wanted to try somewhere else, there's no place like California.I don't care WHAT other people say about us. Most have no idea. They say if you live here 2 years, you will either hate it and move back to where you started or you'll love it so much you don't want to leave. You do have to remember that some areas are cheap for a reason. In other words, don't buy on a whim and then show up. show up and scope out the area. Visit in the daytime, weekends, weekdays and drive through the area at night. Then again that goes for just about any place.

Not trying to chase you away at all. You can move out here and hang with us on the California thread. Matter of fact, come join us anyway. Might as well make some friends before you get here and maybe get sme ideas for there right areas to look for. Here's a link to the thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/565482/california-the-whole-state-thread/0_20

Thank you.

I am very familiar with California. I lived all over the state.

With my search for the perfect area to live, I would live in an unincorporated area or a small town. Modesto would not be a small town. You are also closer to the San Andreas Fault Line, and that is why I think it would be better to go north from Sacramento.

I live in Texas now. Texas would be okay if it wasn't for the very hot summers, when it stays hot day and night. Thankfully we have air conditioning.

I will check out the California thread. Thanks.

 

[dfr1973]

That is an interesting reason.

Do you remember the name of that series of science-fiction books?

S.M. Stirling's "Change" series, starting with Dies The Fire.

 

[speckledhen]

What about property taxes, though? California's overall are really high, I've noticed. My friend Ellie's in Cottonwood, CA. are more than 10x what mine are. She has 7 acres, I have 5 1/3.

 

[chickened]

Don't move to Oregon. We have high unemployment, high property taxes, high income taxes, they want everyone to ride bicycles or mass transit, our highways are ancient and traffic sucks, the urban rural divide is horrible, our state is broke like California's, we have medical pot cards, you can off yourself legally, free health-care, high influx of the homeless, sex offenders are not jailed, oh and yes it is beautiful here. And did I mention it rains a lot?