Where should we move?

[spunkarella]

Just for fun since we're not planning to move for at least a few years. We have both lived most of our lives in conservative/rural areas and would like a change.

In rough order of preference, realizing we are unlikely to get everything on this list:

A city (not a small town)
Near a military base/DoD jobs
Near at least one college, preferably multiple
Decent public schools
Politically moderate or liberal
Not overly religious
L/MCOL
Beautiful, either natural beauty or great parks and an artsy downtown
Near a decent-sized airport

Pipe dreams: walkable, warm climate

[winnied]

I was going to recommend the greater DC area but it's not L/MCOL.

[spunkarella]

Oct 11, 2015 19:27:37 GMT -5 winnied said:

I was going to recommend the greater DC area but it's not L/MCOL.

It's definitely a major consideration. It seems close to perfect except for COL.

[Balki.Bartokomous]

San Diego is great, except for COL. But, if you can live further inland, that will help a bit.

[sarahsas]

St. Louis. WHile we are a red state, the city is more liberal. Scott AFB is in the metro area. TONS of parks nearby. Lots of vcute neighborhoods that area walkable. Great place for kids - lots of free/cheap attractions.

[dr.girlfriend]

I don't really know where the military bases are but how about North Carolina? Chapel Hill sounds like it would meet your other criteria (and not sure if there's military/DOD jobs in the research triangle area) but Charlotte is supposed to be nice too.

[spunkarella]

Oct 11, 2015 19:42:33 GMT -5 sarahsas said:

St. Louis. WHile we are a red state, the city is more liberal. Scott AFB is in the metro area. TONS of parks nearby. Lots of vcute neighborhoods that area walkable. Great place for kids - lots of free/cheap attractions.

I have heard good things about St Louis, but I never realized there's a base nearby. I'm definitely checking this out more!

[audette]

Tacoma, WA. Near Fort Lewis.

[VillainV]

Oct 11, 2015 19:44:02 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

I don't really know where the military bases are but how about North Carolina? Chapel Hill sounds like it would meet your other criteria (and not sure if there's military/DOD jobs in the research triangle area) but Charlotte is supposed to be nice too.

Cary is a good up-and-coming area and is fairly close to Seymour Johnson AFB and Ft. Bragg (about an hour from each).   

Honestly, I've lived a lot of places that meet MOST of those criteria, but the politically moderate/liberal is pretty tough.  You might like Colorado Springs, CO (right-leaning city in a mostly left-leaning state).   Ogden, UT is awesome (very close to Hill AFB)...a slightly more moderate town in a VERY right-leaning state.    San Diego could be amazing, except for the VHCOL.  

[spunkarella]

Thank you all for the ideas!

VillainV religion and politics are the two biggest factors driving us crazy lately.

[VillainV]

Oct 11, 2015 20:41:12 GMT -5 spunkarella said:

Thank you all for the ideas!

VillainV religion and politics are the two biggest factors driving us crazy lately.

It drives me crazy too.  Unfortunately military towns tend to be WAY more conservative than we are.  Sometimes I think I'm the only democrat in a uniform (which I know isn't true, but we tend to keep our mouths shut and not draw attention to our politics, so it can be hard to spot other democrats).  

[spunkarella]

Oct 11, 2015 20:44:14 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Oct 11, 2015 20:41:12 GMT -5 spunkarella said:

Thank you all for the ideas!

VillainV religion and politics are the two biggest factors driving us crazy lately.

It drives me crazy too.  Unfortunately military towns tend to be WAY more conservative than we are.  Sometimes I think I'm the only democrat in a uniform (which I know isn't true, but we tend to keep our mouths shut and not draw attention to our politics, so it can be hard to spot other democrats).  

Can we please work out a bat signal? It would make my life so much easier. 

ETA: Just for clarification, H and I are both civilians. I still want a bat signal. 

[sarahsas]

Oct 11, 2015 19:48:19 GMT -5 spunkarella said:

Oct 11, 2015 19:42:33 GMT -5 sarahsas said:

St. Louis. WHile we are a red state, the city is more liberal. Scott AFB is in the metro area. TONS of parks nearby. Lots of vcute neighborhoods that area walkable. Great place for kids - lots of free/cheap attractions.

I have heard good things about St Louis, but I never realized there's a base nearby. I'm definitely checking this out more!

Yep, it's in Illinois but right across the river. I know several people who live on the MO side and work over there.

I love STL. You hear bad things out of here (Michael Brown, etc) but the area is really nice and prices are great compared to many big cities. I have some family members who recently transplanted here from Chicago and they LOVE it here.

[drloretta]

San Diego
Denver

[aurora]

Anchorage, AK. Except for the warm climate part.

[Deleted]

Oct 11, 2015 20:41:12 GMT -5 spunkarella said:

Thank you all for the ideas!

VillainV religion and politics are the two biggest factors driving us crazy lately.

I lived in NC for six years, and would not recommend it for these two reasons. Chapel Hill is a nice oasis, but it's not enough.

[sunshinedaydreams]

Not sure how big of a city you're looking for, but Bloomington, IN meets pretty much all of your criteria.

- NSWC Crane is nearby with a lot of DoD jobs; Camp Atterbury, too, but probably not as many DoD jobs there
- Indiana University is there
- Pretty liberal and not overly religious, particularly for the midwest
- VLCOL
- Not terribly beautiful, but there are a lot of parks, rec areas, reservoirs, lakes, etc. nearby
- Indianapolis Airport ~1 hour away
- Downtown is artsy and walkable with lots of good restaurants, bars, craft breweries, shops, etc. Several beer/food/arts festivals downtown each year, good farmer's markets every week.

I went to school there, and I love Bloomington! Every time I go back I wish I could live there.

[pumpkin]

Oct 11, 2015 20:14:08 GMT -5 audette said:

Tacoma, WA. Near Fort Lewis.

This would have been my suggestion too, thought it might be considered closer to HCOL

[niq]

Seattle-Tacoma hits a lot of those. Not warm, and if you want moderate housing costs you probably lose walkable. But it gets everything else.

In addition to JBLM, there is a big Navy base in Everett, north of the city.

[crashgizmo]

Albuquerque, NM meets almost all of your criteria, and IMO is a "best kept secret". I lived there 6 years and DH was born and raised there. There is a large AFB and a national lab in town that employs tons of people. Very blue state, lots of great southwest culture. Definitely L/MCOL. Not warm climate but it gets 4 seasons temperately. Elementary/secondary schools are not good, but there are good private and charter options for not too much $$.

[alleinesein]

San Diego

A city (not a small town) 8th largest city in the US
Near a military base/DoD jobs MCAS-Miramar, 32nd St., North Island, MCRD, Camp Pendleton plus we also have Northrop Grumman, GKN, L-3, General Atomics, ViaSat, SAIC, General Dynamics NASSCO and a few more.
Near at least one college, preferably multiple USD, USCD, SDSU, Cal State San Marcos, Pt Loma Nazarene plus a ton of community colleges (Mesa, Miramar, Palomar, etc)
Decent public schools Depends on where you live. Some districts have better PR departments but aren't equipped to handle certain types of students.  Some districts have large populations of ESL students.  San Diego Unified is a huge district so you have good and mediocre schools mixed throughout the city; they do have an amazing magnet program that includes STEM, the arts and languages.
Politically moderate or liberal A few pockets of sane people but a fairly large amount of conservative whack jobs.  We still have idiots that fly the confederate flag.  Darrell Issa lives in this county (about 15 miles from my place...*shudder*)
Not overly religious While there are a decent amount of churches I have never felt that the city was religious.  We do have a Mormon temple because of a sizable Mormon population.
L/MCOL High COL if you stick to inland parts of the county. HCOL/VHCOL along the coast. We are about 1 mile outside of the city limits (SD is huge) and homes here go for $600K-$700k for 2500-3000 sq ft on at least 1 acre.  You can get a new build in the neighboring town (7 miles away near Cal State San Marcos) for just under $500k.  Affordable housing (by CA standards) can be found if you are willing to live outside of the downtown and beach areas.
Beautiful, either natural beauty or great parks and an artsy downtown Beaches, coastal cliffs, hiking trails, etc.  Downtown is not very artsy but we do have a little artists village in Balboa Park.  We also have wineries in the north part of the county.  Is this beautiful enough for you??



And we have these cutie pies


Near a decent-sized airport San Diego International.  You can fly internationally to the UK and then hop over to Europe, fly to Canada, Mexico, Australia (by way of Hawaii) and Japan.  SD is also 2 hours south of LAX.

Pipe dreams: walkable, warm climate Not very walkable but some parts are (Little Italy, Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, North Park, etc.  Its neighborhood specific). The North County Coastal cities (Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside are more pedestrian friendly. We have perfect weather although it was 97 degrees at the airport yesterday; we are currently experiencing Hotober!  

[magpie]

Tucson, AZ.
It's a city (albeit, not a large one) with an air force base, plus lots of people work at Raytheon. Has a large university and is a blue city in a red state. Public schools might be the deal breaker here. There are excellent charter schools and the suburbs have decent schools, but the city schools, especially past middle school, are not great. Very liberal, especially in the central areas and not overly religious. L/MCOL. It is beautiful here, but in a unique way--Sonoran desert + mountains surrounding the city in every direction. The hiking in/around Tucson is excellent. Artsy/fun downtown, though it is small (but growing). Airport is small, but it is not impossible to drive to Phoenix to catch a flight. Not extremely walkable, but very bike-friendly in the central areas. Warm climate, but probably more so than you meant. It's hot as hell in the summer (though it is like 30 degrees cooler in the mountains, so you can still hike/do outdoor stuff if you're willing to drive 45-60 minutes or it is cool in the morning at like 6am year round, which is why everyone in this town is a morning person).

[gt7301b]

Atlanta? Ga obviously leans conservative, but the Atlanta area isn't as conservative as the rest of the state.  If I were to move back I'd live in Decatur.  Dobbins is in Marietta and there are a fair number of other government jobs in the area.  Atlanta certainly wins the airport category, but that is your last requirement.

[MNH2013]

I was thinking Austin or San Diego too.

[tacosforlife]

Oct 11, 2015 19:48:19 GMT -5 spunkarella said:

Oct 11, 2015 19:42:33 GMT -5 sarahsas said:

St. Louis. WHile we are a red state, the city is more liberal. Scott AFB is in the metro area. TONS of parks nearby. Lots of vcute neighborhoods that area walkable. Great place for kids - lots of free/cheap attractions.

I have heard good things about St Louis, but I never realized there's a base nearby. I'm definitely checking this out more!

I spent two weeks in St. Louis this summer, and it was the grossest thing I have ever experienced. The heat index got up to 127 one day. 127!!! Living in STL requires that you enjoy, or at least tolerate, oppressive humidity during the summer.

[Deleted]

Wichita, KS. Maybe.
It's not a small town, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a city really.
KS politics are a mess these days, but I'm hopeful change is coming.  Wichita isn't as conservative as it once was.  
Parts of it are walkable and very cute.  Good food.
Has an airport, but it's not the cheapest to fly out of.

[audette]

Oct 11, 2015 22:55:55 GMT -5 pumpkin said:

Oct 11, 2015 20:14:08 GMT -5 audette said:

Tacoma, WA. Near Fort Lewis.

This would have been my suggestion too, thought it might be considered closer to HCOL

I would have thought that, too. But, I think Tacoma is far enough south of the Seattle housing craziness that it's more MCOL.  But, you still get a lot of the benefits of living near Seattle if you're in Tacoma.  We picked a place just south of base when we lived there while Tacoma is just north of base.  But, it's all pretty accessible via I-5.

For comparison, DH's housing allowance at Lewis was about 80% of what it is where we currently live, and we're smack in the Midwest right now - I would have assumed this place would be LCOL before we moved here... Same rank, so the only differential is a couple years (during which they haven't been raising many housing allowances), and the locations.

[baa1981]

I was also going to suggest Austin. But once you get here you quickly find out that it's not really that big of a city. Also, the COL isn't really low to middle. And the traffic sucks. But other than that, it's a great city. I think it does meet most of your requirements.

[zoidberg]

Oct 12, 2015 7:34:53 GMT -5 @mx said:

El Paso or Albuquerque. Other than great airports they have pretty much what you're looking for. And great food.

And the Albuquerque airport is not bad. You won't get a ton of direct flight options, but it's not one of those tiny 3 gate affairs that only has regional flights, either. Plus they have the most comfortable chairs and free wifi and green chile stew.

My love for ABQ knows no bounds.

[stephogirl]

Another vote for Twin Cities/Minnesota. Hits everything on your list, and it's always walkable, you just need more layers during certain times of the year!