We are here mainly because it's where my parents now live. When we moved back from London, it was easier to just move in with them, and then I got a job here so we've stayed. It's a very nice place, and there are a ton of outdoor activities we can do, but honestly I'd move elsewhere in Canada if I felt like I could leave my parents. They're in good health now but are getting older and I feel compelled to stay. The cost of living is horribly high. We have virtually no disposable income. The city is a sleepy government city with nothing open past 8pm. It's a beautiful part of the country but the cost of living here depresses me.
H and I both grew up here. He left for a few years and came back, then we got together. His job requires alot of travel and at least once a year I argue to sell our house and move to a more centrally located place for him, but in the end it just doesn’t make sense. I would never find something that pays what I earn now and housing would be much more expensive elsewhere. We’ve also put a ton of sweat and tears into our house and we are close to done with the projects. It’s finally what we want it to be. One son lives here (he’s an accountant and his fiancé is a school teacher. They have no intentions of leaving) and the other son goes to school two hours away. He wants to stay in that town when done. I don’t want to be far away from them. I love being surrounded by water all summer long and I really love snow as well. It’s a good fit if only H didn’t have to be gone so often. 🤷♀️
We needed a bigger house and couldn’t afford to buy one in the city we were living in. We bought my dream house, added a commute to our lives, ended up getting a divorce and selling the house. I love this town so much I didn’t want to leave, so I’m still here raising my kids.
I grew up very nearby. Family all lives within a thirty minute drive, as do DH's parents. We met in high school. We chose a small exurb community (really a small village adjacent to the larger metro) which is exactly halfway between our offices and our parents houses.
DH was transferred to my rainy home state when we started dating. He really hated the lack of sun and switched careers to one that is much better if you have good weather year round. We moved to SoCal for a specific college program for him and planned to stay forever. We moved at the worst time - 2007! We were both employed through the worst of the recession but both got laid off at the same time in 2013 after we bought a house and had a baby. DH really struggled to find a new decent paying job in his new field, but we needed 2 incomes in HCOL. After a year of convincing, I reluctantly moved to Houston for a great career opportunity for him, which I was willing to try for a few years. Both our careers did amazing there and we probably would have stayed longer because that was the path of least resistance but after 2 houses flooded in 3 years we decided to move back to the west coast where we have more family. There were about 12 cities I could transfer to. He ended up getting a job back in our old city which was one of our top choices. We honestly didn’t think we’d move back when we moved away, but I’m so happy we are here. It’s a great place to raise kids, there’s tons of free or cheap things to do year round, our public schools have free before/ aftercare and lots of people come to visit us (cheap Vaca for them and we don’t have to travel to them) so that makes up for the HCOL a bit.
Im from Loudoun County, Virginia. I wanted out since college, it feels suffocating. Too many people, the rat race is too much, it's too expensive. My H is from Michigan, his ex and my stepdaughters moved back to his hometown when they split up and we wanted to be close to them after he got out of the military. The recession happened and couldn't find any jobs for a long time. In 2014 he got a job offer in Toledo so we packed up and moved. We were there for a few years, he was able to get the girls every other weekend instead of just the summer. Then he got a new job in Ann Arbor so we started looking for a place in between AA and where the girls lived. We're about 30 min north of AA.
It was hard to leave my family, and the Toledo years were hard. He traveled for work and I didn't know anyone then. It was really hard. I LOVE Michigan though. My mom and friends always ask when I'm moving back, the answer is NEVER. I was never outdoorsy but turns out I am now! We go to the beach after work in the summer, go to stargazing events, camping, H got heavily involved in off-roading for a while. I love my house and neighborhood. I've made some pretty good friends. My town is cute, and on the smallish side. I needed a place that was not busy and we found it.
Post by lilypad1126 on Feb 8, 2024 22:15:20 GMT -5
We moved to Houston for my job. It’s not our dream city, but we both actually like a lot of things about living here. We’ve moved a lot and I think we are both ready to be done moving. We’ll be here for awhile I imagine, with no plans to move other than maybe back to H’s hometown in Michigan, which is close to where my parents live, if/when my parents need more help.
Post by fortnightlily on Feb 8, 2024 22:16:03 GMT -5
It wouldn't let me pick two choices. I grew up in the DC suburbs, went to college in NY, then moved out to LA. DH grew up in NY, but we both had moved to LA as young professionals and that's where we met. I loved living there, but when we were closer to thinking we might want kids we wanted to not be a 5 hours plane ride away from all our family so we moved back east. We ended up back in my childhood area instead of his out of preference and because I applied for a job and he was able to transfer his. I still miss LA, but raising a kid there definitely would've been harder.
We moved here for my job. We've stayed mostly for that reason (changing jobs is not easy for me as an academic), but also we generally like it - it's a decently sized east coast city and driving distance to my parents (3 hours).
We moved here for a job offer for my husband, expecting to stick around for a few years until he had some experience, then move. 10+ years later, we're still here and will likely be here through our kids' high school years (10 years for my younger one.) We like the area good enough and the schools are good. The weather sucks, but we've adjusted.
I moved here for a job, technically. I knew I didn’t want to move back home. I knew DH (BF at the time) would move within a 3 hour radius eventually, and all the jobs I found I was interested in were here. I so moved here and he technically followed me once he graduated.
It’s one of the highest COLA in the country, which sucks. His family (2 hour drive) is now moving to an hour drive of my family. For my niche industry, I’m either here or somewhere with snow or other undesirable considerations. I dream of packing up and leaving, but have a lot of reasons to stay. I imagine we’ll be here at least until the kids graduate.
I moved here after college because a lot of my college friends and my on/off college boyfriend were here ( I’m from CA and went to college on the east coast). DH moved here after we started dating because at the time it was really easy to transfer his job to a Boston office (he was in Chicago) as opposed to me moving to him. And now we have been here 25 years.
Right now I’m “because I grew up here.” But for many years, DH and I lived in a “because it seemed like a nice place” city, and it was. We moved back to my hometown to help my mom with aging and illness. I’m glad I can be here for her, but I don’t really like living here, and I miss my former larger city. I’m not sure where we’ll end up when we’re no longer needed here. We’ll decide that when the time comes.
DH and I both moved to Colorado for college, him from Indiana, me from Texas. At one point after we were married we decided it would be nice to be near family, so we moved to Indiana. I was miserable and hated that everyone asked me what high school I went to. There’s a strong undercurrent of people not leaving the state and it just bugged me. It felt like I was living in a small town or something even though I wasn’t. We moved back after about three months and I really don’t see us leaving the state again.
I feel like the people who live here find a lot of joy in the same kinds of things we do, being outside, dogs, fun coffee shops and restaurants. Those things are, of course, not unique to Colorado, but there’s a vibe here that doesn’t exist everywhere. We take advantage of our proximity to the mountains a lot. We ski most weekends during ski season and usually take at least a few weekend or longer trips to ski. This summer we have three separate trips planned to be in the mountains, including an outdoor concert in Dillon. Colorado pretty quickly became home for us and we’re really happy and settled in our house here, so I think this is kind of it for the foreseeable future.
Post by rupertpenny on Feb 8, 2024 23:02:12 GMT -5
I live in NYC and moved here because i got a great job offer and my ex was able to transfer to the NY office of his firm.
I’ve always wanted to live here though, and it’s hard for me to imagine living anywhere else. We moved from somewhere with a similar COL and even smaller apartments, so it didn’t feel like a downgrade at all. I love my Brooklyn neighborhood which is like a small town in some ways. My kids are at the neighborhood school, all of their friends live within about half a mile, and we can get anywhere, including some pretty decent beaches, on public transportation. I’ve never liked driving and I’m happy to live where I don’t need to drive, even if it means I’ll probably never have a yard or a guest bedroom.
I replied other because nothing else quite fits. I grew up one town over. My husband grew up in the next county over, about 25 minutes away. Where we are, that really isn’t considered far.
My mom grew up in this town, and my parents met in hs here(dad’s family was Air Force). I still have family that live in this town.
We initially lived in the nearest larger city then moved to where I grew up when I got pregnant with our first. Moved here when pregnant with my second for the schools.
I grew up in the general area of where we live now, about 15 miles away, moved an hour away after high school graduation but I never stopped working in this area and came back for college (God bless my parents helping me with gas money) and I've been floating around the general location for the past 25 years or so. DH came to the general area around sophomore or junior year of high school, went away for his initial college attempt and came back when it didn't work out. I'm pretty content in our general metro area and like our neighborhood. We've talked about moving "to the country" when DS goes away to college but who knows.
We are here mainly because it's where my parents now live. When we moved back from London, it was easier to just move in with them, and then I got a job here so we've stayed. It's a very nice place, and there are a ton of outdoor activities we can do, but honestly I'd move elsewhere in Canada if I felt like I could leave my parents. They're in good health now but are getting older and I feel compelled to stay. The cost of living is horribly high. We have virtually no disposable income. The city is a sleepy government city with nothing open past 8pm. It's a beautiful part of the country but the cost of living here depresses me.
Genuine question - where would you go?
H and I toss around ideas because we both have wandering spirits, but we get caught up in job opportunities/salaries vs. cost of living. We have no family where we are and no reason to stay expect we like BC (women's healthcare is a huge plus), we love our proximity to mountains and ocean, and our jobs are tolerable because of the salaries. I don't want to move somewhere more conservative and I don't want to make less money even in a cheaper COL.
We fantasize about stupid moves, like going back to the states because my aunt and uncle are selling 40 acres for $250k and who doesn't want a pond, a creek, a nearly mature Christmas tree farm, and no neighbours (hello Hallmark movie).
I moved to metro Atlanta for a job 25 years ago. In the early years I lived in a couple of suburbs til I bought my first house--super cute bungalow. Got married, sold the house, bought a bigger house in the same suburb, and I've been here ever since. I like it enough here. There are great cycling and equestrian (English/hunter-jumper) scenes that I enjoy. I have my community and friends. I'd hate to start over now; maybe when I retire in a million years. I'm several hours from where I grew up and still have a small family in that area. The rest of my family on either side involves plane rides, and I'm not interested in living in those locations.
Post by gretchenindisguise on Feb 8, 2024 23:25:44 GMT -5
We moved here for Hs postdoc. We both assumed it would be 2 years and we would move to the next place. Then his post doc lasted 5 years and we grew roots. It’s been 12 years now and we can’t imagine moving. Not sure if we will ever be able to afford a house, which is a bummer, but it is what it is (prices here skyrocketed while we were inching our salaries up).
Post by InBetweenDays on Feb 8, 2024 23:34:27 GMT -5
I moved here right after college with some girlfriends because it seemed like a fun place to live. We were all planning to stay for 6 months to a year, but i fell in love with the area and never left.
H came out with a round trip ticket and never left.. We both moved out here around the same time, and met 4 months later.
We moved for jobs for both of us. DH did get his first but I had one within two weeks of his offer, both before we moved cross country. We had moved to where he went to grad school and knew we’d be leaving there when he graduated so we were both looking for jobs. We both still work for the same companies 15 years later. And we stay because we love it. It would be hard to leave the San Diego area - the lifestyle is pretty incredible and we were lucky to buy our house before the are we’re in got super crazy unaffordable.
I never thought I’d leave California where I grew up but my H got his dream opportunity out of state with his company who gave us a great relocation package and kept his HCOL salary. I don’t love it here but our quality of life is good.
I live here for the weather and beaches. I grew up in the midwest but knew i from an early age that eventually I wanted to live somewhere warm and a reasonable distance to water (like an hours drive). After a few polar vortexes, I visited San Diego one time and moved here a year after that. It is everything I ever wanted and I am less than 2 miles from the beach. I am so insanely happy where I live. I tell myself how lucky I am almost every day.
I picked "other" even though I grew up here. I spent enough of my adult life in 2 other very different parts of the US to know I wanted to return. Compared to those places (rustbelt city and deep red state city), it's ethnically diverse here which is important to me because I'm not white. It's ok to push yourself to be smart and highly educated as a student. As an adult, no one will stop you from reaching even higher because we all know it's expensive to exist here. Sports are not as huge which is good because I can't get behind the entire town being all "GO TEAM" all weekend. The food is great and I live in commuting distance to the best city in the US. Lots of jobs here though this doesn't apply to me as much since I'm self employed but it means we weather the economy better during downturns. I used to also live in said city and at one point thought I would become a forever resident. I realized I couldn't handle the reality of raising kids in a shoebox apartment or running a business in the concrete jungle so I moved over to the suburbs.
We've been here almost 10 years though which is rare. We may be getting stationed where we both grew up, and it gives me anxiety thinking about living so close to everyone lol. I love where we live though and I think would maybe settle here forever? It's so freaking expensive though. We have time to figure it out I guess my H is in for life so we have awhile before retirement and can make decisions for ourselves of where to move.