Do you like where you live?

Honest question. With all the talk I see if people moving I thought id ask.

Being more than honest, I don't like where I live and would move in a heartbeat. Too many cold and grey days. Too far from the ocean. But, the schools are amazing, housing is cheap, and the short summers are bearable. I figure I have another 10 years here but hopefully less if I can convince my wife.

What's your current outlook on where you live? 

I love where I live. 

Wenatchee Valley, WA

Cheap electricity ($.03/kwh) so I can keep my shop at a happy temp all year round. 

Proper four seasons with real snow and hot summers. I'm 3 hrs from the "ocean" or 5 hrs of you want open ocean, not Puget Sound. 

There are more mountain / canyon roads to drive than I can count, traffic is moderate and it's an outdoors enthusiasts delight. 

Housing costs are moderate, as well as general cost of living. Can be a bit boring if you require a lot of external stimulation. 

There is no shortage of breweries, wineries and great food as well. 

I have no intention of leaving this valley

berkeleying hate it. 

But then I look around the world, and see places I would like to go, and see that the people are just as E36 M3ty, the government's just as corrupt and incompetent if not even more so, and realize Antarctica, while beautiful and empty is just too damn cold to live in year round.

So I suck it up, and deal with the 300 days a year of rain and grey skies, and backwards ass Pennsylvania laws, mortar field highways, and sorry excuses for food. 

When we move again down the road it will be somewhere without winter at all, where I need to travel at least an hour to get to the store.

Columbus, OH.

I like it. I enjoy being in a big city that people don't think of as a big city. That isn't cool or hip. I get most of what makes a city great with only a fraction of what makes them suck.

I especially like the neighborhood I live in. We've got access to like 50 miles of bike trails a couple houses down the street.

There are nicer places that I would enjoy living in more, but they would be significantly more expensive.

The only thing making me look at leaving is being closer to family in northern Virginia.

Ventura County California.

Pros...

Just about the best year round weather in the world.

Home prices are extremely high but after trading up three times (to get onboard the price increases) and aggressively throwing money at my mortgages my whole adult life, I paid off my home loan last May so other than gas prices, my COL isn't much higher than it would be elsewhere in the country.

Crime rates are pretty low and the police are still allowed to, you know, police.

People are generally friendly.

Fantastic canyon roads to play on and zero rust.

Cons...

I only have a two car garage and as retirement approaches, I'd really like more room for toys.

The water to population ratio is horrible so lakes are pretty much parking lots.     

Santa Clara CA:

Weather is great.  Not quite as good as it was in La Jolla where I went to school, but still good.  No snow, not humid in the summer.

Traffic blows chunks.

Housing prices are sky high, but I've been here 25 years so that mitigates the effects somewhat.

Professionally for me it's the place to be (I'm a software guy)

Four excellent race tracks within 250 miles (Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Thunderhill, Buttonwillow)

Lots of great mountain roads within 25 miles.

I'm content. Wife wants to relocate, but without a solid reason or opportunity, I don't want to. Low crime, mellow winters, sunshine, wide open spaces within a short drive... Las Vegas entertainment under 2 hours away, lakes and reservoirs for boating/fishing, under 2 hours to ski resorts, Grand Canyon is a day trip, Zion canyon even closer...there's a lot of reasons the population has tripled in the last 15 years. 
Summers are hot and long, but I don't mind. 

Lifelong Michigan resident. This time of year, I don't like it so much. I've been saying for years that I'd love to move someplace warmer. But now I'm not so sure. I do like the reasonable housing costs, ready access to lots of car-related activities, and lots of lakes. I have a feeling that last one is going to become more important in the coming decades.....

I could still totally do the snowbird thing, but my home will always be here.

Southwest Ohio has a lot of positives in general for a midwestern location.  Low cost of living, good schools, decent culture, and 4seasons.  With that said we will probably look to move somewhere closer to the ocean with warmer temps when the kids are out of school.  Having the extended family grow up together is a big bonus for all parties but that won't last forever.

Huntsville Al.

Love where I am in in the town. Half mile to hiking/biking trails. 2 mile walk/ride to downtown restaurants/bars. A good group of friends. Housing I can afford. Lots of job opportunities for engineering. Plenty of things I enjoy doing. Family is close enough that isn't hard to visit but not so close I have to see them all the time.

Only thing I don't like is the heat during the summer (well that and somethings that aren't allowed to be discussed on the forum)

Actually Edit that. It is terrible here and absolutely no one else should move here.

I do like where I live. Schools are good and lots to do. I do not get a lot of spare time because of traffic and its expensive as all berkeley. But I love the diversity in the DC area.

I miss southern California the most even though I could barely afford it. My current cost of living is higher than it ever was in Southern California though lol. 

Northern Delaware here.

My answer is a resounding... sort of.

We specifically wanted to live in a college town, for the energy and change a younger population encourages.  We've been here almost 30 years at this point, and longer in this region for the most part.

We like being in the 'burbs, halfway between 2 major metropolitan areas and with some of the real biggies like NYC being within easy reach.

Most of our family is near enough, though DW's sister just moved 6-8 hours away.

Our house is relatively large, in decent shape, and meets our needs.

However:

The college town has been developed (largely by one person in particular) in mostly terrible ways, destroying much of the charm.

Humidity is high, and it borders on being too hot in general during the summer.

I really wish we were in a slightly different location, with more space for a flatter driveway and / or larger garage.

I wish our house was more of an open plan downstairs, but there isn't a reasonable way to make that happen.

At this point, it's probably not worth moving.

Philadelphia, PA suburbs.

I like it.  At least the little section where I live.  Fairly low taxes for the area. Ocean is about 2 hrs away on the other side of NJ. Water access is 10 min away (DE river).  Neighbors to one side and across the street are fellow car guys, so my fleet of cars isn't out of the ordinary.  Surprisingly decent area for cycling. Philadelphia proper is less than an hour drive or less via a train I can walk to.  Good hwy access to I-95 or the PATP.  One downside - schools aren't great, but I don't have kids and those schools are one reason my taxes are fairly low. I wish my lot were about 10' wider and 20' deeper, but that is not really a problem for the area itself. 

Grand Junction, CO

Definitely. Great weather, one of the sunniest places in the US, loads of outdoor opportunities, no rusty cars. Saturday I was snowshoeing through fresh powder on a frozen lake at 10,000', Sunday I was riding a bike in a t-shirt and shorts. Small enough to avoid most city problems, big enough that you don't have to leave town for amenities. It does get a little warm in the summer but like the joke says, it's a dry heat and you can always head for the mountains. No bugs :)

Cost of living is 96% of the national average, and it's mostly that high due to Californians cashing out and buying houses here. Not terribly multicultural. Politically - well, let's just say that Boebert is our representative, but only by a few hundred votes.

I've lived all over the world, never in a place I hated. There's always something to find.

Kansas......and NO, I don't want to live here. Nothing really wrong with it but I've lived other places that I liked far better (Colorado, Sandy Eggo) but I'm married now and SWMBO wants to live here, so this is where I'll be.

I do try and get out of town as often as possible just for a different POV......

SE MI.  Having just retired and plan on staying here, yes, we like it here.  The gray days in the winter suck, but other than that, it's a good place to live.  When you look deeper into the other side of the fence, and see the green grass- you start seeing the weeds that are there, too.  

I really hate the heat- so moving someplace w/o winter means miserable summers.  We have lakes that are fresh water oceans- no salt, no sharks.  The only thing we don't have are massive mountains.  Which I'm ok with.

We live in a college city, and are in a good metro area (Detroit is a lot better than most people think)- so there's plenty of things to do for urban things.

And we are just 40 min from a bunch of really nice state parks to camp in, let alone the close to 100 camping state parks we have to choose from.

Most people leave here because of cold weather.  And then complain of the hurricanes they deal with in Florida, let alone not really being able to be outside in the summer.  Or far worse tornados in the mid-south.  Or incredible heat of the south west.  Pretty much, there's no perfect place, so one just learns to deal with it.

The one place that I found had amazing environment is just north of SF- not to hot, not to cold, close to a lot of things.  But everyone wants to live there, and $1M ranch homes were a thing 20 years ago.

In reply to alfadriver :

You're not acknowledging the mosquitos :)

There are pros and cons to everywhere.

I currently live in Winston Salem, NC.  I like it a lot.  Its a small city (~250k people), but it has enough going on to be entertaining.  Lots of breweries, restaurants, etc.  A cool vibe downtown.  Busy, yet accessible.  None of the stress of going downtown in a larger city (I am originally from the DC area).  Cost of living is low, weather is varied enough to have 4 seasons, but mild.  My location specifically isn't great, but even so I can walk to a grocery store (soon to be 2), several restaurant, coffee shop, bakery, physical therapy, my eye doctor, etc.

I am considering moving, but that is because of my ex and to maintain a good relationship with her/coparent my son.  Were it 100% up to me, I would stay here longer and move closer to downtown.  It helps that I like my job here too.

i'm in the suburbs about halfway between Detroit and Ann Arbor.  Ask me in October and i'm like hell yeah.  But this is February and even though it's sunny today i'm like F this place.  Our roads suck, and i don't like winter.  I'm good with being surrounded by the worlds largest fresh water reservoirs though.

In reply to ProDarwin :

I would not be upset at all about moving back to Winston, or the greater area. Good bbq, good 4 season, mountains much closer than beach but I'm ok with that. And PB's chili dogs.

Orlando, FloriDUH

I hate it. Going anywhere takes much longer than it should with way too many angry/impatient drivers. Everything is expensive. My ac never gets more than a week off all year. My coworker asked last week where I found a house with such a large lot, 0.2 acres. 

For reasons, work being one, I'll probably stay in FL but I would love to get out of the city to somewhere with just enough land that I can reasonably be a hooligan on my own property. Maybe 10 acres. Not looking for agriculturally rural, just looking to slow life down a bit. 

Me if I moved anywhere my wife seems to want to live:

In reply to 84FSP :

You forgot the terrible roads

In reply to Error404 :

I really like Florida and want to live there one day. That said, Tampa and Orlando proper aren't on that list due to the reasons you discussed. 

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

Probably need to discount all places south of Orlando, and possibly add Jacksonville as well. 

I like it here, just wish traffic would be what it was 20 years ago. 

Sanford, Florida.

It's not perfect, but it works for my small little family–the biggest reason being that my wife and I were privileged enough to be able to buy our current house well below market value.

For better or for worse, downtown is gentrifying pretty quickly and it's a nice place to spend an afternoon. Especially because it's within walking distance.

My biggest complaint so far is that I'm sick of Florida's weather. It's just so hot so many months of the year and there are next to no changes in season. (Don't have to shovel snow or buy snow tires, though, so there's that.)