What career? Where's a good place to live?

Well, crap. Big layoffs at my company (healthcare). It's been 20 years since I've been out of work. We were just about to build a new house . Our house is ready to sell and I've had it with Illinois taxes and government shenanigans. I've been thinking of doing consulting or interim gigs. I like healthcare (have a master's in healthcare administration) so I'll probably stick with it - but who knows. Open to moving about anywhere except the northeast US and not a fan of California - just seems to rub this farm boy the wrong way. Where's a good place to live? Good quality of life, access to a good airport, decent internet. Thoughts?

How do you define quality of life? Cost of living? Access to certain things? Suburbia? Urban? Ultra-rural?

I really like this area of NC, although we are about 1.5 hours from a large airport. My wife works in healthcare admin. But our government shenanigans here are pretty nuts lately as you've no doubt seen in the news.

We got out of IL and moved to the MS gulf coast - similar overall cost of living to rural IL, but much nicer in all regards.

Not sure if your experience in healthcare would transfer into the insurance industry, but I'm coming up on 4-years here after a major career change & really like it. We're also an employee-owned company, which makes a huge difference.

Lots of healthcare jobs in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Maybe even a better choice would be Rochester (home of the Mayo Clinic.) They are planning on billions of dollars in expansion over the next couple decades, and you can live in the country and still be only 20 minutes away from work. Having grown up there, it's a beautiful part of the country.

Nashville has a fairly large healthcare market. The area has a very low cost of living and housing costs are low. Weather is pretty pleasant, a little humid in the summer, but has mild winters.

Nashville International can get busy, but for the most part is pretty smooth to travel out of and is a Southwest hub so flights with them are cheap.

You being a farmboy will fit right in.

MSP has united health care and is cheaper than Chicago.

Charlotte is a great place but getting sparwly.

I have some ins at providence health cares innovation division in Seattle. Seattle is a great place but just getting very eexpensive for home buying now. But the salaries are good. I do like the area and access to the wilderness.

University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor?

stuart in mn wrote: Lots of healthcare jobs in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Maybe even a better choice would be Rochester (home of the Mayo Clinic.) They are planning on billions of dollars in expansion over the next couple decades, and you can live in the country and still be only 20 minutes away from work. Having grown up there, it's a beautiful part of the country.

Then there is the super duper fast internet that one company is offering around most of the metro area these days.. fiber optic cables right to your house.. supposedly the fastest in the country..

t25torx wrote: Nashville has a fairly large healthcare market. The area has a very low cost of living and housing costs are low. Weather is pretty pleasant, a little humid in the summer, but has mild winters. Nashville International can get busy, but for the most part is pretty smooth to travel out of and is a Southwest hub so flights with them are cheap. You being a farmboy will fit right in.

I'm in Nashville and healthcare is very big here....also travel a lot for work and BNA is a great little airport and easy to get in and out of. I have TSA pre, so even when it's busy I tend to breeze on through, so that's well worth the $80 for 5 years. Basically I agree with everything t25torx says. Also housing is not outrageous...especially if you don't mind a bit of a commute.

Also our DMV tends to be pretty relaxed.....especially compared to NC.

Kenosha - closer to Road America than you are now.

Having lived in CA's Inland Empire, inland CA shares a lot, culturally, with any other rural part of the country. Except for muddin' trucks. Not a lot of mud there, so they have prerunners instead. Taxes are killer, though.

I still dream about the roads. Those deserted, lightly policed, endlessly curvy back roads.

In reply to oldtin:

I believe Epic Healthcare is in Madison WI. Short trip, and Madison is a hell of a nice city.

Carolina research triangle. I'd suggest Baltimore/DC as I'm a walking testiment to the health care here (hopkins, university of maryland) but that's probably too north east. What about Houston or round rock? Atlanta is another to consider.

The Portland metro area (Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Vancouver, Gresham) in Oregon would likely suit your criteria.

Great airport (consistently rated as one of the best in the nation)

No sales tax, great food culture (and beer if you're into that) very mild weather with lots of outdoor stuff to do (the coast is two hours away, the mountains are two hours away for example).

Great race tracks in the area, plus California and Washington tracks are a day's drive or so. There's even a new one going in at Vancouver Island in BC, Canada.

Cars generally don't degrade as badly here, so we've got a bunch of great old iron available.

Emissions testing isn't a big deal and registering a kit or home built car isn't a huge deal either.

Commuting does suck, the freeways are too small, but many people take mass transit, bike, etc. if they work in the downtown core.

CenturyLink has Fiber available to quite a large area. Comcast does as well. So gigabit internet is possible for a reasonable price.

As for work, OHSU is here along with some of their research facilities, there's also Providence, Adventist, PeaceHealth, Legacy, Kaiser and several reasonably large clinic groups (The Vancouver Clinic, The Portland Clinic for example).

Come on out and check out the area.

Uhhhh... EASY BUTTON... Boom Florida

Huge Healthcare industry, great weather, no state income tax, you can register and drive anything, The Challenge, all things GRM.

Your welcome

paranoid_android74 wrote: University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor?

As someone who has many friends who work there, and plans on working there in the near future, I'll say this:

Ann Arbor is seriously expensive. Like $/square foot of housing is 3x the nice suburban city I live in near Detroit. Pay is no better, but benefits are great.

To the OP: I really enjoyed Portland and Seattle when I visited. I'd stay in Healthcare.

bastomatic wrote:

paranoid_android74 wrote: University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor?

As someone who has many friends who work there, and plans on working there in the near future, I'll say this: Ann Arbor is seriously expensive. Like $/square foot of housing is 3x the nice suburban city I live in near Detroit. Pay is no better, but benefits are great. To the OP: I really enjoyed Portland and Seattle when I visited. I'd stay in Healthcare.

If I were working at UofM I'd live outside Ann Arbor. Just commute from Chelsea. My son bought a nice 3 bedroom place there for $180K and he works in AA.

Appleton/Green Bay area has lots of healthcare companies and Appleton is quite nice. Green Bay is a bit more blue collar but living in one and commuting to the other is easy. I do it.

Madison is a very nice town too and the UW Hospital is there.

Healthcare seems like one of those fields where you'll be able to land on your feet just about anywhere. If you like Illinois, but want to leave the high taxes, poor economy, and "Chicago" politics behind I'd suggest moving 1 state to the East.

RTP (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina - Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) is the easy button for you, I think. Big pharma located there along with smaller healthcare focused companies and two major university health systems, warm climate, 12 months of motorsports, VIR two hours away. Specifically, what in healthcare are you looking to do? I may have an in with a former employer.

Cotton wrote:

t25torx wrote: Nashville has a fairly large healthcare market. The area has a very low cost of living and housing costs are low. Weather is pretty pleasant, a little humid in the summer, but has mild winters. Nashville International can get busy, but for the most part is pretty smooth to travel out of and is a Southwest hub so flights with them are cheap. You being a farmboy will fit right in.

I'm in Nashville and healthcare is very big here....also travel a lot for work and BNA is a great little airport and easy to get in and out of. I have TSA pre, so even when it's busy I tend to breeze on through, so that's well worth the $80 for 5 years. Basically I agree with everything t25torx says. Also housing is not outrageous...especially if you don't mind a bit of a commute. Also our DMV tends to be pretty relaxed.....especially compared to NC.

Oh yeah I forgot to say ( guess I take it for granted) NO STATE INCOME TAX! I suppose that gets offset a little by the 9.25% sales tax. And cheap car and house insurance rates.

And yeah you could title a shoebox with a 2 stroke in some of the outlying counties like Robertson or Cheatam and the DMV could care less.

Have you ever visited Central Kentucky? Prettiest area you'll ever see, housing is pretty reasonable, nice size metro area without being too much. UK is our flagship hospital but there are about a dozen in less than an hour of downtown Lexington.

Within a two hour drive we have Red River Gorge (hiking/climbing/biking), Cincinnati, Louisville, Bowling Green (NCM), and several big lakes.

Of course there is Keeneland, bourbon, horses, basketball..... Low utility bills and taxes. Easy DMV and no vehicle inspections.

Southern Indiana isn't too bad, though I'm not sure about the healthcare market. Decent roads, not too crowded, close enough to Louisville, Cinci, and Indy, no inspections or real restrictions on cars. I have a plated 2 stroke dirt bike and they didn't even give it a second glance. Cost of living is pretty low as well.

DeadSkunk wrote: If I were working at UofM I'd live outside Ann Arbor. Just commute from Chelsea. My son bought a nice 3 bedroom place there for $180K and he works in AA.

As I understand it, commuting by car to UofM hospital is a royal pain. For example, from Chelsea to the hospital's off-site parking lot it's a 30+ minute commute. Then you wait for a bus to pick you up to take you in to the hospital area. Then walk from the dropoff to your work site. Count on an hour total.

I plan on living within a bike commute or commuting via Bus from a suburb.

(I live in Chicago, parents are in Libertyville and both are in Healthcare)

My dad has been close to jumping the boarder to Czechoslovakia a couple times. I think once to Sheboygan, and the others in Milwaukee. Not sure if he would have been jumping industries as well. I myself am trying to convince my wife that Wisconsin is the place for us. If it weren't for her parents, we'd probably already be there as she is mostly on board with it other than that.

Otherwise, I'd be looking in Lousiville, Nashville, or somewhere in Florida. I figure there has to be a ton of healthcare in Florida, but don't actually know.