So the work I do is 100% remote now. I moved to Southern California because of an industry that has in part moved to remote work. My only requirements are a temperate climate, nature access and hopefully a blue-ish state. Is there a place out there that makes sense financially? I’m hoping to buy a house less then 500k. I don’t need access to large cities as I honestly don’t do anything. The only requirement I can think of is access to solid internet as I stream full screen video for what I do.
I’m currently looking at Michigan and Virginia as options.
Nothing to add, but this is a wildly distopian thread.
Yeah imagine reading this post like 30 years ago
It’s the world we live in sadly
fwiw you should probably add walkability and public transport to that list, it’s one of the most significant improvements you can make to your general physical and mental health, as well as saving a disgusting amount of money on not needing a car to buy groceries.
I would agree from an outdoors perspective but there’s no part of those states that really fit “blueish”. I keep hoping as a neighborhood state, but Wyoming continues to disappoint as does Montana.
It sounds like you want to move to Oregon or Washington. They have way better climates than Michigan.
Oregon is blue, but mostly in the cities where home prices and cost of living are both high. Moving away from the cities give better affordability, but it turns red quickly. So pick your poison.
That’s true anywhere in the country though. Not a lot of blue rednecks.
How “temperate” are we talking here? Michigan will for sure have actual winter. Is temperate comparable to SoCal, or just not absolutely miserable winters?
Come to Manitoba lmao
Saskatchewan and Manitoba 😭
Awwwww hell naw. Pretty sure everyone there is suicidal and desperately trying to escape. Not to mention that 98% of the population is all concentrated in Winnipeg since the rest is an Arctic tundra and impenetrable pine forests.
When you’re looking at Virginia keep in mind that Northern Virginia is what makes Virginia blue. Most of Virginia is purple or red especially the farther you get from DC.
I’ve been thinking of Puerto Rico.
power goes out 12 times a week, water’s on for only 5 hours a week, internet drops out every 2 hours, (only alternate option is musky), no cops, no fire dept, no schools, trash is just piled up with no plan whatsoever, no public transit, more superfund sites per sq mile than any state, more taxes than in the USA, … hurricanes, earthquakes and narcos.
if you knew all that, why would you choose Puerto Rico?
power goes out 12 times a week, water’s on for only 5 hours a week, internet drops out every 2 hours, (only alternate option is musky),
I visited for 2 months the only one of these I experienced was the internet going out once.
no cops, no fire dept, no schools
That’s just not true at all.
trash is just piled up with no plan whatsoever,
I’m from NYC, so I guess I’m just used to trash.
no public transit
That’s true, but apartments in the middle of the city are so cheap that most things were within walking distance for me.
more superfund sites per sq mile than any state,
I’ve never looked at this when deciding where to live, but I just looked it up and there are way more within 50 miles of me than there are in all of Puerto Rico.
more taxes than in the USA
Still way cheaper cost of living than where I live.
hurricanes, earthquakes and narcos.
Those are the only things you mentioned that are an actual concern to me. Since I work remotely, I’d have the luxury of leaving temporary if there was a massive natural disaster.
Why?
Mostly all the natural beauty and the low cost of living.
I visited for a few months and loved it.
Thanks
I know you said the US but have you considered moving abroad? If you want a similar timezone to the States, Mexico and Chile have pretty easy immigration programs you should be able to qualify for without much effort… The crime rate in Chile is about the same as Canada IIRC. I left the US in 2017 and I honestly could not imagine coming back at this point.
If you’re looking at Michigan I would also consider Minnesota. They have voted blue for the most presidential in a row and this last session with democratic majority has made huge gains. Michigan and Minnesota are showing what Midwestern values really mean.
The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul are quite large together so you can get most amenities including one of every major sport league. Housing is no longer cheap within the cities because people from out of state are coming back to buy them. But there’s tons of jobs and fortune 500 companies headquartered here.
Greater Minnesota has lots of smaller cities as well. Rochester, Brainard or Duluth all got their charms. Duluth has been listed as best city in the nation for it’s cheaper coat of living with good job opportunities. Duluth gets real bad winters so get prepared for it. But it’s better to be too cold than too hot
One of the other interesting twin cities facts is that we have a very large theater scene, one of the biggest in the nation outside NYC.
Depending how adventurous you feel MX is an awesome place.
Been there, it’s but definitely on the cold side, no? Honestly I view this place as where I will die so I need as much info as possible
I can’t recommend Kentucky enough. It ain’t blue, but it meets your other criteria. House prices are very reasonable. We live just outside Fort Knox and when the Army is done with my wife we’re moving back
What do you like about it so much? I’ve never lived in a place I wanted to live in. All my choices have been because of family or career. I really just don’t want be be too hot (Southern California here) or have to carry inflated prices because I live near ‘all this cool shit’ that I couldn’t care less about.
It’s beautiful.
From where we live a bunch of interesting places are within an easy drive. Nashville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati are all three hours or less away.
The people are mostly kind and mostly polite.
The cost of living is relatively low.
The pace of life feels slower.
I second Kentucky. Wife is from there, and we are looking to move back there somewhere around Lexington or Louisville because it is extremely affordable and still a nice city.
Wha… what exactly are they doing to her??
I laughed.
They’re working her too hard and paint her too little. In seven years she’ll be at 30 years and it will be time to be done.
north of Sacramento and south of Seattle… for that price you’ll have to be inland a few miles.
Would you say that’s a bit cold year round? What are the summers like?
North of Sacramento? Not cold at all, and there are lots of great places to get out in nature. I can’t speak to Seattle much, it will get colder than Sacramento but the nature is probably even better. Summer near Sac can be very warm and get over 100, but that’s becoming more common more places
I’ll check it out, thanks!
South of Seattle (South King or North Pierce counties, or even further south, closer to Olympia) gets occasional snow in the winter, and occasional 100+ degree days in the summer. Summer is gorgeous FTMP, with temps around 75-80 most days. Oct-Mar can be rough if you’re prone to seasonal depression, from the lack of sunshine. Plan to vacation somewhere sunny for a week some time in January or February, and you’ll do better.
I will say this specific area is pretty rural and red, vs the city centers closer to Seattle and Tacoma.
Michigan gets frigid winters, doesn’t it?
Michigan definitely gets cold if you’re north. Places like Holland, MI seem a bit warmer
Shitload of snow too though, but that is all of Michigan
I don’t mind a bit of snow, especially considering I don’t commute or go anywhere
Lol it can be a lot some times but if you’re working from home you kinda get to choose to go out in it so not nearly as painful. Michigan is awesome.
If you don’t mind the snow, I can strongly recommend south east Michigan. I love it here. You could get a nice home with a large yard, especially if you go a little more rural. You are also likely going to be within an hour of DTW airport, which is a delta hub so you can fly to a lot of places direct.
Take a look at Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Ferndale.
Thanks! Really feeling Michigan as an option
Give it 10 years. With climate change we may be in the 50s and 60s all winter long.
Sad state of affairs for the world unfortunately have guided my choices in this matter
I will say this specific area is pretty rural and red
That’s really farther South or East, really. Olympia is largely “progressive” (of the rich, slightly out of touch, white liberal variety) and that attitude extends to the city suburbs. The only area where that might not be as true is Lacey, which has way more of the JBLM population living there.
Speaking of which, because of JBLM and basically daily accidents on I-5, going anywhere North from the Olympia area is a fucking crapshoot. An accident can shut down I-5 for hours and because of the nature of the area, there’s not a lot of side-roads to offload traffic onto, I-5 is really the main thoroughfare. It’s not as bad going south because there’s less traffic going south, so fewer accidents. But if you want to visit a friend on Tacoma, or catch a flight out of SeaTac, or see a show in Seattle… you pretty much have to add a guesstimated 2-3 hours of travel time depending on how far north you’re going based on how long traffic could be backed up if there’s a severe accident.
The frequency of accidents honestly keeps me off of I-5 because holy fucking shit. I don’t want one of those accidents to involve me. A lot of them are real bad.
Yeah, I was thinking of areas like Enumclaw, Bonney Lake, and Puyallup. You can definitely get a (smaller) house for under 500k in those areas, but I’m not sure if it quite fits OP’s political preference.
but I’m not sure if it quite fits OP’s political preference.
I’m not even sure you could peg a political line on this area other than “meth.” Also, for whatever reason, I always think of them as far southeast of Tacoma.
Although, it can be argued if you want the political climate of those areas to change, people with different politics need to move there.
However, I think that whole area is experiencing a huge influx of remote workers as well, as it is. Rents have been rising all over.
Eureka is quite nice.
CA north of SAC is definitely not “blue-ish” in the slightest. Towns like Yreka are basically de-industrialized, the locals blame “environmentalists” for that, and now Siskiyou County goes like 70% Trump.
Also, Redding is an absolute shithole.
south of Seattle
Dear god please no. I’ve been here in “South of Seattle” for a good portion of my life, and due to the influx of remote workers, I’m being priced out. Restaurants are shutting down because the workers can’t afford to live in the city anymore.
I know that’s not the fault of the remote workers, it’s the fault of a capitalist system that refuses to budge on pay for work that just a few years ago was deemed “essential” and these people were expected to brave a deadly pandemic to keep things running but are now back to being treated as disposable and replaceable. They’re pretty over it, and many of them are giving up on cities like this because of it.
A little while ago, I read an argument that Traverse City, MI will be the next Portland. I think that’s right. There’s a lot of outdooring within a day drive, and it’s pretty affordable.
Your main downsides are summer wildfire smoke will presumably be a regular thing going forward, and winters are cold with lots of snow thanks to lake effect. Michigan politics are interesting, and Traverse City is in a historically red part of the state - but I think that’s changing.
500k will definitely get you a good house unless you want something extremely new or right downtown. That particular listing is also one block away from one of my favorite breweries of all time.
Ironically my wife mentioned Traverse. We’re thinking of a lake house situation and I like the Michigan weather with climate change in mind. Thanks!
If you go with this option and haven’t lived in a cold climate before, do your research! A lot of the lake towns up there clear out during the winter because it can be pretty rough. That also means a fair amount of property maintenance every Spring (weather damage etc). If you’re new there will be a bit of a learning curve (taking in docks, potentially a septic tank, etc). I would seriously consider visiting in the winter before you commit, and also looking up when spring typically kicks in (they have long winters).
It is gorgeous and would be a lovely environment to sit on your computer.
I would not say the area feels blue even though parts are— you’ll see more trump signs than in socal (still for some reason), and fishing, beer, and hunting are quite common hobbies which makes it feel a bit like living in a southern state imo. (I’ve lived in the east, west, Midwest, and south—can’t speak to southwest or northwest). I actually think I’d choose Minneapolis suburbs if I was in your boat and didn’t mind winter.
Why Minneapolis? The house upkeep is a great tip, wasn’t thinking about that. We don’t need much, maybe 1500-2000 sq ft 3 bedrooms. I’ve always liked the idea of living on a lake. I’ve been in NJ, FL and Southern CA, so hoping for something different for the last stretch of life
Are you older? My parents moved near Traverse City to retire, since my family has done summer vacations up there for 70+ years. The year-round population in Leelanau and Grand Traverse counties now skews heavily older due to all the retirees, and also due to gentrification pricing a lot of families out.
This has mixed effects on health care in particular. On one side, a higher proportion of medical professionals work every day with the specific problems of an older population, and there are lots of relevant specialists. On the other side, availability of primary care can be difficult.
Connecticut is always good. An hour to the shore, close to Boston and NYC. Bradley is a great airport and there are lots of remote jobs if yours doesn’t work out long term. Plus the best pizza in the world.
Italy has angrily entered the chat.
