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Thanks all for your thoughts. By temperament I tend to be one of the first in the group to start feeling uncomfortable in a place, my tolerance is pretty low I would say. I'll have to reconsider whether this area would be a good fit. Cost of living and neighborliness are the two factors I'm hoping to increase via the place I move, if I do move.
In all seriousness, parts of WV are great and I have a few friends who moved from the NOVA/DC area and are loving life working remotely and having a far better QOL than dealing with grind/traffic/expenses ~90 mins away in the DMV.
Going and seeing for yourself would be the correct answer. I have been in Morgantown countless times and never felt uncomfortable. Like most places, don't go looking for trouble and it you probably won't find it.
There are countless small places in that general area too, expand your search into the Potomac Highlands and you get a more remote area, the least densely settled place on the East Coast. I live in Cumberland, MD and can see this region of WV from my back window, it is a very beautiful place. The EP is a rural/exurban area close to D.C., but still relatively peaceful and quiet.
Bugs. Well, you are moving to the East Coast. It is humid in the summer, bugs are everywhere. Gnats, bees, flies, ants, mosquitoes, ticks, hornets, ag. pets, abound. Again where you specifically live will matter as to how many bugs you run into a daily basis.
Going and seeing for yourself would be the correct answer. I have been in Morgantown countless times and never felt uncomfortable. Like most places, don't go looking for trouble and it you probably won't find it.
My biggest concern would be winding up in a bad area or running into unsavory individuals when I'm out by myself camping, hunting or whatever. Also I have some concerns about smash-and-grabs, not sure how common it is to have vehicles broken into at trailheads and so forth.
As someone who moved from Oakland, CA and literally saw smash and grabs on a near daily basis (let alone several armed car-jackings in broad daylight) before moving to a sleepy suburb south of Seattle, I was a little disappointed to find out that WA actually ranks in the top 3 of states for auto thefts, but they're not happening anywhere near me, thankfully. FWIW, my brother lived in Boise for close to 6 years, and he never had any issues with crime, and a lot of people he knew that grew up there would leave their houses and cars unlocked. Living in Oakland for ~15 years, I still have a habit of locking doors instinctively, even when there's zero risk, and I suppose I always will.
You can always look up crime maps by zip code and see which areas are dark green (safe) vs dark red (sketchy). That's exactly what we did when we went house hunting, and it's been a much calmer existence. We still have security cameras all over our property for peace of mind and to act as a deterrent, but 2024 is a different world now and crime feels much more visible. Typically any downtown area will have lots of red, along with retail corridors, so if you see a place that's surrounded by green, you're likely going to be fine. Red doesn't necessarily mean you're going to inevitably a victim-- it just means that crime does happen, and it could be things like shop lifting, prostitution, public intoxication, etc that won't really have an impact on you.
As someone who moved from Oakland, CA and literally saw smash and grabs on a near daily basis (let alone several armed car-jackings in broad daylight) before moving to a sleepy suburb south of Seattle, I was a little disappointed to find out that WA actually ranks in the top 3 of states for auto thefts, but they're not happening anywhere near me, thankfully. FWIW, my brother lived in Boise for close to 6 years, and he never had any issues with crime, and a lot of people he knew that grew up there would leave their houses and cars unlocked. Living in Oakland for ~15 years, I still have a habit of locking doors instinctively, even when there's zero risk, and I suppose I always will.
You can always look up crime maps by zip code and see which areas are dark green (safe) vs dark red (sketchy). That's exactly what we did when we went house hunting, and it's been a much calmer existence. We still have security cameras all over our property for peace of mind and to act as a deterrent, but 2024 is a different world now and crime feels much more visible. Typically any downtown area will have lots of red, along with retail corridors, so if you see a place that's surrounded by green, you're likely going to be fine. Red doesn't necessarily mean you're going to inevitably a victim-- it just means that crime does happen, and it could be things like shop lifting, prostitution, public intoxication, etc that won't really have an impact on you.
My biggest concern would be winding up in a bad area or running into unsavory individuals when I'm out by myself camping, hunting or whatever.Also I have some concerns about smash-and-grabs, not sure how common it is to have vehicles broken into at trailheads and so forth.
I’ve lived in WV my entire life and enjoy camping and hiking. I don’t hunt, but several of my friends and family members do. I’ve never once heard of this happening while someone is out enjoying nature in WV. You face a bigger threat from snakes and other wildlife in our woods than you do people.
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I’ve lived in WV my entire life and enjoy camping and hiking. I don’t hunt, but several of my friends and family members do. I’ve never once heard of this happening while someone is out enjoying nature in WV. You face a bigger threat from snakes and other wildlife in our woods than you do people.
My biggest concern would be winding up in a bad area or running into unsavory individuals when I'm out by myself camping, hunting or whatever. Also I have some concerns about smash-and-grabs, not sure how common it is to have vehicles broken into at trailheads and so forth.
When we lived in WV we camped and hiked A LOT. Boy Scouts, family trips. Only one time did I find a place that was sort of 'sketchy' but that's it. In most cases there were hardly any other campers or people around. Smoke Hole, Seneca Creek, Mon Forest- it was like you had the whole place to yourselves. Blackwater Falls was by far the most 'crowded' but it was definitely a family oriented crowd. When my kids were younger they loved the nature center and the easy hiking trails.
By far Montana has more crowding, especially at the National Parks. We don't even go during tourist season any longer. We stick to the national forests or other tucked away gems.
Personally, I find the people in Montana to be standoffish and kind of weird, tbh. Idahoans are much friendlier-- especially if you don't volunteer the fact that you've ever lived in California . Idaho has a fairly large LDS presence, so at least on a superficial level, you get a generally friendly vibe. Idaho has absolutely gotten to be much less affordable over the last 4-5 years, but places like Bozeman, Whitefish, Missoula, etc have real affordability issues and I think a lot of hostility towards 'outsiders' comes from the fact that so many people have either been priced out, OR they are local to the area and finding it impossible to stay.
As someone born in the Carolinas, with plenty of family still living there and all over Cajun country Louisiana, I don't think the people in West Virginia are bad/rude/whatever Appalachian stereotype people throw out. But the state does have some serious issues (again, opioids and meth are major, major issues along with environmental pollution and decaying mining towns) and it tends to rank at the very bottom of QOL lists on an annual basis. If you drive around the state it's not difficult to figure out why.
Morgantown at this point is a far flung exurb of Pittsburgh and doesn't have the same issues as other parts of the state, but it's still a college town that I don't think holds a candle to what Boise has on offer. YMMV.
Morgantown is in no way another "exurb" OF Pittsburgh lol.
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. Idaho has a fairly large LDS presence, so at least on a superficial level, you get a generally friendly vibe. Idaho has absolutely gotten to be much less affordable over the last 4-5 years, but places like Bozeman, Whitefish, Missoula, etc have real affordability issues and I think a lot of hostility towards 'outsiders' comes from the fact that so many people have either been priced out, OR they are local to the area and finding it impossible to stay. 
