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I've looked at this place before, I really liked the look of it but the cost of living was a bit higher than I hoped for. Though nowadays that doesn't seem to matter much.
Ithaca came to mind right away. It is only an hour from Syracuse, if that. While Syracuse isn’t huge, it is the 5th biggest city in NY State and a top 100 metro area in terms of population. On a side note, if open to Syracuse, the Eastwood neighborhood has a couple of bookstores, a couple of cafes, a theater with some events and solid bus coverage on James Street(it’s Main Street), among other things: https://www.eastwoodneighbor.com/
Westcott east of Syracuse University also has a somewhat crunchy/artsy feel to it: https://westcottsyr.com/
There’s also Downtown: https://downtownsyracuse.com/
Good sources for information about the city/area Art scene: https://www.syracusearts.net/default.cfm https://cnyarts.org/
Rochester which is a metro of over 1 million people is about an hour and a half. So, it isn’t too far either and if interested, it’s SE Quadrant, SouthWedge, Monroe Village, Park Avenue and NOTA(Neighborhood of the Arts) in particular, would be a good fit.
Both of these NY areas have a low natural disaster risk as well.
Burlington is about an hour and a half from Montreal. So, that may be something to consider.
I would also look into Ann Arbor and East Lansing MI(Old Town and REO Town in Lansing, with the Michigan Avenue corridor puts you in between both Downtown Lansing & Downtown East Lansing). Detroit isn’t too far far from either area as well.
Oh, okay see I don't mind this why aren't maps showing me this? Thanks I'll do some research into this.
Don’t know if Providence would be too big for you, but it checks a lot of the boxes!
I was set on Providence for months and then I met someone from there and well I don't remember word for word what they said, but after telling them I was thinking of moving there they told me why they had left and why they hated it so much and convinced me not too.
It had a lot to do with city infrastructure, apparently high crime rate, and terrible traffic.
1. Northampton, MA: 4-seasons, great downtown, extremely liberal, lively intellectual/cafe culture, public transit (bus); downside is that its 2 hours from Boston and 3-4 hours from NYC, so not within an hour of large cities, though Springfield & Hartford fall within that range
2. New Hope, PA: see above, but it's less 'intellectual' than the Pioneer Valley of MA (though still quite liberal), but the tradeoff is that it's within an hour of Philly (and 1.5-2 hours from NYC)
3. Lancaster, PA: great downtown, somewhat liberal city (in a swing state), not sure about public transit; within 1.5 hours of Philly
You didn't specify a budget, so if money isn't an issue, these fall within major metro areas but are small town'ish (with downtowns) and would fit the bill:
Concord, MA
Newburyport, MA
Huntington, NY
Nyack, NY
Princeton, NJ
Less familiar with small towns outside of the Northeast and TX (don't think there's much in TX tbh, as you likely already know), so will leave those to others.
I've looked at Northampton a lot, seems great, just concerned about cost. Money is definitely an issue. Currently I work as a preschool teacher and make 25K a year. I don't plan to stay in education, and I don't expect to be that well off, I'd be happy making 50K a year.
A few cities that have been on my list if I was able to push my job to remote:
- Savannah, GA. Fairly liberal, gorgeous walkable downtown; lots of live music; close to the water; biggest downsides are that it's super touristy and 2 hours from either Charleston or Jacksonville.
-Portland, Maine. Great food scene, an hour and a half from Boston by car or 2 hours by bus or train, also close to Portsmouth, NH.
- Providence, RI. Close to Boston but way more affordable, great food scene, lots of culture, close to the coast.
- Pittsburgh, PA. Not exactly "small" but I haven't seen it mentioned, and it's well worth a consideration. You get a lot of the benefits of a bigger city but it's much more affordable.
- Athens, GA. An hour out of Atlanta and a great downtown and music scene. You have to put up with UGA traffic and sports/drinking culture more than you might want, but that's from the perspective of someone who didn't want that college environment, not someone who lived there.
- Look at Asheville again. Sure, it's a little out there but it doesn't feel isolated. You're an hour from Greenville, SC and 2 hours from Charlotte or Knoxville. Same with Ithaca, though where Ithaca falls down is in the airport department. It's not far from Syracuse or Rochester, though they themselves are more medium cities that have seen better days. In either case, there's no lack of things to do in town or within an hour or two of the city.
I have an English degree, probably getting my Masters, and hoping to work in books/writing/theatre. Editing. Proofreading. Literary agency. Currently I work as a teacher. I don't like it.
I have an English degree, probably getting my Masters, and hoping to work in books/writing/theatre. Editing. Proofreading. Literary agency. Currently I work as a teacher. I don't like it.
Does Ithaca not have an airport?
Ithaca has a teeny tiny airport that only has direct flights to Newark and NYC. My partner went to Cornell and it was more common for his friends to fly into Syracuse because there was a higher likelihood of a direct flight from other parts of the country. Syracuse isn't a huge airport, but there are direct flights to most of the east coast as well as Chicago, Dallas, Denver and Las Vegas. Not the end of the world, but it's nice to have options!
About Fresno: it's not close to water, the Central Valley is very hot and dry. It's also not close to any larger cities --- the OP could live in Clovis and have Fresno as the major city, but Clovis isn't really liberal or walkable AFAIK.
Reno could work, though. Similar size to Fresno (in terms of how it feels) but does get 4 seasons and has Tahoe 50 minutes away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ceresc21
Eugene is also a place I've often looked at, but I've heard it tends to lean conservative.
Not at all. I live in Washington and Eugene is more progressive than any of our college towns. To give you an idea, they were considering putting in a light rail system (the plans fell through), despite being a city of only 150k. There are multiple vegetarian/vegan restaurants in town, and biking is huge. Eugene would be a solid choice for your criteria except that it's 2.5 hours from Portland.
About Fresno: it's not close to water, the Central Valley is very hot and dry. It's also not close to any larger cities --- the OP could live in Clovis and have Fresno as the major city, but Clovis isn't really liberal or walkable AFAIK.
Reno could work, though. Similar size to Fresno (in terms of how it feels) but does get 4 seasons and has Tahoe 50 minutes away.
Not at all. I live in Washington and Eugene is more progressive than any of our college towns. To give you an idea, they were considering putting in a light rail system (the plans fell through), despite being a city of only 150k. There are multiple vegetarian/vegan restaurants in town, and biking is huge. Eugene would be a solid choice for your criteria except that it's 2.5 hours from Portland.
Not to be the party pooper but Eugene and some cities in Washington State are over run with non-benevolent homeless people. A new city is wonderful until you have to grapple wrestle a methhead trying to break into your garage or apartment.
I'm not trying to be cruel but I currently deal with addicts as part of my job and no scam is too low for them to try. Anyone just getting by should relocate to a place where they aren't tasked with having to chase transients away from their houses or vehicles.
I've looked at Northampton a lot, seems great, just concerned about cost. Money is definitely an issue. Currently I work as a preschool teacher and make 25K a year. I don't plan to stay in education, and I don't expect to be that well off, I'd be happy making 50K a year.
If that's your budget, then Ann Arbor is probably out of reach. Lansing is more affordable.
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