Realistic expectations-Looking for a "good" small city (rent, job outlook)
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Hi-
There is so much wonderful information on this board it makes me dizzy.
From what I see, there is no perfect place to live so I am looking for a "nice" place for my GF and I to settle.
Us:
Young, very active, application developers, cats-no children.
Currently living:
Upstate NY, Pop 40,000 or so. Fully employed with 3yrs exp. for me and 8yrs for her doing application development. We have a small house. The weather here is dismal.
Would like :
1) A "Nice" small city which is practical and livable. It Doesn't have to be stunning.
2) "Good" outdoor activity friendly weather. Not too humid-hot, minimal rain, mild winters, no snow even better!
3) Access to tennis courts (lit and/or affordable indoor), mountain biking, parks etc;
4) Decent employment outlook for computer professionals.
5) Sane commuting.
6) On the liberal/cultured side.
7) Affordable rent and housing.
Upstate has great people but the weather and job outlook is the pitts.
We are both realistic and realize that no place is perfect. We would like to upgrade to an area that is a better fit.
Thanks in advance!
Ken
Hi-
There is so much wonderful information on this board it makes me dizzy.
From what I see, there is no perfect place to live so I am looking for a "nice" place for my GF and I to settle.
Us:
Young, very active, application developers, cats-no children.
Currently living:
Upstate NY, Pop 40,000 or so. Fully employed with 3yrs exp. for me and 8yrs for her doing application development. We have a small house. The weather here is dismal.
Would like :
1) A "Nice" small city which is practical and livable. It Doesn't have to be stunning.
2) "Good" outdoor activity friendly weather. Not too humid-hot, minimal rain, mild winters, no snow even better!
3) Access to tennis courts (lit and/or affordable indoor), mountain biking, parks etc;
4) Decent employment outlook for computer professionals.
5) Sane commuting.
6) On the liberal/cultured side.
7) Affordable rent and housing.
Upstate has great people but the weather and job outlook is the pitts.
We are both realistic and realize that no place is perfect. We would like to upgrade to an area that is a better fit.
Thanks in advance!
Ken
Hi-
Thanks for the feedback. The unemployment rate for Binghamton is deceiving. The numbers are padded with tons of service oriented jobs that barely pay minimum wage. The number of tech positions available are sparse to none.
I currently work in Ithaca and commute 100+ miles a day.
As a side note, Ithaca is nice but the weather is worse than Binghamton
Amherst, MA is nice, if you can land a job in Springfield, or even UMASS, same size as your NY city about 37,000, but quieter in the summer when roughly 31,000 college students go home.
Hi-
There is so much wonderful information on this board it makes me dizzy.
From what I see, there is no perfect place to live so I am looking for a "nice" place for my GF and I to settle.
Us:
Young, very active, application developers, cats-no children.
Currently living:
Upstate NY, Pop 40,000 or so. Fully employed with 3yrs exp. for me and 8yrs for her doing application development. We have a small house. The weather here is dismal.
Would like :
1) A "Nice" small city which is practical and livable. It Doesn't have to be stunning.
2) "Good" outdoor activity friendly weather. Not too humid-hot, minimal rain, mild winters, no snow even better!
3) Access to tennis courts (lit and/or affordable indoor), mountain biking, parks etc;
4) Decent employment outlook for computer professionals.
5) Sane commuting.
6) On the liberal/cultured side.
7) Affordable rent and housing.
Upstate has great people but the weather and job outlook is the pitts.
We are both realistic and realize that no place is perfect. We would like to upgrade to an area that is a better fit.
Thanks in advance!
Ken
I would suggest Lafayette, LA.
Very practical and liveable by all means, does get pretty humid and hot, mild winters and no snow (maybe once a year), not sure about tennis courts because I don't play, I believe there are many parks, but no mountains unfortunately, there is an emerging tech industry, especially with the university being there, traffic can get bad but is not dreadful even for a small city, very very extremely cultured, wouldn't say liberal but with a large student population, it isn't overly conservative, and housing is well priced as far as I know.
Cannot express the culture enough, if you've ever heard of Cajuns, they are from Lafayette and surrounding towns only.
The LA humidity would be a killer but Ill give it a look. Thanks for the info on Amherst. It would be nice to get away from cold winters though. My GF and I are really into warm weather activities. I read somewhere Sacramento Ca. wasn't too bad.
Hi-
Thanks for the feedback. The unemployment rate for Binghamton is deceiving. The numbers are padded with tons of service oriented jobs that barely pay minimum wage. The number of tech positions available are sparse to none.
I currently work in Ithaca and commute 100+ miles a day.
As a side note, Ithaca is nice but the weather is worse than Binghamton
Worse in what way?
As for Binghamton, I'd think the colleges, hospitals and a handful of companies(I.e.- BAE and Endicott Interconnect) is where some people work too.
The LA humidity would be a killer but Ill give it a look. Thanks for the info on Amherst. It would be nice to get away from cold winters though. My GF and I are really into warm weather activities. I read somewhere Sacramento Ca. wasn't too bad.
The LA humidity would be a killer but Ill give it a look. Thanks for the info on Amherst. It would be nice to get away from cold winters though. My GF and I are really into warm weather activities. I read somewhere Sacramento Ca. wasn't too bad.
You really should look into Sacramento. It's not small, but depending on what neighborhood you live in and if your commute is short it feels smaller.
Also, Look into DAVIS, CA. College town 10 miles from downtown SAC. (COL is higher though).
DAVIS is on the Capitol Corridor Train Route that connects Sacramento with the Bay Area. (15-20 trains a day; either direction)
Look at the thread a few below this one: "Vibrant, International....."
and another thread several below under "wanting to move..."
I posted several entries in both.
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