Is there a part of the country you wouldn't move to because of the stereotype?

Texas!!!

Oh wait! I already live here.

At least there’s no state sales tax. and I’m in a relatively liberal city.

California….no soul.

Texas, Florida. The “Old South”.

@zenvelo Are you calling TX and FL the old South? Or, is it separate and you mean the Deep South like SC, GA, and AL?

I don’t consider TX and FL part of the Old South or the Deep South. SC, GA, AL, MS. I don’t even enjoy visiting there.

(Corrected abbreviation for Mississippi.)

@zenvelo Ok, I don’t consider TX and FL the old/deep south either, I just wasn’t sure by how you worded it.

MS is Mississippi. MI is Michigan.

Bavaria.

I’m going to defend parts of the old South.

Yes, parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi are, in fact, still in some ways prisoners of their reputations and histories.

But there’s a huge difference between, say Atlanta, and the rest of Georgia. Take the 14 counties around Atlanta – thriving, vibrant, modern, and so on, They’re nothing like the rest of the state.

The same can be said for Tuscaloosa AL and Birmingham AL…

Old South

I am beginning to have serious concerns about the Mid-Western States like Iowa and Kansas. A little too rabidly conservative for my tastes.
and I though Texas was bad enough

Nah.
It’s been my experience that there are good people and bad people where ever you go.
The key is to identify and avoid the bad people.

As individuals, most people are decent, it’s when they group with others that the nasty shows up. I met people in the South who’s company I enjoyed immensely, only to find out later that they were teabaggers. Meh.

The only place I’ve been in the US that would give me pause is the Northeast. The accents and crazy fast pace wear on me quickly. That alone wouldn’t make me rule it out…it’s also a melting pot with communities of all different cultures. It’s only a square peg that can’t find a home.

Old Southern US states as well as Texas and Florida. If not because of their politics and general perspective (‘cuz I know they’re not ALL bad) then for the weather. I despise heat and humidity.

@ibstubro Are you including New England in the Northeast?

My bias wagon is pretty much loaded up. The negative choices are discussed to death on this liberally moderate site. But the truth is that barring the critical requirements involved with rearing children, the internet and satelite communications render any region of the country viable.

I recently lived in Florida and everything in all of the negative stereotypes is true (and does not even begin to convey the state’s backwardness).

I am not real fond of Texas in terms of landscape, climate, and much of the politics.

@marinelife Were you up north of the Sarasota/Fort Pierce latitude? I don’t get that backwards, or behind the times feel, in southeast FL, but as I travel north it exists for me. I’ve lived in the south so long that I myself am “behind,” so I’ve lost some of my grasp on the comparisons.

Deep South, Old South, Conservative South.

Any place where Scott Walker is Governor.

I’ve applied to school in Tampa… but the thought of living in Florida gives me pause. I am particularly concerned about their public education for my little ones.

The only thing that would keep me from moving to a specific location would be the weather and population, not stereotypes. I do not want to live in a heavily populated area or where the weather is extremely hot and humid. I can handle desert heat but not jungle heat.

TX, OK, LA, KS, AL, LA, GA, MS, UT, FL, SC, NC, IN, ID, ND, SD

Too conservative or too rural or too humid

I already live in the best state. I’d never move.

@JLeslie Orlando.

I would love to move to Tasmania. The reason I don’t isn’t so much because of its reputation, it’s the lack of jobs. I might get a job, my partner probably wouldn’t. Great place to live if you have a steady income.

@tinyfaery. Are you in Vermont? Gotta figure out your GA wothiness.

It would not be easy to convince me of a move to Bavaria. Also, right now, the Eastern places which are going nuts with racism.

Illinois!!!

Oh, wait! I already live there!

Back at ya @Pachy

@Earthbound Misfit I would have thought existence on Tasmania a very rugged and difficult proposition. Aren’t the storms and waves legendary? I thought the entire Island was a preserve for just such reasons.

You guys realize that the shortcomings in all of the places listed have a great deal to do with the outflow of those who recognize those shotcomings for what they are. Thus the concentration of those who don’t “see the light” increases and things grow ever more obtuse.

@stanleybmanly, rugged and difficult proposition? No. It’s a well-established island. Roads, major cities in Launceston and Hobart with universities in both cities. The East Coast is well-populated and there are some beautiful spots. Wineglass Bay for instance. In terms of beautiful places, Tassie is very spoiled. The West Coast is less accessible. Lots of forests. You don’t see a lot of coastline as you drive up that way. There is Strahan, but that’s quite remote. Pretty place, but too far off-the-beaten track for me. You go to Strahan to get to Sarah Island which was a remote and brutal prison island. You really would not have wanted to be sent there. There have been films made about escapes from Sarah Island. Tassie’s countryside is quite rugged. The weather is colder. However, there are great wineries. Good food. It’s a lovely place.

The Bass Strait (the water between the mainland and Tasmania) is scary – but I doubt I’ll need to worry too much about that. I’m highly unlikely to be sailing out there. I do love Flinders Island in the Bass Strait though. I’d love to go there again. I could absolutely live there. It’s stunningly beautiful.

Hmmm. Thanks for setting me straight. Now to see it for myself.

@ragingloli @longgone

What’s wrong with Bavaria?

@Brian1946 Well, it depends on where exactly you are. Big cities in Bavaria are not much different from big cities everywhere. The Bavaria I was thinking of is the one consisting of small villages, places where everybody knows your name – and whether you went to Church. Very traditional. Patriotic, conservative, rigid. Bavaria is about as similar to my area as Texas is to New York City.

New York, because everyone always says they’re rude and in a hurry and because of their racist “stop and frisk” BS. Texas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, etc. etc. I’m way too liberal and they’d probably murder me. :P Utah because of the crazy Mormons. Arizona because of their racist laws. Idaho and Montana because of their white supremacists.

Honestly… I’m perfectly happy with Portland. Not most of Oregon – just Portland (though we could definitely use more diversity).

I don’t think I’ve been to a state that I didn’t see something beautiful and (if I stopped long enough) met someone friendly.

I tend to approach things with an openness that must be disarming, especially in someplace new.
I’m not a rube, and I have a keen sense for danger, but, barring any internal alarm bells, I’m enormously open to new things an people.

I remember down south I determined that my visit was complete without eating some boiled peanuts. We found a roadside stand and I went in and immediately started quizzing the woman about what the difference in the 2 kinds was, how you eat the peanuts, etc. She played along and ended up giving me a piece of corn pone (“You can’t visit the South and not have some corn pone!) and a friendly chat.
The corn pone was past it’s prime and the peanuts were like shelling and eating pinto beans, one at a time, but who cares! lol

California, baby. (Hawaii is a close second, but it’s more expensive than CA.)

USA, full stop.

I visit often (have been to over half the states), have friends there, and have enjoyed myself immensely while travelling. But I’d never want to live there.

I’ll answer my own question.

I don’t think there is a part of the country I wouldn’t move to based on stereotypes or cultural differences. I’ve found that there are nice people everywhere, and I usually can find a niche for myself. The stereotypes are sometimes true, sometimes not, but there are always people around who don’t fit the stereotypes. As long as there aren’t a bunch of antisemites around, I’m ok. I don’t like feeling like people hate me or want to kill me. I haven’t had that happen in any of my moves.

I definitely do fit in better in some places than others. I’d say I’m a cross between a Northeasterner and a Floridian.

I do like to live near a decent sized city. I’d say within 45 minutes of the top 50 in population. Top 25 is better.

As far as weather, give me FL any day. I love it. If I can’t live in FL, I do prefer the south for the weather, but it is more tricky for me since I’m really not a Southerner, even though there are some things I like about the South.

Of all the places I’ve been, I disliked Niagara Falls, NY the most. Dirty and rude.
Still, the Falls were awesome and some great (it rained) shopping.

^ Totally agree @ibstubro. I was very disappointed with Niagara Falls the place, not the falls. The falls were beautiful. The place reminded me of Blackpool. A sort of nasty, run-down, tourist trap.

^ I had to jump a giant puddle to get in the tourist information office and arrived ½ soaked but excited and happy to be there, finally. I got the “Did you _want something?_ treatment for my troubles.

When I got down near the Falls, there was this huge hotel that looked contemporary but was shuttered. As you say, a nasty, run-down tourist trap.

The Canadian side was gorgeous! All green with an original lodge. Vegas-y behind that you couldn’t see from the Falls.

@ibstubro I was on the Canadian side. The hotel we stayed in was right next to the Falls. We were looking right onto them. It was a little dated, but good. The Vegas-y stuff behind the hotels was tacky and not very nice at all. What I do wish I had was the franchise for the boats to go out onto the water. They have a license to print money.

I thought the Canadian side very pretty, @Earthbound_Misfit, but I didn’t actually stop. The only way to stop was to pay for parking and it was a rainy day, so I just drove slowly back and forth.

The American side was a dive when I was there. I swear the shuttered hotel was shaped like and Indian’s head, but I can find no documentation of that.
My memory of the American side is run down contemporary buildings, acres of parking lot and a crappy view of the Falls.

They had one of the 2 nicest outlet malls I’ve ever seen to pass the rainy afternoon in.
(The other being in Las Vegas.)

East of Ontario. I can’t speak French or Atlantic English.

As a gay man, there are parts of the country (notably the “Bible Belt”) that I would not move to because of their reputation for being anti-gay. Just a practical consideration.

@stanleybmanly: VT is a great state but the winter climate they have six months a year is not for everyone.

@DrasticDreamer: Mayor DiBlasio put an end to “stop and frisk.” Not sure if that contributed to crime going up, but crime is up in NYC since he came in. People in New York city are not all rude and in a hurry. Also, NYC has a huge population but is just one tiny portion of NY state. There are other Jellies here who are also from New York and they’ll tell you the same. If you go elsewhere in the state, the pace is slower and more regular.

I can’t help but wonder how many people have sworn off states they have never even been to?

My Q was about stereotypes, so for the Q you didn’t need to have been there before, but it just has me wondering. I think a lot of stereotypes are true, but I also would say we hear the worst and the best of it, and the talk usually doesn’t exactly fit what it’s like to actually live somewhere. In our heads we make it worse or better.

And, @JLeslie, if there wouldn’t be more people stereotyping part of the country if they’d been there.

When I was in DC in 1976 we shared a cab with women that were from, I believe, Delaware. Wherever it was, they talked so fast and choppy that it was like a language other than English to me. I have a hard time imagining living there, based on that.
But I didn’t say I wouldn’t.

People traveling through an area can get a bad impression from a small sampling. I did, in Niagara Falls NY. But I loved NYC, so I’m not stereotyping any area based on other than personal exposure to the area.

I can’t help but wonder how many people have sworn off states they have never even been to?

Good question. Let’s see…I have been to 11 in my list of 16, including the state I was born in and another where I lived for a short time.

@jca Yeah, sorry, I did mean NYC in particular. @JLeslie I haven’t been to any of the states I mentioned. However, I still know I wouldn’t want to live anywhere in the South.

@DrasticDreamer You’re certainly entitled to feel that way. I was just curious. The Q truly was about stereotypes, so I’m actually very glad people didn’t limit their answers to only places they have been.

I took an almost instant dislike to Indiana.
Spaced along the interstate are signs that say “No Standing Stopping or Parking”, and I’m like, “Is that so popular in Indiana that you have to have a sign every mile to stop it?”
When I got to the Indianapolis Speedway where they run the 500, the interstate just ended.
Coming back from Fla. In January, the roads started to ice up, but not had. I don’t think we say a single car off until we hit the Indiana border. Then there was at least one car off at every overpass. We made it to Illinois, and the stranded vehicles stopped again.

I’d think twice about moving to Indiana, and it’s not strictly stereotype.