Do you like the state you live in?

For the most part, yes, I do. It has policies and leaders that line up with my political and moral views, it is very pretty, and I have made good friends here.

The humidity is too high in the summer, my taxes are very high, and it takes a looong time to fit in if you come in as an adult.

Yeah I do, east Tennessee. There is decent employment, the culture of large cities also the rugged outdoors with killer landscapes and a reasonable climate. It’s a temperate rainforest and there is more plant and animal wildlife here than just about anywhere else in the country. The summer gets borderline too hot and humid. Winter sucks, it rarely snows yet it stays cold, dark and damp. Spring, early summer and fall are spectacular. People here are also not assholes.

@canidmajor What state is this? If don’t mind me asking?

I like the city I live in, but Matt Bevin is bat-shit crazy. He’s an embarassment to the state of Kentucky.

Let me put it this way:
30% of people voted for a neonazi party this last election.
Everyone on the street is now suspect to me.

Live in Austin, Texas. Love the city, and have for a while now. It might be getting too big, and housing is getting unreasonable, but everything else makes it the best place I’ve lived so far.

The state has some great permanent parts. I actually enjoy the hot weather, rather than having a long winter and it’s really varied in terms of landscape. If we had any mountains to speak of, I’d be all set. The people are a mixed bag, but that’s true anywhere and they’re generally friendly 1 on 1. The downside is because of its huge rural areas, Texas is decidedly conservative in politics and the state has started taking pride in pushing back against progressive policies anywhere they can at the local, state, and federal level. We’re the anti-California politically. Our governor, who works in Austin, actively derides the city and its residents, and fights with local leaders for control. That’s considered all good and boons his popularity in the rest of the state.

@ragingloli – welcome to the feeling of living in the colonies

I live near Boston and I looove MA for being a liberal-ass bubble in this country – thank goodness for that right now especially. If our healthcare does eventually become a state-level issue like some of the recent bills have proposed, I will probably be safe here.

I hate the winters and the cost of living though.

Yes. I moved from an area that had winter sometimes 6 months out of the year. I moved to an area that has summer 6 months out of the year. The people are nice, there is decent employment. Cost of living is okay. The biggest drawback is that I traded the chance of blizzard for the chance of hurricane.

For the most part yeah. I mean it’s mostly flat and dull and most of the state is a desert as far as things to do go, but Chicago makes up for that and I’m close enough to the city that it’s not a huge trip to drive into the city for a few hours.

Socially and politically downstate Illinois is chock full of willfully ignorant shitheads who vote in willfully ignorant shitheads and who will waste no opportunity to flap their lips about topics they have no understanding of. And who somehow think that it’s their little town of a few thousand, with no employment other than McDonald’s and the nearest prison, that’s carrying Chicago.

Even at that the state manages to be fairly progressive in terms of policy. Our current governor, Bruce Rauner, has been a disaster for the state however.

@LDRSHIP, sorry! I live in the beautifully blue Nutmeg State. (Connecticut)

@Mariah, really, we need to have lunch!!!

Yes, except for all of the Republicans, Skinheads, and Mormons.

I love my state.
Can’t believe how many jellies mentioned nothing more than politics in their assessments.

The people in my state tend to be quite neighborly.
If a natural disaster happens, nobody is surprised at the turnout of volunteers, because that is just how we are.
Crime happens, but it is nipped back pretty good.
The climate is lovely much of the time. I like that I get seasonal changes here. So many other states, a little rainfall and drivers come unglued. Don’t let them see a snowflake!
We have beautiful parks and wetlands.
There are many reasons to love where I am.
No, I won’t name the state.
If my calender ends up a short one next year, I will tell everyone who and where I am.
Unless that happens, I want to stay mysterious, so our tentacled jelly can’t march in and destroy my cache of guns.
Lol.
With my reduced physical activity, it is nice to have a big livingroom window where I can see kids go by on bikes, or with a basketball, bunnies in my yard, birds picking wiggly stuff from the grass, butterflies on their way to cocktail parties. I can leave my front door wide open at night without fear to catch a nice breeze, and hear the neighborhood owls scare up lunch.
Cool activities and concerts keep people happy all year round.
Farmer’s market, oh FARMER’S MARKET!!!! Yum x 1,000.

My state, Texas, is big enough that if you do not like certain aspects of the climate or landscape or population it is possible to move somewhere else and find what you are looking for and still be in Texas. I like that.
I am not overly fond of where I presently live. Actually, that is not fair; it is not that I don’t like it, I just like other places more. Here we are at about 350’ above sea level, flat, mostly farmland and ranchland either way we are talking prairie and I am one who prefers the two extremes. Sometimes I need to be in the desert areas and sometimes I want the mountains. The humidity is high much of the year and summers can be oppressive. On the other hand winters are mild to almost none-existent. Which can be a bummer when you enjoy the snow and cold, crisp weather.

On the local town level our population is ever increasing. For some progress means more people and I am very close to being maxed out. My small town atmosphere is dying and we are becoming just another nondescript city. Our combined population is around 500,000 and they are looking to grow up to about 750,000 within the next ten years. It is almost time to move on. Not that I mind cities and city life but not on a full time basis.

I guess what I need to consider is a more nomadic existence but at this point in my life I am unwilling to give up my creature comforts (like my library and shop/garage) and my kids and grandkids who live nearby.

Politically, we are a backward population with corrupt state government. Liberalism is frowned upon and we have been gerrymandered into a powerless people controlled by an ever increasingly religious minority. There are a few bastions of liberalism such as Austin but where I live we are staunchly conservative in our thinking.

Every Sunday morning I curse and damn all surviving Southern Baptists to hell because of archaic “blue” laws that say we cannot by alcohol between the hours of 12am and 12 noon on Sunday and Sunday morning is when I like go to the grocery store. You would think, in this day and age, something like that would be easy to change but at least in Texas you would be wrong.

This is not really surprising, it was not that long ago that there were entire counties that were “dry” and you could not purchase alcohol at all. I lived for a time in Bell County that was one such county. In counties that were not dry and abutted Bell you would find a liquor store on each road just over the county line These were the ones that were frequented, and kept in business by, the Holier than Thou Baptists who would make the trip to buy their booze and still be able to piously brag that they were living in a dry county surrounded by heathens and those pagan Christians who belonged to the wrong sects like Lutheran, Catholic and Methodists.

I just moved out of Colorado to Maryland—making it the 9th state I’ve lived in.

Hard for me to believe I’m back east after 22 years, back on this side of the Mississippi River. I missed the morning fog rising off the fields, lightning bugs at night, and the humidity—which I love—it does wonders for my hair and skin. Missed squishing my toes in the mud, the sun dappled tree-canopied roads that curve out of sight, cool night breezes, and the scent of dewy honeysuckle. I had forgotten how many shades of green could exist outside of the Pantone color palette, and missed the fall color change—no place does Fall like the Appalachians/Blue Ridge/Smokies.

22 years ago, I went west—lived in Montana, Arizona, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado. All were job related moves, and I made good memories, each place had their “awesomeness,” sure, but sure missed the dogwoods. YES, I love my state.

California, baby. Love it.

I lived in Maryland for my Navy years.
I get your love for it.
Funny, isn’t it, how grown people can miss lightning bugs like that?
Soothing and exciting both, watching them float around, declaring their need for love where all the world can see.
Friendly too. If you stay very still, they will land on you, cause no harm, and just share a moment before taking off to get some tail.

Gleefully.

No sales tax in Oregon. That is my #1 pro. #2 pro is no humidity.

I’m pretty happy with living in New Jersey – one of the most put upon states in the nation. I lve ¾ mile from the ocean and walk to it several times a week. I live just outside of one of the hottest small cities in the country for its music history and current scene, with a great boardwalk and terrific restaurants. (Springsteen’s “city in ruins” has been roaring back.) And not to mention local Bruce sightings and performances. I can walk to the train to go into the best city in the world for theater and museums and people watching.

I live in a lovely affordable (because I bought it years ago) house in a relatively quiet and safe neighborhood.

The only downside for me is the summer influx of tourists and seasonal residents who make traffic and parking (and weekend dining) almost impossible.

^
Heyyyyyy, way to love your spot!

Love it. I love Florida. Palm trees, sunshine, warm weather. People from everywhere. Museums, Mickey, casual atmosphere, decent restaurants, airports with many nonstops to many cities, so competition among airlines is pretty good. Publix supermarkets, no state income tax, good roadways that are smooth and well marked.

Where I live right now it’s very friendly. I’ve lived in parts of Florida that weren’t as friendly when it came to strangers, but you still could make friends and make your social circle. Where I live the cost of living is fairly moderate, while other parts of Florida have become very expensive unfortunately.

@Patty_Melt – not sure about others, but I mentioned politics because

1) Austin is where the politickin’ happens for hundreds of miles around, and is very different than the surrounding areas in terms of makeup and attitude.
2) It’s the first or second thing most people from out of state mention about Texas. The politics and the heat seem to be our two hallmarks nationally right now.

So you get used to just addressing it up front.