What are the positives and negatives of where you live?

I live in Northern Northern California. I live in a quiet mountain town, on the side of a volcano (hope it stays quiet!).
We are 25 miles away from big stores, movies, and culture.
I like it here because it is calm and quiet. I used to live in the Bay Area near a very busy street. Always ambulances, fire trucks, speeders, police, jets, noises noises noises.
Now the only sound that wakes me is the sound of turkeys.
We couldn’t afford a house this size in the Bay. We get 4 seasons, (though COLD seems longer than the others). Job opportunities are limited here if you want to work in an office, but there are jobs if you like working outside.

I live in a suburb of Sacramento. The weather is great, and many services are available. It is noisy here, and often smoggy. The schools are supposedly good, but not for special need kids. We live in a nice neighborhood, housing is going sky high, an old 4 bedroom now averages in the high $300,000, with new housing in the mid $500,000.

SE NC here. Weather is good…warm most of the year, but you run the risk of a hurricane coming to town. Businesses were growing for a while but Covid kinda put a kibosh on that. There are still jobs if you aren’t too picky, even if you have no experience. Crime is around, though not as much in the suburbs. Drugs are probably the biggest problem and heroin seems to be king.

I live in Florida and as far as covid, you can do almost everything outside all year, so you can keep yourself reasonably safe and still be active and entertained.

I do zumba outside, visit with friends outside, we have concerts outside, multiple golf courses (free for residents) swimming pools, tennis, bocce, softball, and more all included where I live.

We also have curb side pick and delivery from many stores. The problem is, if you work with the public, we do have people traveling to Florida daily.

Where I live we have live music every night in 3 location in my city and people dance and it’s a lot of fun, but if you are young other parts of Florida are more appealing.

What type of work do you do?

I live in Massachusetts, fifteen miles north of Boston. In a pre-COVID world…

PROS
Amazing health care
Great job opportunities
Many educational options
Dynamic major city
Wide variety of yummy food
Oodles of culture and activities
Pretty diverse population
Progressive State…
but Republican Governor
All four actual seasons
Beaches, mountains, woods
Close to DC, NY and Montreal

CONS
High cost of living all around
Diverse but mostly segregated
Aggressive drivers
Little rough around the edges
Public schools are hit or miss

COVID-wise, I think we have been strict but reasonable. I worry about businesses when the snow hits, ending outdoor options. Many have pivoted to curbside pickup, drive through, and delivery.

I live in Colorado. There is very little crime, overall the weather is pretty great. Hot, dry, not as much snow in the winter as most folks assume. The cost of living is extremely high. Before covid, the economy I assumed was pretty great…we get lots of tourists, and everyone is outdoorsy and loves going out and eating and skiing and climbing and socializing, etc. There is also a college here which I’m sure helps.

That being said, I don’t love it here. Most people have a lot of money, and those of us who don’t and are normal and just tryna survive, could never buy a home here. Not that I want to anyhow. My other major complaint is the music scene is awful – it’s all jam bands. The other major point is everyone is so outdoorsy, people tend to be pretty similar. There isn’t much art, or anything else that requires having an indoor hobbies. Everyone is outside all the time. That is cool, but gets boring after a while. I am looking to move to southern AZ. Can’t wait to get away from people in spandex cycling on highways every day :)

Central Texas, smaller town with lower cost of living. Semi Retired so cant afford Austin any more. But Austin is nice if you can afford it. Music scene, good place for younger people. Traffic sucks but the shitty parts of town are being gentrified. Weather good, but warm most of the time, hot as hell a lot of the year. Cold weather comes and goes in snaps in the winter. Had a cold front on Halloween, two days later temps hit 90F. But if you’re a young professional, I’d say check out Austin, not so good for us oldsters. A lot of lakes and outdoor activity as well.