Where to live in USA?
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San Diego apparently has one of the lowest crime rates. Or it did in 1996 when I part-holidayed there. It's warm and near the ocean. I don't know what it's like otherwise but I found it pleasant enough based on staying there for a few days. Ah, here's what Wikipedia says... "San Diego had a declining crime rate from 1990 to 2000, which slightly increased in the early 2000s.[23][24][25] In 2004, San Diego had the sixth lowest crime rate of any U.S. city with over half a million residents.[25] From 2002 to 2006, violent crime decreased 12.4% while overall crime decreased only 0.8% partly due to a 1.1% increase in property crime. Total property crimes were lower than the national average in 2004."
Kevin
I'll second this. I lived there for a few years and still own a house there. I really miss it, the weather is as close to perfect as I think it can be.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. --Ralph Charell
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I'll second this. I lived there for a few years and still own a house there. I really miss it, the weather is as close to perfect as I think it can be.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. --Ralph Charell
Looks like my intuition based on a few days as a tourist was sound then! :)
Kevin
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I'll second this. I lived there for a few years and still own a house there. I really miss it, the weather is as close to perfect as I think it can be.
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. --Ralph Charell
Thanks Chris. It must be lovely.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
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Excellent. Thanks for the link. No green card yet.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
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My wife and I are entertaining the possibility of relocating to the US for a while. We are looking for a warm climate, near the ocean, and low crime. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations regarding a nice area, I’d appreciate hearing about it.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
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The Carolinas are nice - not as oppressive as Florida. Low cost of living and decent quality of life. I've lived in New Hampshire all my life and southern Virginia/Northern North Carolina are the only other places I'd consider living.
Good to hear your opinion jond777. I wonder what cultural difference there are between areas around LA in the west, and North Carolina.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
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Daniel Vaughan wrote:
No green card yet.
Then there's no way you're working legally. I had a friend who married an american and it still took her over a year and lots of money in lawyers fees to get a green card.
I think I'd go for a non-immigration visa in that case. I found this E3 Visa[^]
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
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Excellent. Thanks for the link. No green card yet.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
An employer might be able to help with a visa, if you find a job before the move. Length of stay is a factor. Good luck. P.S. I am too far north to help with a warm location.
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You what??? Have you been down 3rd recently? Have you walked along Ocean in the morning and tried to avoid the homeless people that the rest of LA just dumps there? Yes, Santa Monica should be a really great place but I'd choose La Jolla to the south or Carmel/Monterey to the north or, better still, anywhere in Marin County (Tiburon is the best place). btw: Marin a great place to live with easy access to San Francisco which has a large financial district.
Marina Del Rey is nice. We lived on Admiral Avenue, just near the Marina Expressway and Lincol Bld, so easy to get everywhere. I loved Venice. But Malibu is ony 30mins up the road.
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
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An employer might be able to help with a visa, if you find a job before the move. Length of stay is a factor. Good luck. P.S. I am too far north to help with a warm location.
For sure. Thanks djj.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
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Santa Monica, Los Angeles. Great Climate, Near the ocean, Close to LA, Close to Venice Beach, Low Crime Rate, and fairly civilised. (Just down the road from Marina Del Rey, which is a beautiful place too.)
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
California?? *High unemployment rate (>11%) *Bankrupt government with a banana republic style of politics *Second highest state taxation *Crumbling infrastructure (has amongst the worst roads in the union, even beats MO, and we have sh?? roads!) *Even now property is exorbitantly expensive unless you prefer to live in a trailer in the middle of nowhere. *If you're job is paying less than say $180k p/a, expect to be poor. *Ranked worst state to do business in (I'll have to find the link) due to high taxes and red tape. And yes, businesses are leaving. A great place to visit, a lousy place to live. There's a few escapees around this part of the union with no intentions of moving back. It's a beautiful place to be sure, but even that wasn't enough to keep them there.
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California?? *High unemployment rate (>11%) *Bankrupt government with a banana republic style of politics *Second highest state taxation *Crumbling infrastructure (has amongst the worst roads in the union, even beats MO, and we have sh?? roads!) *Even now property is exorbitantly expensive unless you prefer to live in a trailer in the middle of nowhere. *If you're job is paying less than say $180k p/a, expect to be poor. *Ranked worst state to do business in (I'll have to find the link) due to high taxes and red tape. And yes, businesses are leaving. A great place to visit, a lousy place to live. There's a few escapees around this part of the union with no intentions of moving back. It's a beautiful place to be sure, but even that wasn't enough to keep them there.
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MidwestLimey wrote:
There's a few escapees
Many (we included) are now in Arizona, only a 400 mile drive to Santa Monica; all on one freeway :-D .
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My wife and I are entertaining the possibility of relocating to the US for a while. We are looking for a warm climate, near the ocean, and low crime. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations regarding a nice area, I’d appreciate hearing about it.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
I'll second San Diego (if you can afford it) and the Carolinas. But one gets earthquakes and the other gets hurricanes. We came to Phoenix when we couldn't afford SoCal any longer.
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I'll second San Diego (if you can afford it) and the Carolinas. But one gets earthquakes and the other gets hurricanes. We came to Phoenix when we couldn't afford SoCal any longer.
I quite like Arizona. Was visiting Tucson last year. The desert has a beauty all it's own.
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I'll second San Diego (if you can afford it) and the Carolinas. But one gets earthquakes and the other gets hurricanes. We came to Phoenix when we couldn't afford SoCal any longer.
Thanks for responding. San Diego seems a popular choice. I see from your profile you’re originally from Boston (MA). How would you compare that area to San Diego?
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
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My wife and I are entertaining the possibility of relocating to the US for a while. We are looking for a warm climate, near the ocean, and low crime. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations regarding a nice area, I’d appreciate hearing about it.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
Be aware that the California coast is very expensive. Even places like Carlsbad, north of San Diego, has shot up in price. I like Southern California except for the traffic, crowds and that the state is run by idiots. Since I left in 1987, it's just gotten worse. If you don't mind living a little inland, Ventura county northwest of Los Angeles is very nice (I lived in Simi Valley for a summer and liked it, up to a point [the traffic and cost of living drive me nuts, which is largely why I left So Cal in the first place].) One thing to be aware of is that Southern California is built on a desert. I grew up in the US northeast and never quite adjusted to that aspect of California (I lived in Arizona too and never quite got used to that.) If you want green, you need to look on the east and southern coasts. If you don't mind humidity (I hate it), the gulf coast states are for you. If you don't mind winters being a tad cooler and weather being more unpredictable, Northern California is beautiful; Monterey, Santa Cruz, Marin County. San Francisco is nice, albeit expensive and run by people who make the rest of California politicians look like geniuses.
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I quite like Arizona. Was visiting Tucson last year. The desert has a beauty all it's own.
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Definitely. Are there many expats where you are MidwestLimey? We are looking for something a little closer to the sea for a change.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
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Thanks for responding. San Diego seems a popular choice. I see from your profile you’re originally from Boston (MA). How would you compare that area to San Diego?
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
I have friends in NC who left Boston to escape the winters and property prices. Essentially despite both having good incomes they couldn't afford to buy a decent house which they wanted to do after having a kid. Boston is another great place to visit, but not so much to live if you have a family. I will attest that the summers are pleasantly mild and the autumn absolutley beautiful up there. However the winter lasts half the year. Not my words, thiers :D
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Be aware that the California coast is very expensive. Even places like Carlsbad, north of San Diego, has shot up in price. I like Southern California except for the traffic, crowds and that the state is run by idiots. Since I left in 1987, it's just gotten worse. If you don't mind living a little inland, Ventura county northwest of Los Angeles is very nice (I lived in Simi Valley for a summer and liked it, up to a point [the traffic and cost of living drive me nuts, which is largely why I left So Cal in the first place].) One thing to be aware of is that Southern California is built on a desert. I grew up in the US northeast and never quite adjusted to that aspect of California (I lived in Arizona too and never quite got used to that.) If you want green, you need to look on the east and southern coasts. If you don't mind humidity (I hate it), the gulf coast states are for you. If you don't mind winters being a tad cooler and weather being more unpredictable, Northern California is beautiful; Monterey, Santa Cruz, Marin County. San Francisco is nice, albeit expensive and run by people who make the rest of California politicians look like geniuses.
Thanks Joe, that’s very interesting. Northern California does look green. I notice that the climate in San Francisco, while temperate, rarely reaches more than 70F (21C). Seems like most people commenting prefer the west coast.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
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Definitely. Are there many expats where you are MidwestLimey? We are looking for something a little closer to the sea for a change.
Daniel Vaughan Blog: DanielVaughan.Orpius.com
I'm 900 miles from the Atlantic and 700 miles from the Gulf in one of the 'flyover' states. The advantage of being in a medium sized (2m odd) metro in the middle is that the earnings are above average, cost of living below average and housing cheap while still have access to most of the amenities of civilization. Taxes are also fairly low, and motoring is cheap. I'm also a 2h flight from the east coast and gulf, or 3-4h from the west coast and southwest, I can essentially get anywhere easily. Virtually anywhere I could move to in the US (let alone back to Europe) would require me taking a cut in my standard of living. We also have some fine vineyards along the Missouri river. On the other hand the summers are hot and humid (35C and 40-50% humidity is the norm, several 40C+ days are typical) and winters cold (last year was it got down to -18C, was below -10C for most of a week) and the landscape isn't that pretty. And God forbid you suffer from allergies, because believe me you WILL suffer.
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