Where would you rather live: California, Oregon, or Colorado?

San Francisco or northern California area. Don't pick Oregon or Colorado. San Fran has the best of everything.

If you want to be able to afford a nice house, Colorado is your best bet. With that being said, there is a reason it is cheaper in CO: no beaches and harsh winters. All three states are nice though.

The Front Range of Colorado has pretty mild weather, actually (we've had more days in the 50s and 60s this winter than 20s and maybe even 30s), great access to trails, and is all at altitude. All of those states have prime places to live, though.

I have actually lived in all three (and can add a few other states to the equation if necessary)... and definitely prefer California and Colorado over Oregon. Colorado is cold in the winter, but it is sunny - which makes a huge difference if comparing to the harsh upstate NY winters I have also lived through. You can't beat the outdoor-type attitude of people living up in Boulder (though it's really expensive there), but people in California also are very fitness minded and the weather is perfect if you go along the Coast. I lived in Orange County, and there were tons of people biking, running, hiking, playing basketball, beach volleyball, etc. The downside of living in California, of course, is the cost. Housing is way more there than any of the other choices you asked about. If you don't mind renting for about the same price you would be buying a home in the other states, then California is for you. The rest of the costs are all about the same. I don't know about San Fran, though... not as nice of a winter as southern CA. Colorado Springs is a great place to live, and not too expensive. Garden of the Gods is a great place to run there!!! Anyway, hope that helps.

I'd definitely go with Colorado.

Worst choice would be southern California, especially LA.

What city or town in the midwest are you moving from? That might give us a better idea of how you might adapt to each of these states.

COLORADO!!

I'd love to say California for the obvious reasons, but with the cost of living and state taxes it can potentially put you in a rough spot if you're not smart with your money.

I've never been to Oregon and colorado is great except for the winters.

If you do try California do nor cal. I've been in San Diego for the last 5 years and it's ok, but I always take advantage of any opportunity to visit the Bay, Napa or Sonoma.

Do you have job offers, or are you just going to pack up, move, and hope for the best? Unless you're sitting on some nice savings, I'd find it hard to just pick a city and move there in today's economy.

Why not Washington?

I might be inclined to say southern California, but not TOO far south...not as far South as LA. Maybe Santa Barbara or Ojai, someplace like that. Of course, there are those forest fires. Okay, forget everything I said, go north of San Francisco, Marin County or maybe even into Napa or Sonoma.

We'd be moving from Madison, WI. My girlfriend is sick of winters, and I've never lived anywhere other than Wisconsin, so we're looking to move.

Neither of us have jobs lined up anywhere yet, but we'd like to pick an area to give our job hunts some focus.

They're very different. Visit your leading candidates first before making a move.

I'd move to LA, second choice SF.

Portland's nice in its way and feels more like a medium sized city, but is awfully mellow. People drive slow, walk slow, seem to have zero aggression or edge... and contend for the national lead in pot consumption per capita (brownies and smoking are both exceedingly popular). It might be a good transition from the Midwest, but it all made this New Yorker's skin crawl. Like an ADD child I need a certain amount of stimulation to be calm.

Colorado's a whole different thing from the west coast. And it's not all homogeneous either. Boulder's a different world from Denver, culturally.

I second "why not Washington". I'm not crazy about Seattle personally - actually kinda prefer Tacoma, and there's also Olympia. It's similar climate and has abundant good running and other outdoor stuff. Vancouver's my favorite PNW city if you were to consider moving north of the border.

Boulder's a different world from Denver, culturally.

Aha, Wisconsin.

Boulder : Madison :: Denver :: Milwaukee

You are moving from Madison? There's a reason why the entire Wisconson traing group (Tegenkamp, Solinsky, Bairu, Jagr, Riley, Eagon, and Nelson)all moved to Portland with Schumacher. And, its not because the Nike headquarters is there. They could easily operate from just about anywhere. The weather is so mild in Portland that you can easily train outdoors 365 days a year. They maybe get enough snow to impair running for a day or two every five years. It never gets really hot (say high nineties) for more than a few days in the summer and you can always find a cool tree shaded place to run. Even when it gets hot the humidity almost always drops lower the higher the temperature gets so its more like Arizona heat (but nowhere near as intense) than it is like the swampy humid summer heat in Madison. They don't have blizzards (like Colorado ) they don't have torrential rain, mudslides and wildfires (like So. Cal.), they don't have tornadoes, they never have midwest style thunder storms, any kind of flooding is pretty rare....it's just a mild place to live and train.

Lived in all 3 states for at least 5 years each, since college. I preferred So. Cal. for the weather (great for year round running) and job market. All 3 are in my 'top 10 places to live', though.

Thanks for all the replys so far.

I'm kind of partial to the Pacific Northwest, I've been to Portland and really liked it, loved the mellow vibe. I guess Washington isn't out of the question either. I really enjoy that kind of climate. Besides Portland, what other cities in Oregon and Washington should we check out?

My girlfriend spent a couple of years in San Diego and loved it (other than the cost of living), so she's leaning towards SoCal. San Fransico seems cool, but damn expensive. Any medium size towns on the coast (SoCal or Northern California) that we should look into?

Some of the areas in Colorado seem pretty sweet, lots of sun, pretty mild winters, lots of trails, and I dig the "outdoorsy" feel I get from the people out there. Besides Boulder where else should we look? Colorado Springs? Fort Collins?

I would love to live near both mountains and the ocean, but would settle for just mountains.

Stay away from southern California. San Fransisco is really nice but not as much of a running/outdoor community as most cities in Oregon or Colorado. Washington is pretty comparable to Oregon, just with more people and a sales tax.

Running in Portland is pretty money, but you really need to visit these places to get a feel for them yourself.

If you move outside of the San Francisco city area to other parts of the Bay Area it can be much less expensive. Plus you still have the oppurtunity to visit the city whenever you want.