Are you happy where you live?

As you get older you know better what suits you. There's no perfect fit, but you might have an idea of what you want to avoid the most. Sometimes its a process of elimination rather than knowning conclusively what you want.

I've mostly lived in small towns. It's what I'm use to, and its what I prefer.I have a 13 year old, so living near family and in a place with good schools is great. It's very safe, and there's a strong sense of community. When I retire, I'm mostly interested in open spaces, good climate, and the ability to hike. Oh, and a major airport close enough to be functional.

Chris

Peoria, IL, US

Inside. 95 is 1 mile from our house.

I live in a resort town in the mountains of Colorado. Haven’t found anyplace that would suit me better.

What I like about it:

1. Sunny climate (way more days of sunshine per year relative to other parts of the country)

2. Unskilled labor is relatively well-paid and in-demand, due to tourism (easy to find work, particularly in hotels and restaurants)

3. Public transportation is cheap and decent quality so no need to own a car while living here

4. A delightful place to run! Safe roads, dry climate, plenty of fit people here.

If I needed a change, I would just change my mountain town, and go to Steamboat or Aspen or Telluride — I find them more or less interchangeable — one ski town is pretty much like another.

North San Diego County. Love it. Our house is small but it works and has more than doubled in value since we bought it. Glad we purchased in 2010 during a recession. Weather is amazing year-round. I’m able to coach baseball year around. Son loves that. We can surf even in the winter. Extensive running trails accessible from home without driving. Traffic sucks but I work 4 miles from home and don’t need to be in it. Quality schools. Live in suburbs but close to San Diego so city perks are available. California is crowded but is an outdoor lover’s paradise. With foresight and planning, crowds can be minimized. Feel blessed.

Not to far from Boulder. Higher up. Mixed. Population has more than doubled in my lifetime, so it's not the state I grew up in let alone like it was when I went to university. But as 'wax skis' here says, great climate, good place to train, and a lot of folks are envious. At some point I'll probably have to move to some place with lower cost of living but for now it's okay.

Not in Tampa proper, but in the area. Love it. Out my door and on a trail with 200 feet.

Its all in the attitude, Rat.

I live in what SHOULD be a primo place, Oakland, CA. Amazing weather, geography, proximity to Californias wonders. Etc.

But the leadership of the city and county has decided prosecuting crime is racist, the police are woefully understaffed, and the results have been predictable. The past year has been especially bad: brazen daylight muggings, relentless car break ins, car jackings, bike jackings!, “side shows “ aka cars doing donuts in intersections all night. I wish I was exaggerating.

SF successfully recalled their soft on crime DA and l thought maybe the pendulum was swinging back towards sanity. Then Alameda county elected an even crazier DA who ran on an explicit “prosecuting crime is racist “ platform and won. I guess if this is what the majority of my fellow citizens want I should move elsewhere because this is not fun anymore.

Forgot to mention if you call 911 in Oakland nobody answers!!!

recent example:

ktvu.com

Restaurateur chased, robbed at gunpoint before flipping car over in Oakland

@KTVU

A restaurant owner was chased, rammed, robbed of his gun and shot at along Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland on Friday morning.

Open link

NH seacoast. It blows. At least this December has been warm thus far. No bike lanes anywhere and very few trails suitable for running, with NONE in winter. All the roads have narrow shoulders. People here run with the attitude that "if you hit me, you have to pay my hospital bill" - its incredibly unsafe to run here but if you just don't care if you get hit, you're good. Its alright 7 months of the year, bad 2-3 months, and horrendous the other 2-3.

I live in the Seattle suburbs and I'm pretty happy here. I have access to the activities I want to do -- running, cycling, XC skiing, Alpine skiing and kayaking -- and one son's family lives in the same suburb and the other son's family is in a Portland suburb.

Including growing up, college, law schools and various jobs I have lived in eight towns/cities (a couple of them twice), and the Seattle area is the best place for me at this point. As a young professional, Washington D.C. was great.

We moved from the suburbs to an exburb of DC nine years ago and enjoying the city living. I can walk to grocery stores, the library, the Metro; my car mostly takes up space in the garage. As you age it's nice to have services close at hand. Short bike ride to indoor tennis barrn and two bike trails with easy access. Family in the area which is also important.

I live in a North Texas DFW suburb and strongly dislike it. Moved her for work 7 years ago. It’s crowded, lots of traffic, generic and lacks any kind of personality. Over 200k people have moved to my county since we moved here, pushing the population over 1 million (we are 40 mins from the city).

We have made the best of it, got involved in a lot of things around town. But we have young kids and the summers are brutal and Texas is far from everything that isn’t Texas.

And for the freedom, no gambling, no weed, strange liquor laws, no women’s rights, and you better not read books to kids!

Moving this summer to the mountains, gotta get the kids to altitude for the red blood cells.

Context would help. Where are you?

Virginia Beach. The summers are humid as hell but otherwise pretty great .

i/m not happy regardless of where i live.

It's important to remember that Colorado is full. Do not come here-- don't visit here, definitely don't move here. Buy a Jeep where you are and just pretend.

Thank You

Whoa first european here! I live in the nordics. Love the change on seasons. I have a small apartment that I own close to the city centre (city of little over 100k people). Couple of minutes to trails and in winter xc tracks. Couple of minutes to work by walking. Basically no crime to speak of. Can travel to other european coutries pretty easily. One minus is that there is no mountains close to me, hills for sure but nothing mountain like. And then there is that god damn Russia and Putin that is pretty unpredictable neighbor...

I live in Northern New Mexico and it’s great. Amusing sometimes to see people who moved here 20 years ago make a fuss that too many people are moving here. There’s plenty of outdoor recreation opportunities year round. The one downside is it’s full of old retirees. I would not want to be single here but divorce is rampant. There’s a scarcity mindset here that can make people mean and xenophobic. There are rampant substance abuse problems and domestic violence problems. If you have a strong sense of self you will be fine. I have my family here too. Curious OP why did you decide to farm? It’s such a hard life.