I have never seriously contemplated moving out of state. I honestly love where I live. I love the climate, love living so close to so many family members (most especially my mom and brother and nephew!), and love the abundance of things to do. (The beach and the pool and the theme parks and the museums and the sporting events and the zoo and the aquarium and the local events…)
But, last week, I read Kathleen’s post where she linked to a cool quiz about where your ideal cities are. The quiz is fairly detailed but didn’t take long for me to complete, and I was given 24 cities that fit my profile. While I do love living in Florida (nope, 80-degree Christmases do not bother me one bit!), it’s not completely off the table for me to move out of state. It’s not something that I see happening in the next five years, but you never know where life will take you.
When I think about moving to a new state, the number one concern I have is the climate. I have very thin skin when it comes to cold weather, so I wouldn’t want to move somewhere that experiences really cold, snowy winters (so, basically, the entire Midwest is out!). But I would like to live in a place that actually experiences seasons. Florida does not have seasons. We have hot weather and cold weather. Fall doesn’t exist. So it would be nice to be able to live through the four seasons!
Another concern I have about moving to a new state is the cost of living. I definitely couldn’t live somewhere with a higher cost of living (goodbye, California!). The Tampa metro area’s cost of living is okay. It’s not impressive, but it’s easier to live on my modest income here than it would be in, say, San Francisco or NYC or Boston. So any city I’d move to, I’d want to be a similar cost of living or better.
And, lastly, I don’t think I’d like to live in a big city. The Tampa Bay area is pretty large (with nearly 3 million people residing in the metro area), but it doesn’t have a big city feel. I live in a more suburban part of the area, and I like living in the suburbs, with easy access to our downtown areas, beaches, and other waterfront.
So, what were my results from the quiz? Here were the top five cities I was given:
1. Chapel Hill, NC
2. Durham, NC
3. Greenville, NC
4. Rocky Mount-Stony Creek, NC
5. Hampton, VA
Interesting, eh? Four cities in North Carolina are in my top five! It ended up that I had seven total cities in North Carolina on my list so that state is winning in regards to the most popular “ideal” state. Do you need a moving company Greensboro? Contact City Transfer And Storage. I do think I would enjoy North Carolina, though. It seems to have a mildish climate and the cost of living is about the same as Tampa (but in most cases, even better!).
Also on the list, albeit in the lower spots, were four Florida cities: Clearwater (a local city that I may move to next year), Sarasota, Daytona Beach, and Bradenton. So it’s good to know I am living in the right state!
All of my answers were on the East Coast (probably due to my low cost of living needs!) falling in North Carolina (7), Virginia (5), Florida (4), Georgia (2), Tennessee (2), Mississippi (1), Oklahoma (1), Kentucky (1), and South Carolina (1). What can I say? I’m a Southern girl to my core. And I am not ashamed of that one bit.
When I looked through my results and did a little research on the climates, costs of living, and other factors, here are the three cities I decided would be a good match for me:
- Durham, NC
- Savannah, GA
- Charlotte, NC
This list isn’t necessarily in order from most favorite to least favorite, but it’s in order of how the quiz listed my ideal cities (2nd, 13th, and 15th).
Durham was my second most ideal match, and I think it’s a really great option. The cost of living is similar to Tampa, it’s a smaller city but close to a big city (Raleigh), and it has a mild climate. It would give me the seasons I want to experience, with not too harsh of a winter. It seems like such a pretty city, too!
Secondly, I chose Savannah, GA. I love Georgia. I’ve visited multiple times because I have family near the Atlanta area, and it’s one of my favorite states. Savannah itself has a very low cost of living (the housing market especially!) compared to Tampa. While the climate is fairly similar to Florida’s, I still added to my list because I really think I’d enjoy living in this city. It seems to fit my personality!
Lastly, I chose Charlotte, NC because even though a certain blogger friend of mine had a terrible experience living there, everything I read and see about the city I really like. The climate isn’t too extreme, but different enough to give me a taste of actual seasons. It has a similar cost of living to Tampa, and while it’s a bigger city than I’m used to, I still think it would be a fun place to live. Lots to do and see!
Okay, so this post was rather pointless because I’m not actually seriously considering moving to a new city anytime soon. But it was fun to daydream about it! Obviously, I’d never just up and move to a new city without traveling to the area and scoping things out first. But you never know where the future leads. All I know is that I’m leaving my heart open to the possibility, but also knowing I am building a beautiful life I really love in Florida.
Have you taken this quiz? What were your top five answers? If you could move to a new city, where would you move to?
Ha, well you know how I feel about Charlotte but I know many people who love it there. I will say that the climate is not quite as ‘mild’ as I told it would be. I would say the average temp in the winter was around 30 degrees and we had snow twice… so if cold weather isn’t your thing, I’d steer away from Charlotte! I took the quiz and am not surprised to see that Minneapolis is on my list, as well as Denver, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Cleveland. Of those cities, the only ones I would live in is Minneapolis. If I moved anywhere else, it would be to Chicago. Moving to Charlotte definitely showed me what I value in a city. It needs to have an urban vibe, has to be pedestrian friendly, needs water IN the city (either a lake or river), and access to lots of running trails. Charlotte had none of these things so it’s pretty easy to see why I hated it, but the items I listed might not make someone else’s list so while I hated it there, I can totally see why others like it!
I’ve always wanted to live in either a tiny town in the South, or NYC… total opposite ends of the spectrum. I don’t love where I live in NY because our winters are awful and our taxes are crazy high, but almost all of my family is here so I know I will probably never leave. Jerry moved here from Cali and STILL hates the winters haha. I am jealous that you live in Florida though. I’ve considered it because my grandma lives there, and have even looked up jobs, but ultimately know I will probably never leave here, mainly because of my family/friends, our jobs, house, and how homesick I would be, even though I don’t always love it.
I haven’t taken it but I might have to! I agree about seasons though. I live in Maryland and enjoy dealing with all the seasons, even if some summers are beyond hot and our fall doesn’t last as long as it should! LOL
This was such a FUN post! I have dreamed about what it would be like to live in a small city. I could never live in a major city like NYC or Boston, but a smaller one would be fun to experience, even if only for a year. I’d love being able to walk places, stop in a coffee shop on my lunch break, find a farmer’s market to hit up every week, but still have that small town feel in some ways. Funnily enough, Hartford, CT came in as my #4 spot and New Haven, CT came in as my #5 spot! I live 20 minutes outside of both cities. That’s crazy! I was not expecting those results. #1 was Little Rock, AR and #2+3 were Oakland, CA and Santa Barbara, CA, and #6 was Providence, RI. I guess maybe this means I’m in the right place after all? After those cities, I had a ton in CA. I would never be able to live that far from my family no matter how cool the city seemed. This was really fun, thanks for sharing!!
I totally just jumped over to Kathleen’s post and found my answers in her comments:
1) Fort Collins, CO
2) Loveland, CO
3) Provo-Orem, UT
4) St. George, UT
5) Seattle, WA
I’m not too sure why Utah is on that list twice, but Provo-Orem looks more appealing just because it’s on Lake Utah. I’m totally a mountains & lakes kinda gal. And Seattle, well, it IS just right across the border from Vancouver, so it makes a little sense.
I really don’t know where I’d move to if I had the option to. Probably a place where the cost of living isn’t so high. (I think the average house cost here is about $350,000, and that reflects older, 2-3 bedroom houses.) I really do love where I live though – we have all the seasons, but it probably gets a little colder in the winder than what you’d prefer 😉 (Down to -4F/-20C in the winter months!)
Buzzfeed has been doing a few along these lines (I got Portland, but no way would I move somewhere even rainier than Auckland, and in another quiz it told me I should live in New Zealand, hurrah).
After having been around the world and to most cities I would consider living in I definitely cannot see any compelling reason to move. I’d love to live in NYC for a few years (not long term) but for practical reasons won’t be pursuing that.
Out of the US I most liked California overall – maybe SF.
I am all over the place when it comes to living places. I definitely need to have a metropolis nearby, as evidenced by my year of hell living in the Great White North. I dream of living in NYC, Seattle, LA or Houston/Dallas. No idea why, really, just seems lovely. I love places that are close to the beach (in one form or another), culture, and accessible to airports so I can get to other places relatively easily.
OMG, I have Nantucket on my list. How amazing is that?
I have a lot of citys in CT and VT and MA on the list. Guess I am all for the seasons. 😉
I took this quiz when Kathleen first posted about it but I forgot all my answers so I just took it again. The top cities for me are:
1) Indianapolis, IN
2) Cincinnati, OH
3) Portland, OR
4) Lynchburg, VA
5) Charleston, WV
I’m kind of surprised by my results, because I clearly put that I didn’t like the rain and it gave me Portland! I’ve been to Indy and it’s okay but not really a place I would pick. Never been to Cincinnati but I know people there. And I don’t really understand the Lynchburg or Charleston recs… Of the cities you got, I’ve only been to Savannah and I LOVED it so I think you need to move there. Because it’s all about me, obviously. 😉
It’s so funny because when I was reading this post I was thinking “I bet she’d like North Carolina!” And then when you started talking about Charlotte I was like “ooh, the city that shall not be named!” Ha! 🙂
Ben and I seriously talked about if we’d move to St. Louis after a couple of trips there – it’s a great mid-sized city and probably less than where we are now. However, I don’t think we could deal with tornados – they terrify me!
I wish they had a Canadian version of that quiz because if I can tell you one thing about moving it’s that I’d NEVER leave Canada — hello healthcare!
I really really love my current city. The only thing I don’t love is being SO far away from most family (only person here is my mom and that was very recent). But other than that the size, climate, activities available etc. are all great and I look forward to raising a family here one day!
Oh, I need to take this quiz! I have a feeling all of my cities will be in the Western Midwest & in the Northeast.
Fun fact: since I turned 18, I’ve moved to three states that were all at least 2,000 miles apart to cities I had never set foot in before I moved there permanently. And one foreign country! It is honestly one of my favorite experiences 🙂 not easy, by any means, but so empowering! I just took that quiz and Nashville was #9 so at least I got that right. Not one other of the cities on my list was one I would ever move to, so I think I answered poorly. I love Nash, but I’d definitely move again for a strong enough reason!