Why Do You Live Where You Live?

Close to my kids and if that changed can't afford to move. Beyond that important reason, I would prefer to move back to the Salem Oregon area. I grew up south of there beween Salem and Portland but would probably pick Salem itself. If you can't find a decent job in the state capital then there is a problem. I think the parking lot for the State Fairgrounds alone is nearly the size of the entire fairgrounds here near Colfax. Been a few years though since I have seen the fair in Salem.

On the plus side, "traffic" out here in the middle of nowhere is absolutely nothing. I learned to drive on I-5/217/The Banfield and have yet to see anything resembling actual traffic in 10+ years. Spokane is a different story, but that shares much more in common with Portland in terms of size/layout/congestion/etc.

 

I moved to Singapore for work. I have since changed jobs and am still here. My family and I Iove it here.

The reason we live where we do in Singapore is because it is one of the few places that gives us a house with a yard that is also affordable. Prior to this place, we lived in condos. They had pools and all the amenities, but they were still just apartments.

Long story short, we had an opportunity to move into this neighbourhood and jumped at it. It's close to the subway. Close to all the amenities we want and not too far from work.

 

We can't afford to move. A degree in Journalism (me) and a degree in Music (my wife) doesn't equal high paying jobs. Choosing to do work we enjoy is another factor.

When we moved into our neighborhood it was mostly retirement age white people, many widows since men tend to die before women. Housing prices were high enough to keep rental properties to a minimum, but that has changed. One way folks here cover the rent is having mutiple families living in one house. That was rare back when we decided to buy our house.

 

I was born here.
I've had my thumb up, but nobody is stopping.

 

Given the conservative movement in Texas over the last few decades (not that most Texas democrats were any where close to being considered liberals), I would have no problem leaving Texas.

 

I live somewhere in the triangle formed by the headquarters of Google, Apple and Facebook. We came out here because I got a job, and we're kind of stuck out here because we lucked into a cheap apartment in a place that's kind of awesome for raising kids.

This place is a bubble in so many ways. There wasn't really an economic downturn here. Everyone here is from somewhere else because the cost of living is so expensive. Houses that would be $200,000 where I grew up sell for $1.5 million here and are frequently bought by Chinese real estate investors sight unseen. Because of the ridiculous cost of living out here, it's pretty unlikely that we'll stick around after the kids go off to whatever they decide to do after high school. Especially because droughts and ocean-flooding are in the region's long term forecasts.

 

I know folks who work there. As an employer, it's kind of a mixed bag. Aside from the name (and the stock options), it can be kind of a shitty place to work. They have more of an Apple approach to employee satisfaction (long hours, pay that doesn't necessarily compare well with other companies in the area), than a Facebook approach (lots of amenities, frequent off-site excursions, unlimited free perfectly cooked bacon). Though if you work in the right department, you can take a Tesla home with you to "test drive".

 

It's an exciting company to work for, for sure. And having an in with Elon Musk, no matter how small, is kind of awesome if he's your thing.

 

i olive where i live because of a bad decicion. i grew up in the town i live in now, met my wife in school, we got married and moved to a small town 40 miles south of where we currently live. i loved my house, i had 6+ acres of land, it was in the country. that is what i wanted, fast forward many years, my wifes mom died (long story) and at the time she died my wife was 7 months pregnant. after all was said and done with the funeral, my sister in law made the comment that we could move into their moms house, which is across the street from my sister in law, becasue she could help with the baby, closer to family etc... my wife thought it would be a great idea, but she knew i hated the idea. but i agreed because i wanted to make my wife happy. needless to say we had some work done to the house and i packed up everything in our old house on a friday, put it in a ryder truck, unloaded it all the next day with the help of some friends and my wife was induced on monday. for the record i hate my house and where i live. the shcool system sucks ass thats why i put my daughter in a private school.

 

I grew up in this crazy state and without Jadzia to keep me in NJ coming back to Alaska seemed to the right choice.
Finding a place to live is a challenge because the rents are so high but my kiddo found a decent apartment on a bus route and bike trails for less than a major organ every month.
Heat is important considering the weather and of course cable, neither of which is cheap.

There is something amazing about this place that can be hard to describe.
Just stepping out the front door and looking out at the mountains or seeing moose walking down the street.
I've lived here all my life and coming back is a weird experience.

 

I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is consistently rated as one of the best places to live in the US. There are plenty of cultural opportunities, topnotch health care facilities, good public schools, an excellent public transit system, very little crime, and just about the only thriving old-city downtown business district in Michigan, if not the Midwest.

There's a wide variety of housing available, from semi-rural to suburban ranch houses to walkable historic neighborhoods to high-rise apartments. Housing costs are high by Midwest standards, but very low compared to the coasts.

When my wife finished her internship, she had offers for postdocs in three places: Yale, Northwestern, and the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor was the most sensible choice, given that we were getting married later that year, and it was closest to where family and friends were.

Ann Arbor is a sought-after place to live and work for professional people, so rents are high and salaries are low. Hence, a whole lot of people either work in Ann Arbor and live cheaper elsewhere, or live in Ann Arbor and commute to more lucrative jobs elsewhere. My wife and I were in the latter group for several years, commuting two hours a day in opposite directions, but now we both live and work here.

 

Came out of Maryland, a nice area but heavily crowded. That being said, I don't want to live in the country either. So I told my wife at the time, "we're moving, make it so". So we moved to an inland state, not too far from the mountains. Warm dry summers, variable winters. Good snowstorms, but can be fifty degrees two days later. Great skiing in the mountains, good mountain biking. Decent open space. Housing isn't cheap, but a little better than Maryland. Low humidity means fewer bugs, less sweating. This area is developing, so it is getting more crowded. But most areas have carved out some open space. I'm happy here. And now I like what I do.

 

This is a good question.

I moved here for a job is the easy answer. I would have moved pretty much anywhere back when I was looking for work.

If I lost my job, I would like to move, but I have no idea where I could move to. There is a high possibility of buying a boat and traveling around Michigan in the Summer and Florida in the Winter. Because just staying in my house that I have now, the property taxes and insurance would cost as much as food for a year on a boat.

This area in Ohio isn't too bad. Well, November through March aren't very good since it is cold. But, I have found very few cities around the world that are better at the same cost of living. If I wanted to live like I do now in San Francisco let's say, I would probably need 3x the salary. The one place I would move back to is Arizona. I'm not sure where in the Phoenix valley I would want to move to, but it is a possibility. Arizona has it's own problems though. New Mexico might be an option, as would Nevada. Reno or Vegas would be high on my list. I wouldn't rule out California yet either. The issue is figuring out where to move to and what to do. After visiting Washington, the Oregon Coast, and the Northern coast of California, I realized that I need to be within 10 miles of a hardware big box store, and within 10 miles of a large grocery store. But, I would also like to live close to a beach. I have never lived anywhere close to a nice beach.

Moving out of the country might be an option someday, but so would moving back to my hometown (at least for the Summer).