Me and my wife are thinking about relocation to a family friendly livable city in US with warm climate.
We are from Vancouver Canada area, both of us are RNs but my wife has been a stay home mom for last few years (and going to keep doing it for another couple years).
We have 3 kids who need elementary school, I will be looking for a full time position in critical care. We will be looking at buying a house too.
In the mean time we were looking at SF California area and central Florida...
Stay away from the coast. And look at places with temps a little colder than your ideal. Ask where the water comes from and what are they doing to it upstream.
I wouldn't touch Florida, or any coastal state unless I was well inland. There's a reason that the Seminole didn't build summer homes at the beach.
We're losing a lot of real estate and I think the smart money is going to be selling it off soon, cheap. So be careful.
Since OP hails from Vancouver area, he is quite familiar with high cost of living...except the bay area is on a whole other level in regards to housing:
(assuming these numbers are current and realistic)
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
I would look at Virginia. California is expensive and the politics in most of the South are revolting.
yes, but in the more metropolitan areas, it is not as bad. I just don't watch TV. On a day-to-day basis, it is not that bad. I have lived in both NC and SC, originally from Chicago and if I focus on work and my family it's, ok.
SF as others said is not likely doable on one income, but Sacramento is. We are notorious for being difficult to get a job in tho. But the cot of living is reasonable. I hhave a nice house in the suburbs for 300k and we get by fine on my income. :).
Although cost of livin is cheap other places so are salaries. I bring home 6k or more a month after taxes, especially if I work OT. You don't want to live in sac but there's lots of great neighborhoods outsider the main city with reasonable driving distance.
I'm giggling at whoever suggested Virginia - I mean, it's no Canada, but the weather here has been so cold and wet and miserable the past month or so that I've been daydreaming about moving to Florida myself!
I would suggest South Carolina as well - housing is not as expensive as North Carolina, and gas is a LOT cheaper. You might get a smattering of snow - maybe an inch - and that will close down most of the schools and businesses. Charleston is lovely, and the suburbs are very family friendly and much more affordable than downtown.
Or you might find what you like in Georgia - Atlanta has a lot to offer.
Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.
North Carolina- our housing prices are reasonable in the Triangle if you avoid the Inner Beltline of Raleigh, we have Duke,
Wake Med and UNC, and we have really pleasant seasons. Summer gets a little ridiculous (over 100 sometimes), but there is something to be said for having lots of sunny days in the 50s in January and February.
We also have the SUN, which I'm sure you don't see often in Vancouver (I did watch the X files growing up...)
I'm giggling at whoever suggested Virginia - I mean, it's no Canada, but the weather here has been so cold and wet and miserable the past month or so that I've been daydreaming about moving to Florida myself!
I would suggest South Carolina as well - housing is not as expensive as North Carolina, and gas is a LOT cheaper. You might get a smattering of snow - maybe an inch - and that will close down most of the schools and businesses. Charleston is lovely, and the suburbs are very family friendly and much more affordable than downtown.
Or you might find what you like in Georgia - Atlanta has a lot to offer.
I'm not sure which Virginia you've been living in, but October had above normal temps.
Also, SE Virginia is definitely a subtropical climate like much of NC and SC.
heron, ASN, RN
4,663 Posts
Stay away from the coast. And look at places with temps a little colder than your ideal. Ask where the water comes from and what are they doing to it upstream.
I wouldn't touch Florida, or any coastal state unless I was well inland. There's a reason that the Seminole didn't build summer homes at the beach.
We're losing a lot of real estate and I think the smart money is going to be selling it off soon, cheap. So be careful.