Affordable places you would actually want to live

"AI displacement will be an economic wrecking ball for millions of families." Already starting. I do not trust AI, but that is another thread that could be developed.
 
Jim in Anacortes said:
Years ago I moved to the PNW. I had never heard the phrase "Seattle Freeze". But I soon learned that it is customary to completely ignore your next door neighbor. In places like the Ozark Mountains this would be unheard of. It's different there.
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I have lived in Washington since 1953 with brief stint in Alabama. I have always known my neighbors in Washington.

If a Northerner moves down South, there is bit more to overcome. Just sayin'. It even occurs in Montana - from personal experience.
 
Yeah I lived with hillbillies and rednecks too. In fact I dated a girl in high school whose dad was a Pentecostal preacher and snake handler.

I’m good on all that, and their acceptance of everyone… who fits very specific criteria.
 
One thing to take into account when looking at places to move is it a destination town everyone wants to visit?

Changes dynamics and feel. Depending on what you prefer, good or bad.
 
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Culture does have to play into a family man’s decision, though. I have a daughter, for example, which affects my thought process on where I want to raise a family. I lived in a places where misogyny was an accepted norm. I avoid those places for livin’, and travel there informed.
 
Regarding health care - rural economics are why so many rural patients are routinely under-diagnosed and under treated until an illness forces them to the 'city' to get first rate diagnostic treatment for heart conditions, cancers, auto-immune disease, joint replacement, etc.
And it's why rural hospitals/emergency rooms, chronically under funded, are usually at best level 4 trauma centers, and routinely lose patients to heart attacks at a higher rate than the metro hospitals which are typically level two or level one trauma centers.
Folks tend not to consider the distance to first rate healthcare until the first time they really need it, as in right now.
 
Yup
Out here it's a Level 4 Traima Center, Critical Access Hospital.
This designation provides benefits like cost-based reimbursement from Medicare, which allows these vital community hubs to remain open and provide essential services.
Most folks that are worried about things carry Airlift insurance for the fly out to Harborview.
I had some issues, they moved me out right away ( not air, but ground) as they're not designed to handle serious things for long periods, stabilize and move out asap is protocol.
Being close to a good health care system with options is nice.
Might even keep you around longer.
 
I think Vermont is an excellent place to raise kids. It's about the safest place on earth. Geologically stable. Political stable with a tradition of divided government. Cheap houses and land. Rural, but 2 hours to Boston. Excellent fishing everywhere.

But you have to be willing to deal with a severe lack of diversity (in culture, language, skin tone, and food), long, harsh winters, and biting bugs during the beautiful summers.
 
Zak said:
I think Vermont is an excellent place to raise kids. It's about the safest place on earth. Geologically stable. Political stable with a tradition of divided government. Cheap houses and land. Rural, but 2 hours to Boston. Excellent fishing everywhere.

But you have to be willing to deal with a severe lack of diversity (in culture, language, skin tone, and food), long, harsh winters, and biting bugs during the beautiful summers.
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I luv the bugs. Such diversity... Moths, butterflies, beetles, lightening bugs, cicadas, hoppers, bees ---> heaven! I collected over 300 species in my 5 years in Alabama. <--- nerd attack!
 
RCF said:
I luv the bugs. Such diversity... Moths, butterflies, beetles, lightening bugs, cicadas, hoppers, bees ---> heaven! I collected over 300 species in my 5 years in Alabama. <--- nerd attack!
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Conspicuously absent from your list are black flies, mosquitos, no see ums, ticks, deer flies, and horse flies. All of which Vermont abounds in, in their season.
 
jaredoconnor said:
The whole Lyme disease thing really puts me off ever wanting to live out east. If it weren’t for that, we would be considering it. My wife is from NJ.
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My boss is dealing with this now. Picked it up at his favorite camping spot in Wisconsin a few months ago and just spent 2wks in the hospital.

I now know three people who have contracted Lyme Disease out east in the time I've known them just in the last few years. So yeah, that concern is very real.
 
RCF said:
If poisonous snakes bother you, stay in western Washington, western Oregon, Hawaii or Alaska.
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I’m from Australia… We have something like 6 of the top 10 most venomous snakes in the world. I think USA has zero. 🤣

I am more scared of ticks than snakes, bears or cougars. I feel like with most wildlife you have some element of control, whereas ticks will F you up and you won’t even know they’re there. Being stalked by a cougar carries the same sort of fear, but for whatever reason that doesn’t worry me as much.
 
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