Affordable places you would actually want to live

Evan B said:
Yeah I'm the same with the NE... I don't necessarily dislike some of the nicer areas, but it's different in a way that would never feel like home to me. I can't quite articulate why, but it's just not for me. I don't mind visiting though.
Click to expand...
My wife had to visit Manchester NH a few times for work and REALLY enjoyed her time there. I LOVED Portland ME when I visited (unseasonably warm stretch in January) and I enjoyed Boston. We've talked about Pittsburgh or Philadelphia areas as well. I bet it doesn't come to pass, but I'm open to it.

The wife is also interested in travel nursing once she's done with school. We don't have strong family ties anywhere in particular so we want to explore what a long term landing spot could be. To me this means where we might end up a decade from now. We'd rent out our house in Tacoma because we have a sweetheart mortgage that is considerably less than average rent for a place like ours and allow us to come back if we decide to.
 
wanderingrichard said:
I wanna see AI physically unclog the sewers when they back up. Or respond to a semi that's rolled over and set it back on its wheels inside 1 1/2 lanes of traffic like the guys at Pepe's Towing in LA
Click to expand...
You won't. But what you will see is built in automotive AI directing medical and vehicle recovery services to said accident before anyone even has a thought to call 911. Reduction of dispatchers.
 
Gary Knowels said:
My wife had to visit Manchester NH a few times for work and REALLY enjoyed her time there. I LOVED Portland ME when I visited (unseasonably warm stretch in January) and I enjoyed Boston. We've talked about Pittsburgh or Philadelphia areas as well. I bet it doesn't come to pass, but I'm open to it.

The wife is also interested in travel nursing once she's done with school. We don't have strong family ties anywhere in particular so we want to explore what a long term landing spot could be. To me this means where we might end up a decade from now. We'd rent out our house in Tacoma because we have a sweetheart mortgage that is considerably less than average rent for a place like ours and allow us to come back if we decide to.
Click to expand...
My wife did the travel nursing thing for a few years. I had a job I could work from about anywhere and it was a great way to get a taste of potential landing spots. You get proficient at traveling light as contracts tend to be 3 months. The constant moving did get a bit tedious after some time but we enjoyed it on the whole. If she would have liked the hospital more, we likely would have wound up in Reno. Easy airport, unlimited fishing options, and close to skiing checks most of my boxes. Plus the city is sneaky fun. It was more affordable at the time before several tech companies moved in. I believe housing is considerably higher now.
 
I am not sure i can recommend any place that does not have a local steelhead fishery as a good place to live, however I have lived in a place that is affordable and close to all the high quality services most people like to have close at hand.

That place was Pueblo West Colorado.

3500 sq ft home under 400,000
Two major hospitals
Decent achools with active community involvement
A very good trout fishery minutes away
Several high quality trout fisheries within 2 hours
High quality warm water fisheries nearby
Mountains with public lands nearby
Good jumping off point for exploring the rest of the country.
Very moderate winters summers can get hot.
Very little snow and when it does snow it's gone usually in a few hours
Amazing thunderstorms but they can cause property damage
Good restaurants are few and far between.

Again, no steelhead so ignore all this.
 
headduck said:
More choices in non urban areas with being able to swing a hammer or...
Click to expand...
Much agreed....I'm too old to enter the job market in the rural area we spend most of our time in but the constant question asked is "who can I find that is reliable and will show up."
I was a career homebuilder by trade and could have work coming out of my ears right now with the influx of people in what used to be a "one horse county". BTW, I'm 85 miles to the nearest traffic light.
Funny story...35 years ago, when I was building our home, I asked the local bartender if he might know some high school kids that might want some weekend work. His reply, "Man, it's huntin' season...gonna be hard to find someone that wants to work,"
 
Last edited:
Wasatchangler said:
My wife did the travel nursing thing for a few years. I had a job I could work from about anywhere and it was a great way to get a taste of potential landing spots. You get proficient at traveling light as contracts tend to be 3 months. The constant moving did get a bit tedious after some time but we enjoyed it on the whole. If she would have liked the hospital more, we likely would have wound up in Reno. Easy airport, unlimited fishing options, and close to skiing checks most of my boxes. Plus the city is sneaky fun. It was more affordable at the time before several tech companies moved in. I believe housing is considerably higher now.
Click to expand...
I'm a high school science teacher and many states have reciprocity with my certification in WA, the states that don't are mostly states I don't want to be in (the south). That allows me to teach, at least as a substitute, with a little bit of leg work in most places we would go. A 1 year contract would obviously be best for me, but we'll see.
 
Thank for posting that article. Good reading.

This is a interesting article. I think AI specific to professional fields is coming quickly. Not many math majors are going to lose their jobs!!

https://phys.org/news/2025-11-ai-ma...&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter

On places to move to.....I just looked up the my first mountain town that I lived in 1970. It hasn't changed at all. Nice small town. Cheap, homes at less than half the cost of Wenatchee. Great mountain weather. Good fishing for California.

It doesn't have a Costco.

The rub is that it is in California.

Of course, with the "advancements" in the quality of life in Oregon and Washington I am not sure that dissing California cuts it anymore.
 
1.Amazing that I got all the way through this thread without anyone cracking a joke about asking ChatGPT to generate a list of towns that satisfy your criteria....

2. Terrace/Smithers B.C.!
 
JayB said:
1.Amazing that I got all the way through this thread without anyone cracking a joke about asking ChatGPT to generate a list of towns that satisfy your criteria....

2. Terrace/Smithers B.C.!
Click to expand...
I mean, we kind of did with an article that had all the tellings of being AI-generated.
 
Gary Knowels said:
My wife had to visit Manchester NH a few times for work and REALLY enjoyed her time there. I LOVED Portland ME when I visited (unseasonably warm stretch in January) and I enjoyed Boston. We've talked about Pittsburgh or Philadelphia areas as well. I bet it doesn't come to pass, but I'm open to it.

The wife is also interested in travel nursing once she's done with school. We don't have strong family ties anywhere in particular so we want to explore what a long term landing spot could be. To me this means where we might end up a decade from now. We'd rent out our house in Tacoma because we have a sweetheart mortgage that is considerably less than average rent for a place like ours and allow us to come back if we decide to.
Click to expand...

Traveling nurses are becoming way more common place, especially since the pandemic. My recent stints in the hospital has allowed me time to talk with the nurses. I was surprised how many of them there are traveling nurses. I also appreciated the quality of care I received. The nurses were all younger. I asked them why they chose to be a traveling nurse. Everyone of them wanted to experience different parts of the US with a goal of identifying where they wanted to live in the future. 3+ months in one location gives a whole lot better exposure to what it is like than visiting on a vacation. By going to different places they also were also exposed to more support opportunities furthering their education/skills (OJT). They all also indicated the pay was better (not sure how that works). KUDOs to them for taking the action/lead in looking forward to a better future.
 
Last edited:
RCF said:
Traveling nurses are becoming way more common place, especially since the pandemic. My recent stints in the hospital has allowed me time to talk with the nurses. I was surprised how many of them there are traveling nurses. I also appreciated the quality of care I received. The nurses were all younger. I asked them why they chose to be a traveling nurse. Everyone of them wanted to experience different parts of the US with a goal of identifying where they wanted to live in the future. 3+ months in one location gives a whole lot better exposure to what it is like than visiting on a vacation. By going to different places they also were also exposed to more support opportunities furthering their education/skills (OJT). They all also indicated the pay was better (not sure how that works). KUDOs to them for taking the action/lead in looking forward to a better future.
Click to expand...
My wife is a nurse at a hospital. She says that the traveling nurses make more per hour, but do not get benefits like health insurance (because they are not full time employees for a single employer).
 
did some work in Providence, Rhode island reeling in a business acquisition and while there did some driving around the eastern upper seaboard, came home thinking I could easily live there. Really liked those small coastal towns with their many boat anchorages filled with lobster boats and such.

Travelling nurses are the go to for hospitals needing coverage for planned staff nurse vacations, and are often offered a full time job when their coverage contract is up. It's a fine way for nurses to not only travel, it often ends up in their finding a place they want to settle in.
As to healthcare insurance, most travelling nurses work through nursing agencies that offers health care at a commercial group rate.
Few industries offers better benefits than hospitals, our all in costs for employees was calculated at wages plus 35 % to cover health insurance, PTO, disability insurance, accident insurance, and retirement programs.
When I worked in healthcare I truly enjoyed the folks I worked with. During my decade in high tech I enjoyed the money far more than the folks I worked with.
 
SurfnFish said:
did some work in Providence, Rhode island reeling in a business acquisition and while there did some driving around the eastern upper seaboard, came home thinking I could easily live there. Really liked those small coastal towns with their many boat anchorages filled with lobster boats and such.

Travelling nurses are the go to for hospitals needing coverage for planned staff nurse vacations, and are often offered a full time job when their coverage contract is up. It's a fine way for nurses to not only travel, it often ends up in their finding a place they want to settle in.
As to healthcare insurance, most travelling nurses work through nursing agencies that offers health care at a commercial group rate.
Few industries offers better benefits than hospitals, our all in costs for employees was calculated at wages plus 35 % to cover health insurance, PTO, disability insurance, accident insurance, and retirement programs.
When I worked in healthcare I truly enjoyed the folks I worked with. During my decade in high tech I enjoyed the money far more than the folks I worked with.
Click to expand...
have been thru that area a few times. never looked at home prices, and tax structure, but i had the distinct impression that housing costs were through the roof.
 
DimeBrite said:
View attachment 172923
It is a modern city on the sea in the UAE where lots of foreigners, including Americans, live and work. They like Americans. Just curious if some working age folks were considering it. Good saltwater fly fishing is available too. Sadly it's becoming harder to find the barbarians these days.
Click to expand...
an old buddy of mine lived there for 10 years while flying for Emirates. They ended up giving him a sweet deal to live there, just had to put in a 5 year commitment at the time, he doesn't regret it one bit. Now he's happily living on the outskirts of Vegas flying for UPS.

Yeah, some of that salt water fishing would be really fun! I'd probably be one of those indoor humans there though considering the heat...
 
goinoregon said:
Have u lived in the Ozarks ??? I spent 5 months in Ft Leonard Wood, 1973, and the bugs, lighting, heat, lighting, brown rivers, reservoirs that they call lakes..... Would never go back, and i have managed to not drive thru.. oh, and they have some snakes that u dont want to deal with.
Click to expand...
Ha Ha Ha!!!
Fort Lost In The Woods! Good God Man every country needs an a-hole and that was situated exactly where in the US it needed to be in 69&70. And it emptied out in Waynesville. Thank god for Rolla…well maybe not.
Saw the movie Mash in the Baker Theee’ater. God Damn ARMY!
 
My oldest daughter did the travel nurse thing for quite a while. Pay was fantastic....the travel nurse agency paid for housing and a per diem in addition to the hourly rate, which is quite good. She always tried to get into the backshift or weekend slots when they were available as those paid OT rates. She could work 2 shifts...24 hours...on a weekend backshift and be paid for a 40 hour week base pay (which was guaranteed), and have 4-5 days to explore the local area. She ended up in NYC at the height of covid when they were stacking bodies in trailers because the morgue was out of room. A real eye opener for her. She also crazily spent a winter in Fargo. At least she knows some places she doesn't want to end up in!
 
NukeLDO said:
She ended up in NYC at the height of covid when they were stacking bodies in trailers because the morgue was out of room. A real eye opener for her. She also crazily spent a winter in Fargo. At least she knows some places she doesn't want to end up in!
Click to expand...
lest we forget by 2023 NYC alone had over 77,000 COVID deaths.
An east coast surfer/nurse who works in NYC said he saw a far higher body count in the hospital than he did during two tours as a Marine fighting in the sand.
 
My goddaughter was an ICU nurse when Covid hit, she got PTSD from the experience. Became a traveling nurse and would work several months then take a couple off to travel, single. Decided to come home to Ashland, Oregon and is now working with using psilocybin to treat PTSD and other issues. Very positive outcome according to her and a lot less stress than nursing. Anyway, as one who has spent a lot of time there, Ashland and area can be very nice, some sketchy areas but overall prettier nice and affordable if not cheap if coming from Seattle or So Cal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top