Where should I move???? (leaving liberal-fornia)

General General Discussion
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Hey Forum members. One of the reasons I love M4carbine so much is the wealth of diverse knowledge that can be pulled into a particular subject. It doesn’t escape me in the least bit, that finding ‘like minded’ individuals is hard in 2019; and I have been putting a lot of thought into this for a very long time, and finally wanted to see what the forum had to say on the matter.

I am moving! Me and the wife have been living in Los Angeles for the past 2 years, while I have received better care from the VA and she had a killer aerospace job, LA and more importantly Southern California just IS NOT meant for people like me and her. We hate the: neighbors, traffic, liberals, homeless, taxes, gun laws, and even with our best income years ever, we still cant even think about buying a home here. Again, not like we even want to. I am getting my back fused in the next couple days, and that means that my rate from the VA will likely go up; meaning I will have real residual monthly income. Me and the wife have been talking for awhile about getting ‘online’ jobs, and she already has a work remote offer from her current employer. We also have a mid 5 figure savings account and investments that could mature in the next year into a nice 5 figures. We accrued all this with the intent on moving from LA to Phoenix and buying a 250k home, but honestly the last time I visited the east side it really got me thinking: “Yea I could live here, but I could live almost anywhere. Where do I WANT to live?”

I have lived in Texas, Nevada, Arizona, and obviously California for more than 6 months each. I did a little bit of pre deployment training on the east coast and saw Georgia and new jersey, but honestly couldn’t see myself living there. I also visited Florida recently and while I liked it, Im really not sure I want to live in humidity. I actually don’t mind 110F with dry air. I have never actually lived in the snow and have only driven in it a few times, but I think the best times I have ever had in my life where in the forest and mountains, and wouldn’t mind making the snow compromise to make that happen. My truck isn’t 4 wheel drive, but I have BFG’s and a limited slip diff. I was fine driving in light snow recently, even when all the cars where stuck. The states I am curious about are Colorado, Utah, Oregon, and Montana. I am seriously looking still in Arizona, but Prescott is the only area I can afford the trees. Flagstaff is too expensive. The wife brought up Hawaii, but like remote not on the big island or cities? That might be cool because we both love SCUBA. Still not sure I want to buy there.

Anyways, after I heal up from this surgery we are planning a month long road trip where we drive the entire pacific northwest and into Canada, and come back through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, ect. The main goal is just to hit all the national parks that we can, but the obvious secondary objective is to find a new town or community. Any suggestions?

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If you can afford Hawaii and can tolerate their gun laws which aren’t much better than Cali’s, the weather would fill your check boxes. The Big Island is not crowded, the island of O’ahu is (where Waikiki and the city of Honolulu is). The other islands are more remote. The advantage is if you don’t like it, you can always sell and will never lose. Real Estate in Hawaii is a guaranteed good investment. It keeps going up unless you bought next to the active Volcano that erupted (dumb from the get go). Florida is very humid, but that is what AC is for.

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Wyoming first choice. No income tax and the other taxes are low overall. Most of the state is pretty rural. Cheyenne, Laramie, Jackson are the “big cities”. Best gun laws and likely the most “free” state left. One of the best economically for retirees.
Cons: windy. Lacks many of the big city trappings outside of Cheyenne. Much of the middle of the state is not exactly picturesque, but much better than Utah or Nevada .
Second choice, Idaho.

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I live in Alaska. If I had to move, the only place I’d be going to would be Idaho.

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If you are looking to escape CA, don’t stop in Oregon.

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Colorado is California light. What CA does, CO follows suit. It’s beautiful here, but so is Idaho/Montana/Wyoming…

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I dunno. I am used to where I am at. Everywhere else is weird and lame.

Or full of people I hate.

Alaska seems good on paper but is essentially American Siberia.
Only two things come from Texas…
And New Methico is out

Like if I had the money…I’d move to Saipan.

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And I would say forget Colorado as well…

I came here from Montana 9 years ago. I still think about Montana all the time.

I grew up in Idaho and my wife’s from Wyoming. I would easily live in Idaho, Montana or Wyoming. My next move will be one of those 3.

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New Mexico is going blue faster than I can keep up. Avoid.

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I spent a week in Phoenix about a month ago, and drove all over it for work…I wasn’t impressed with, well, any of it.

Wyoming and Montana would be solid choices. I’ve visited both multiple times on vacations.

I really enjoy spending time in Oregon and Colorado, but I won’t even consider living there due to them being New-Californias.

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Probably worth bearing in mind that you will have to deal with snow most of the year in MT/ID/WY. Depending on where you live, you may not need 4WD/AWD. Depending on where you live, it might be nice - or it might be necessary. Cuz when it isn’t snow, it’s often either mud or ice.

Where I’m at, 2WD will get you most places you might want or need to go (there are plenty of trailheads you can reach with 2WD, but they’re going to be closer to town and therefore busier). But it won’t get you some of the places you might want to go, especially if you want to go into the mountains far from other people. I would advise bringing or buying skis or snow shoes, cuz there are lots of places where you won’t be able to get anywhere on foot without them.

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Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, or western South Dakota (Black Hills).

I would look in those areas.

In Wyoming Cheyenne is not exactly picturesque but is close to Colorado. Casper would be my pick if I wanted a larger town, close to the mountains. Places like Jackson Hole are super expensive, but gorgeous. Cody is a neat town but remote. Northeast Wyoming is mostly “meh”, Gillette is not my favorite place even though I may end up moving there for work at some point if required. Sheridan area is also a nice place, easy drive up to Billings, MT and at the foot of the Big Horn mountains.

I currently live in SD in the Black Hills and like it pretty well.

Only place I’ve spent any time in Idaho was in Lewiston, and I could happily live there.

Been to Salt Lake City a few times, and it’s a nice town, northern Utah looks interesting. My wife’s cousin lives in Provo and likes it.

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Colorado: super crowded, expensive, Kalifornia politics. Traffic and air pollution on the front range, where 98% of the people live. Avoid.

Utah: SLC is weirder and much worse off for crime and social problems than you would think based on outdated assumptions about Mormons. I was shocked. Outside of greater SLC valley area you have extreme wilderness. Check it out, but I would pass.

Oregon: beautiful state. Beautiful. Politics suck and are getting worse, dominated by Portland. Outside of Portland you would probably love the people, but the politics are bad. Proposed gun laws are worse than Kalifornia.

Montana: nice state. Big. As long as you can do winter and short winter days, it’s pretty nice. Not reliably conservative but definitely not as far left as CA, OR or what CO is turning into.

Look at Idaho and Wyoming also. WY has the best political outlook, but a lot of other drawbacks. ID has a mixed political outlook but a lot of things going for it. Northern Idaho is very different from Boise is somewhat different from south central and eastern Idaho. I would look at northern first, Boise second, not at all east of there.

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I am working on a project in Salt Lake City and have been out there a couple times. Going out there again Feb 17-19. No idea what it’s like to really live there but my god, it is beautiful. Two weeks ago I was out there, landed at noon, had some lunch and by 1:30 I was hiking in the mountains. Living in NJ I am used to snow and can drive it in no problem, FWD, RWD, AWD, 4WD, I have driven using all in the snow.

Of all the places I have been for work: LA, Mexico City, Vegas, Texas, Louisiana and Minnesota for work [not counting all the neighboring states]. I liked Utah the most. Honestly, of all the places I have been in the US, period, I like Utah/SLC the most.

I would totally move out there but it’s too far from my parents and they aren’t getting any younger.

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SLC was way different than I imagined when I went last year. Beautiful and like Alex said, you can be in the mountains within 30 minutes to an hour.

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I’m kind of in the same boat, in terms of being ready to leave my shitty, bankrupt, decrepit, deep-blue state (Midwest - take a guess). Considering things like weather, land prices, taxes, gun laws, etc., Tennessee keeps coming out towards the top of my list. I’d never consider anywhere in the East north of North Carolina (except maybe WV).

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I love VA especially the Shenandoah Valley. Also like NC.

I’m from the Philly suburbs and if you don’t mind four seasons I think it’s great. Good laws and close proximity to the ocean, cities, and wilderness.

PA also has preemption laws regarding guns so cities can’t make their own rules. Philly and Pittsburgh have a bunch of liberals but the State government has been under GOP for most of the last 50+ years. Also the state constitution reads “the right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves or the State shall not be questioned”
CCW licenses are super easy to get outside of Philly (those a holes take a month to approve them out of spite). I have renewed mine in less than 15 mins without an appointment.

Cost of living is all over the place so there is something for any income level. It is kind of an oasis of sanity among the surrounding communist states. PA, NH, and Maine are the only states worth living in in the NE. VT was nice but the lefties are taking that over.

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I too live in the suburbs of Philly. We are getting invaded by liberals and the House of Representatives just got re-districted so I plan on seeing even more liberals. I love the spring and summer but hate the winters. Fall is nice when it exists. This year it was here but sometimes the weather goes right from summer to winter.
I also have a house in south east Idaho, about 90 minutes from Idaho Falls. Other than lower income and snow, I’d love to live there.

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I’m in missouri, it’s a nice state, we are close to a lot of other place for travel and the gun rights are amazing here.

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Or Washington. Both places been F’ed over from Californians .

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