Calling US-based mumsnetters

[StathLetsFlats]

I am looking for a change. Tell me where you live and why I should move there. I am currently living in NYC and, although I know this is an unpopular opinion.. but NY is like an inferior version of London. I can’t move back to London (Brexit) so would like a complete change for a couple of years, maybe somewhere a bit cheaper and a bit warmer! But definitely with cool things going on. Any ideas?

[TannatTart]

How about Atlanta?

[StathLetsFlats]

I don’t want to split my time, (or live in Florida 😂) it is only for a few years so I want to actually live somewhere different.

[AlbertWinestein]

I love the west coast in its entirety, Also, Austin TX, Bozeman MT (but the winters are worse than ours are), Phoenix and Sedona in Az, Park City and SLC in Utah, Denver, Asheville in NC, DC (I REALLY love DC) to name a few. I actually also really like Franconia in NH but there’s not THAT much going on.


I’m less enamored with Nashville. It just seems like Country Music Disneyland to me.

[pallisers]

So you have to be US based and near an international airport.

tbh if I were you I'd stay in NY or London and spend the winters in Miami. I'd hate that myself (other than the London bit) but it would suit you as the weather seems to matter a lot to you.

When deciding where to live you have to balance lots of things = weather, culture, etc. Nowhere has everything.

[StathLetsFlats]

Yes, we are only going to be able to go near an international airport. Not yet, Durgasarrow my husband needs to be US based. On the cards for the future though. Still have a house there.

[pallisers]

And travel, but we both travel in opposite directions so don’t really have a place we need to be.

well you do really (unless you love connections). You need to be near an international airport with direct flights to most places you travel to. I'd rate a direct flight above snow in winter.

[Durgasarrow]

I think you'd better suck it up and move to London if you can't find what you're looking for in New York.

[StathLetsFlats]

But my husband has to be US based for now.

[StathLetsFlats]

We both work from home. And travel, but we both travel in opposite directions so don’t really have a place we need to be.

[lljkk]

What work do you do that you can so blithely choose anywhere to live?

[HoldMyLobster]

You can't buy a car from a dealer in Maine on a Sunday. The car dealers aren't allowed to open at all because of blue laws. We go to New Hampshire if we're car shopping on Sundays. Bizarre :-)

[pallisers]

You usen't to be able to buy alcohol at all on a Sunday in Boston up until recently - the blue laws. And there are several dry towns too.

[LittleMy77]

NYC also has the weirdness that you can't buy booze before 12 on a Sunday - makes boozy brunch a bit difficult! The TJs in NYC has a wine shop next door to the grocery store but there's always a line

[mathanxiety]

Some places are 'dry' - or partially dry. It's a hangover from Prohibition or from the vision of the earnest teetotaler founders of municipalities..

LOL @pumkinseason - they offer little samples of wine in the supermarket closest to me.

My suburban neck of the woods used to be completely dry but sanity prevailed in the end.

[HoldMyLobster]

You can’t buy wine in Trader Joes?!?!

This was my shocked reaction too :-)

OP, I've lived all over the US, and I've found that the places I did not expect to like were the places I ended up loving, and vice versa.

Having said that, if you don't want snow then don't move to Portland Maine. It's the best city in the country, but it does get 4-6 feet of snow each year.

[StathLetsFlats]

you can't move back to London because of Brexit? Oh pleassse. I’ll reword that “I don’t want to move back to London because of Brexit”.

[pumkinseason]

it. But you can’t buy wine (or any other alcohol except beer) in grocery stores in NY. Another bloody reason to leave 😂

That is terrible, Chicago has shocking winters but my local supermarket sells wine and has two bars in it.

[mindutopia]

I used to live in NYC (I'm American, but I live in the UK now). It's honestly quite difficult to find anywhere suitable in the US once you've lived in NY. The rest is pretty substandard to be fair (if that's what you're used to). Fwiw, I actually like NYC more than London. I think it's much more interesting. But if you must move, I would consider California. San Diego is very nice (LA less so). San Francisco and the Bay Area generally are nice, but you have to be able to afford it. I think housing costs are probably more than in NY. I've lived in both and I still prefer NY personally, but it's easier in SF with children. Places like Portland and Seattle are also very nice, similar to SF in many ways, but not so tech guru overpriced and not quite so pretentious. That's pretty much all I would recommend. I wouldn't go anywhere in the middle bits or the south, personally.

[Ginfordinner]

"You can't move back to London because of Brexit? Oh pleassse. 🤫"

I wondered about that as well.

[WAGatha]

You can't move back to London because of Brexit? Oh pleassse. 🤫

[mathanxiety]

I was going to suggest Chicago but you've been there and done that.

Raleigh Durham/ Chapel Hill in NC might suit.

[mathanxiety]

Not in NYC.

[IJumpedAboardAPirateShip]

You can’t buy wine in Trader Joes?!?!

[LilyAraminta]

If California sounds appealing, maybe look into Santa Barbara/Montecito. Perfect weather, great restaurants, arts and non-profit heavy, gorgeous beaches, easy drive to LA, super quick flight to SF (there are charter flight companies that serve people who commute to either during the week--I believe one is called Surf Air). It's not packed full of large corporations by any means, but a surprising number of companies have offices there so it's not a complete struggle to find good jobs.
It's pricey, but not on the level of NYC or London.
Since you are from London, the two UK related things I can tie to Santa Barbara are

1. The polo fields that William and Kate visited on their trip to CA are there.
   
2. A simply stunning Rosewood hotel just opened in Montecito and the Rosewood London is my favorite city hotel, so the two are associated in my mind

[StathLetsFlats]

My list of demands keeps getting longer.. 😂