Which state in the USA for a small-town lifestyle?

[EleventyTrillion]

I have the opportunity to move to the states, basically anywhere I like. It's something I've always loved the idea of, though I've never actually been there.

First off - guns. I know. I don't have any children and it's just not something I'm particularly worried about. Ditto politics. I know many people would not entertain a move to the states for these reasons, but I still want to go. I'm purely interested in which parts of the country would offer the best quality of life for someone like me.

I've always lived rurally in the UK and am definitely not wanting to live in a city or large town. I just want space - the kind of space you don't get in the UK unless you're very wealthy. Not necessarily a big house, but space around it.

I love the look of the towns in Christmas films. Maybe Vermont or Massachusetts. I don't really like the heat and I do like mountains. Can take or leave the coast. I don't have many hobbies except walking, and am very introverted and not bothered about meeting people really.

So for someone like me, where shall I start looking? I'll only be renting for the first while, but have £400k equity in my UK house which I plan to eventually put towards a home wherever I settle.

Oh! And I will be working completely remotely, so that's not a factor either.

I don’t know the US well, but I think I’d choose either Hawaii or Alaska.

Alaska definitely appeals!

I have a friend who lives in Maine and it seems amazing. Beautiful scenery, next to the sea, a nice laid-back semi-rural lifestyle.

Mid- New York State is beautiful. Farm country, autumn colours, hot summers snowy winters, around Albany? Catskills and Adirondacks to the west and south, green mountains of New Hampshire to the East. Easy into NY and Boston.

I went to New Hampshire and thought it was lovely

Or go to a college town. Middlebury maybe or Hanover New Hampshire near Dartmouth college if you really want to be rural. You get cultural events like theatre, music, poetry readings, good bookshops and good restaurants in college towns that small non-college towns just don’t have.

Washington State

I have a friend who lives in Warwick upstate New York. It's gorgeous. Small town, pretty buildings, near to the mountains and the city. She also spends a lot of her free time in Maine, which is also beautiful.

Maine

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4-Martin-Ln_Hanover_NH_03755_M42481-84016?from=srp-list-card

pretty!

Vermont

Portland? Or Washington/Oregon?

Basically top left and top right. Make sure you check the internet coverage, you can probably more or less guarantee it here but I don’t think you can there.

Where is the Gilmore Girls set? Is that the kind of place?

I was going to suggest New Hampshire, purely from the way Bill Bryson wrote about it when he lived there. It sounds so beautiful.

One of the college towns in northern Massachusetts

New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut.
I studied for a term at college in NH, lovely area.

You could move to any one of the 50 states and find a small-town lifestyle OP, because there are small towns everywhere. But if you are attracted to New England it is a very beautiful part of the USA. Winters are long and cold, summers are hot and autumn is a stunning blaze of colours. Upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine - all have lovely small towns that would provide what you're looking for. I'm guessing you're dreaming of somewhere like Woodstock, VT, but property prices can be high in the very popular and picturesque towns.

If you don't want hot summers then Alaska would be a good choice, it's also a place where you really can get away from people, if you want to. In the whole vast state (1.723 million sq km), there are just 732,000 people. Alaskans generally pride themselves on being self-sufficient - they tend to live there because they want to get away from the reach of government and other people. The Pacific Northwest (Washington and Oregon) is cooler than much of the rest of the US and is less wild and remote, if Alaska sounds like a step too far.

I'm going to say New Hampshire too, and in addition to the college towns I'd recommend checking out:
Concord
Milford
The cluster of towns near Portsmouth like Exeter, Newmarket and Durham - Portsmouth itself is lovely though not a small town
The nicer suburbs of Manchester like Bedford and Amherst (the North End of Manchester is a lovely neighbourhood too, and the city is on the up since the Millyard was regenerated)

All of the above are liberal, lovely countryside, but big enough to have amenities without driving too far. And commutable to Boston if you need to, as well as close enough to Logan to be convenient for travel.

Reading all these suggestions I’m getting homesick for places I’ve never been to. I think it’s called fernweh.

Concord, Mass also worth checking out - lovely town and on the train line to Boston.

www.zillow.com/homedetails/46-Stevens-Rd-Hanover-NH-03755/92849081_zpid/

I really recommend you go and visit though OP before you commit to moving there. I lived in the US for several years and have visited more times than I can remember and it's very different from the UK. Someone (possibly George Bernard Shaw) described the US and UK as 'two nations divided by a common language' and that's very true. The fact that we speak roughly the same language can make the two nations seem more similar and familiar than they are. The US is really very foreign. It took me a long time to feel at home there. It's not just the UK, but bigger and with guns. It's a very different place.

I think Gilmore Girls is New York. Or possibly Connecticut. Lots of very pretty places in both of those, but a little culturally sterile. A bit like Surrey I think.

Why do you think you'll be happier there OP, then say rural Scotland which is gun free with women's rights and free healthcare?

I think Virgin River sounds a perfect fit!