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.

In total agreement about the lack of regulation -- you may indeed wind up next to a development, especially if you're in a "desirable" location. The place where I grew up (now very desirable) is completely unrecognizable now. New England does seem to be more mindful about this stuff.

Alaska ? @EleventyTrillion

Also, I would say for the differences in culture I can only speak about the South versus New England. In the South, it's not necessarily the case that Christianity will play a part in your neighbors' lives, but it's more likely, so that's something to consider if those politics don't align with yours. Also, I know this is reinforcing another stereotype, but it's true that people in the South tend to be extroverted and chatty you may love this or find it exhausting. When I moved to New England it was sort of disconcerting but also fascinating -- there's a sort of practical Yankee sensibility, people are more likely to keep to themselves.

If you have no children and can work remotely then why be tied down to one state. Buy a motor home and try them all!
My ex is from New England and it’s is beautiful from about March to November but I couldn’t stand the winter. You could just drive further south and miss all the snow

This place only has one resident

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monowi,_Nebraska#:~:text=Monowi%20(%2Fˈm%C9%92n,of%20the%20village%2C%20Elsie%20Eiler.

I had an aunt in Oxford, Ohio, and that seemed the quintessential small university town when we visited.

I’m also going to say not Texas. Although I loved my time there it was hot, humid, full
of bitey things (mosquitoes, snakes, spiders and alligators), mad driving, guns and extreme poverty.

You'd be better off posting on Reddit not Mumsnet

Maine or The Pacific NorthWest. Washington State is full of small beautiful towns and they don't have state income tax so you save some money. I would look in the San Juan Islands, Walla Walla, White Salmon, etc.

Yes, if you like trails and woods Massachusetts is the place for you. Lakes as well.

Lucky you! What a great opportunity. For all its problems (and what country doesn't?), America has some beautiful landscapes and towns.

@EleventyTrillion Which visa are you getting? (or maybe you're married to a US citizen?)

I would think carefully about what kind of weather you want. Mountains: Old Smokey’s- not that cold, ever, no snow, no skiing. New England, absolutely bloody freezing 5-6 months of the year, more humid buggy summers. Colorado, pretty cold in the winter, plenty of snow. Pacific Northwest, cold enough for consistently good skiing but not that cold (-5c-10c for skiing most of the time). Do you care about flights being on the more affordable side to get home? Do you like having to deal with crap tons of snow all the time? If not, the Rockies and north east are not for you.

I live in the PNW and think it’s pretty great, mountains, ocean. We live in the city but the view from our house is the sea with 12,000 foot mountains as the back drop. The city is busy but go 45 mins outside and you can access proper wilderness areas. Eastern part of the state is very sparsely populated.

@pepperminticecream shhhhh don’t tell anyone!! Our sales tax and property taxes are a real bitch!

Rural small town life is everywhere you’re being vague. You gotta think climate first. Terrible winters long summers? Or all round novel summer climate, albeit it a bit soupy further south. College towns, hill towns, Mountains ( that was a yes) sea/beach - u don’t seem bothered , pick a vague indicator .

But this is much more amateur and therefore interesting !

Beacon, New York. Visited once and it had small town vibe and was beautiful

@VivaLaVolvo Texas?!? Jesus Christ on a bike.. do not come to Texas. I’m here. It’s a special breed of ignorance wrapped in patriotism.

@mathanxiety is on the money with Asheville. The blue Smokey mountains are amazing.

if you are on a fully remote contract why do you need to actually live in America? Rent a place, sublet it, stay in England. You get what you pay for in your taxes.

Anywhere north of CT is a no go for me. Too much snow. They get Ft not inches. Absolutely no way am I dealing with that. I fly in to ski. That is it. I don’t pump my own gas (New Jersey fan) and I don’t shovel snow because that is how people have heart attacks.

Definitely check out what the walking situation is like in reality if you are looking at neighborhoods, and never just assume that “It will be great for walking as there’s lots of space.” I don’t think the whole right-of-way culture is quite the same in the States, and “walking” is in some rural areas associated with massive multi-day trails, not little day walks meandering through the countryside like you get in the UK. A lot of residential areas in the US are also pretty hopeless due to lack of pavements.

Missoula Montana is good shout if you can handle the winter.

I 'loved' Kentucky and Tennessee. Yes they're southern, but relatively cheap, decent climate, beautiful rolling green countryside. Have a look around Lexington, Ky.

That’s Canada!

ooh I wouldn't fancy NEPA -- have lived near Philadelphia and NEPA is old school coal country and quite depressed.

If I wanted more rural and could choose anywhere it would be somewhere like the Hudson Valley between New York City and Albany, further up enough to get the price down. It is gorgeous. The mountains aren't the Alps; the Appalachian chain is geologically ancient! But it's beautiful low mountains with tons of trees, the river, cute towns. Politically quite mixed but state government leans liberal. The Finger Lakes are also beautiful (the slogan is "Ithaca is Gorges") but the weather there is challenging. There is a snow belt across central and western New York that makes it one of the snowiest places in North America. It has to do with the direction of lake effect winds off Lakes Erie and Ontario. Buffalo and Rochester get more snow than Toronto because of it and the areas inland even more. Some rural areas get hundreds of inches a year.

I love Maine, especially towards the coast, but Portland is pricey. We live near DC and every year right around July I start saying we should move to Maine for the cooler weather. But we never have...

An area like this would also give you access to city things including health care. One issue with living places in the US that are really rural is that health care, especially specialist health care, is hard to access. The Mountain West is exceptionally bad. If you are in Montana or Wyoming (which are also very conservative, aside from somewhere like Missoula which is a college town) you will need to travel to Denver, Salt Lake, or sometimes even Seattle for health care. For many decades, until perhaps 10 years ago, the only medical schools (and hence comprehensive academic medical centres) in the Northwest were in Seattle and Portland.

In the Northeast the sort of town you want to watch for is a place that has de-industrialised and is now depressed: those are the towns that are ground zero for opioids. Vermont is classically New England pretty, but I do think this would be a shock. It was big news when Vermont got its first Target store 5 years ago!

Also only the coastal PNW is mild and green (parts are a temperate rainforest). Once you go east of the Cascades you are in a rain shadow and it is steppe and desert, with ribbons of greenery along some of the rivers.

The Rockies are beautiful. However they are not lush like the East Coast because it's so much drier. The forests in the Rockies are evergreens, and you won't see all the vegetation you see in forests here. Also, because of skiing and vacation homes, the economies of many towns in the mountains are really lopsided. In the famous CO ski towns there's nothing under a million and all the service workers are priced out.

Charlottesville is a lovely college town and there are a lot of nearby small towns in the Blue Ridge.

Yes, the culture is different but as someone who moved from the UK to the US (albeit with American relatives) it also varies massively from place to place. People on MN act like everyone here is a Charlie Church with a gun especially outside a few big cities but it's much more complicated than that. Be aware that really rural places may not have good internet service.

I do think you should visit before committing to such a big change!

Upstate NY, or Connecticut.

That would be my choice

This

Boulder and Denver are very expensive and not at all small towns, the surrounding small towns are commuter hubs and still very expensive. Very beautiful though and wonderful people (my neck of the woods 😊) From what you've described it does sound like the northeast would be a good fit. Maine, upstate New York, and Vermont are just gorgeous. If you want to live on the water some of the towns on the Great lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin will have a similar feel and are very affordable. I do love Asheville but I don't know if it's as small as you're looking for. I agree with others that reddit will be a better place to get information. Threads about the US on mumsnet (there have been so many lately!) read like an outdated stereotype bingo card. You absolutely do not need to be religious to live here and it's very easy to buy normal bread.