Where should I live in the US?

[USADilemma]

I've been offered a job in the US. I need to be available to go to meetings at offices in either Boston, LA or Detroit (head office) every few weeks, but could live anywhere, as everyone is allowed to work from home (forever, not just during covid).

I've got no idea where to start! I've only been to the US a few times (Boston/New York/LA).

Where would you live if you could start anywhere? I'd love to be near a largish city for good restaurants/ events / airport links etc. Good schools and ideally a good university if we stay long-term. I'd love to be near water (lake, river or sea). I'd like decent weather, but it doesnt have to be hot and sunny every day, just no brutal winters.

It would be me and my DD (11 years old), so family friendly. I'd have a housing allowance, so budget isn't too much of an issue.

Any suggestions so I can start to narrow it down?!

Don't rule out a State based on it being Red or Blue, every State has millions of people who voted Republican and millions who voted Democrat!
I live in a predominately Red State but my city voted Blue and, even then, politics doesn't in any way dominate every day life (despite how it may appear on cable tv!!)
Nashville has a good climate, access to lakes and mountains, great restaurants and a top university.
Domestic travel is very easy from Nashville airport and have a daily BA flight to London.
Property prices are rising rapidly across many Southern cities as people leave the North East and West coasts, but I think it's still relatively affordable.

I only came on to recommend Boston (and thereabouts) but I see you have been there already. But actually, Boston or San Francisco are the only places in the USA I'd live in, and I've been lucky enough to travel a lot in the US

Boston nice but San Francisco has become a true shithole and may not recover if remote working becomes a more permanent option.

But I’d stick to the East Coast if returning to UK is something you want. Personally Florida is having a moment, loads of people moving in from elsewhere so has a real lively feeling and it has great international links. Miami is 🤩

Are you going to have to pay tax in the US?

If you are, look at Federal, State and local income tax, sales tax and then look at neighboring States.

For example the State taxes in CA are cripplingly high, MA is more reasonable, but NH has no income tax at all. You could live in Lake Winnipesaukee in NH, its a long commute to Boston but fantastic in the summer and you can ski daily in the winter.

Dont go to Detroit, Im sure there are some nice areas to live around there, but the city is basically bankrupt and there is a lot of crime.

The East Coast is also closer time zone wise to the UK for staying in touch with family and friends and is still manageable for calls to the midwest and west coast

I lived in Boston for a year and highly recommend it. Very well connected with a major airport that is very easy to get to. Sailing in the harbour and on the Charles River. Cycle paths along the river - DH goes for regular long bike rides, he also takes his bike on the train out of town to cycle). Very easy to get out to proper countryside. Summer is reliably hot and sunny. Winter can be very cold (it was a mild winter when I was there but everybody warned me about the winters endlessly when I first arrived). Not Trumpist At All. Tons of culture (not very good theatre), great museums, some good food (not if you are veggie, great if you like seafood). It’s expensive though. We have an apartment downtown and I try not to think about how high the rent is. Very good public transport. The British International School is popular with ex-pats from all over Europe and seems good, I’ve visited a couple of times to speak. (I’ve been to British Schools in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta and New York too if you want (superficial) opinions on those).
The other places I would happily consider are Seattle and Chicago (although that definitely gets hard winters). Possibly Denver (also cold in winter) but it’s a bit republican perhaps.
Texas is too hot for me, it’s lovely in spring but I’d never go in high summer, a lot of the south is the same.

Hi, I live in SE MI (Michigan) and moved here 13 years ago from the UK.

The University of Michigan is in the top 10 of the US, and often top 20 internationally. It's in Ann Arbor, just west of Detroit.
Detroit Airport usually (pre Covid) did direct flights to Heathrow starting at $600, although going up to $1500 in peak season. also loads of flights to places in the US, so good for travel.
Very, very intellectual, lefty-liberal type city - actually higher average education level than Seattle/DC/Silicon Valley.
Normally very good state schools, although they have barely had in-person teaching this year.
Lots of beautiful rolling hillsides with woodland once you're away from the cities.
Lakes! Obviously (get a bumper sticker saying 4/5 Great Lakes prefer Michigan).
Canada only an hour away if you want a decent cup of tea! (not right now - Covid)
Ann Arbor has lots of trendy bars/jazz clubs/movie thatres etc. Detroit (less than an hour, depends where you live) has big events like BIG concerts/theatre (e.g. Hamilton).
V good medical care in Ann Arbor - U of M also has a huge teaching hospital.
Private schools if you want them.

I live a few miles outside A2 and housing outside the city is cheaper than the UK, but DO be aware of house tax in the US - it can be 10s of 1000 of $ each year!!

Summers are hot & fab. Loads of parks, ones with lakes put down sand so you can go to the "beach" anytime.
Winters are freeeeezing - you grow to love them!

Michigan is a tourist state within the US - lots of beautiful "seaside" towns around the lakes.

I love the East Coast though the weather is a challenge. Both Texas and Florida have appalling state governments. Austin is a bit of a liberal bubble but prices are very high. There's no state income tax but you get what you (don't) pay for.

Boston is lovely with so much to do but all those nice universities are private and very expensive. I'm near DC and there's some definite pros and cons. Both MD and VA have good public schooling and public university systems as well as private options. Healthcare is top-notch. The downsides are our vile traffic, it can be a bit much with so many people being connected to government or politics, and summers are swampy.

What kind of lifestyle are you looking for? That does narrow your choices a lot. For example if I were into skiing and hiking, Denver would be a fantastic option, and anywhere in Texas or Florida would be terrible. If I hated tract suburbia and wanted a more walkable sort of life, the Northeast and Chicago offer the most choices.

The Bay Area is ruinously expensive and I wouldn't live there unless someone paid me an absolute fortune.

Seattle or Portland would be my top choices, but if you want easy access to UK, why not try NYC, especially as you have a housing allowance!

For me it would be New England; either New Hampshire or Mass.

I second @Stillfunny. I grew up in North Carolina and still visit our family lake house. It is hot but still has seasons, has mountains for skiing and beautiful beaches. International airports at Charlotte and Raleigh. Highly recommend!

San Diego. It’s just lovely.

Thanks again everyone. Some places I hadn't thought of to look into.

@KickAssAngel thanks for the info on Ann Arbor. The offices are actually really close to there (I just put Detroit, as that's the airport I need to be able to get to).

Do you really grow to love the winter?! Doesn't it go on for nearly 6 months? Practically I feel I should be there, but I don't like cold weather. Is it sunny or grey? I hate long grey, dark months.

Given you have a daughter who will be having to adjust to a whole new life, I'd live near one of the three cities so as to minimise your time away from her (who will take care of her while you travel?)

In which case Boston, no contest

It's warmer than the UK up until October. The fall is glorious. It can be rainy but far more daylight hours than the UK. The really cold bit is Jan to mid March. I do count the weeks until we're likely to get above freezing. But there are longer daylight hours so less driving to and from work in the dark. I'm a teacher so have to do outdoor duty unless it gets about -10C. I'm actually OK down to about-5 before it feels cold.

Then March/April the weather is crazy unpredictable, then suddenly it's in the 30s everyday and you spend all day at the pool/beach and forget about the winter.

If you're seriously thinking about round here, feel free to PM me. I'm also housing obsessed so can point you to the best places on Zillow. I also know a lot about school districts etc.

New England is lovely. California is hot and expensive. Remember the huge distances you need to travel

Detroit is very cheap I should add. Personally I would suggest living close to a major airport eg look at Oregon or Seattle, lived there both great

If choose a state with no income tax. Is the company sponsoring your visa or is this a transfer faith in your current company? This is such a diverse country asking “where should I live?”’will get you thousands if different responses. I really love where we live but it might be someone else’s idea of a nightmare. And you could not pay me enough to live in California or Florida.

I'd want to live somewhere along Cape Cod bay if that's close enough to Boston.

Do you know what visa you'll be getting, or are you a dual citizen?

Do you have your daughter's father's permission to remove her from the UK?

What about salary and healthcare? Overall living costs in the US are much higher than in the UK, so what may seem like a great salary if looked at with British eyes may not actually afford you the lifestyle you are hoping for.

As has already been pointed out, look at taxes: federal, state, city, property taxes (the latter is payable only if you buy a property, but can be VERY high).

States with no income tax tend to be very, very Republican and regressive. Not to say it shouldn't be a factor - but something to keep in mind.

Seeing your list of factors, my mind immediately went to Colorado (esp Boulder). Due to how outdoorsy it is, it's a very popular place to move right now, with lots of LA and other trendy folk making a home there.

Other than that, I personally would base yourself near a major airport hub. Maybe this is obvious - but (for example) somewhere like Asheville is absolutely lovely but not especially close to an airport, meaning you would have a long drive to one. (Americans regard driving distances differently than English people - so two hours to the airport is nothing to us!)

@gelatodipistacchio

States with no income tax tend to be very, very Republican and regressive. Not to say it shouldn't be a factor - but something to keep in mind.

Seeing your list of factors, my mind immediately went to Colorado (esp Boulder). Due to how outdoorsy it is, it's a very popular place to move right now, with lots of LA and other trendy folk making a home there.

Other than that, I personally would base yourself near a major airport hub. Maybe this is obvious - but (for example) somewhere like Asheville is absolutely lovely but not especially close to an airport, meaning you would have a long drive to one. (Americans regard driving distances differently than English people - so two hours to the airport is nothing to us!)

Washington has no income tax and we are far from Republican and regressive. First state to legalize marijuana, no death penalty, first state to legalize gay marriage, not had a republican at the helm here in 36 years.

If you don't like gloom, I recommend avoiding the PNW. It's glorious for 2-3 months in the summer, then grey and drizzly for the rest.

Cloudiness increases as you go from the coast towards the Great Lakes. In the Northeast, NYC has the highest sun hours for some reason. Then sun increases from north to south also.

Keep in mind that the East Coast gets about 2x as much rain as London, but has fewer grey days. We get more storms--cold driving winter rains and summer storms where the sky goes absolutely black and then the rain comes down in sheets.

If you like tall mountains the East Coast will disappoint, but there's lots of forests, lower mountains (the Blue Ridge are beautiful) and plenty of beaches--and it's warm enough to swim in summer.

@FlowerArranger

Do you know what visa you'll be getting, or are you a dual citizen?

Do you have your daughter's father's permission to remove her from the UK?

What about salary and healthcare? Overall living costs in the US are much higher than in the UK, so what may seem like a great salary if looked at with British eyes may not actually afford you the lifestyle you are hoping for.

As has already been pointed out, look at taxes: federal, state, city, property taxes (the latter is payable only if you buy a property, but can be VERY high).

So pleased someone else has asked these questions also. I’m in an exist group on Facebook and on a weekly basis we get people joining because they have been “offered a job” here and it turns out the employer has no idea how to file for the visa, how much it costs or how long they’ll have to wait before the candidate can start work or that not all jobs are even eligible for a visa. The job offer is then not even worth the paper it’s written on.

And the issue of removing a child permanently from the UK if the father is alive and has any form of custody.

Another ping to consider is that a job that can be done almost exclusively remotely is unlikely to meet the criteria for a work visa - namely that a foreigner is required to do the job and that the foreigner is require to live full-time in the US. I work remotely for a company here and the beauty of having your employees work from gone us that you have millions of potential candidates from Florida to Alaska and from Maine to Hawaii and everywhere in between. Trying to convince USCIS that there is no one anywhere in the 50 states that can do the job is going to be a tall order for the company. As is trying to convince them that a foreigner needs to move here when the job can be done from their homeland with occasional visits to the US offices for meetings, seminars, etc. I recall several cases on our ex-pat group where people were refused work visas because the job was remote-based and the company could not prove that the candidate absolutely had to be based in the US and that there was not one single person in this huge country that could do the job.

But good luck anyway.

To answer some more questions: her father died a few years ago (we weren't together at that point). She's very positive about moving. We've had a rough few years and this feels like a good time to start fresh.

It's a major company who move people all over the world every day, so no worries about visas etc.

I'd still be working on a UK contract, so they're liable for changes in tax etc as part of my contract. It's not a permanent move (but I could probably localise if I wanted to).

I would only get a housing allowance if I rent, so I won't be buying.

I have only just found out I can move anywhere, so just starting to think about childcare issues. My Mum recently retired and is on her own, so wants to help if she can (not sure about visas, how many times a year she could come out).

There would be more need to be in the offices at the beginning and then too often after that, so maybe I should base myself in Ann Arbor to start and then think about where to move.

*not too often