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?!

I would say New Hampshire - no state income tax, easy commute to Boston, easy access to the UK, you can fly to the rest of the country either from Boston or from Manchester airport which is pocket sized and easy to access. Skiing in the winter, sun and sailing all summer, there are lakes, forests, mountains and ocean, $5 lobsters. There's a reason Maine (right next door) is called Vacationland!

(But the no state income tax is really good, also no state sales tax!)

Lived in the mountains near Denver for 5 years and family still live there. It's a wonderful area, obviously the proximity to the mountains and outdoors is it's main draw but it's so centrally place to explore so much of the States. I loved the winters with the dry cold, so still plenty of sunshine and the summers are amazing. My mother lives near Austin and while a great city, the summer heat is unbearable at times, she basically lives indoors during the summer! We were planning a trip to Colorado with our daughter this summer, now unlikely but this had reminded me how much I love that area. Good luck on your move.

Second vote for Colorado BUT opportunities for ocean sailing are a little limited - other than that many of the ops wishes would be granted there.

If it's just you and an 11 year old, surely you should base yourself near the office you will travel to most frequently. Remember how huge the US is. LA to Detroit is nearly 4.5 hours so not really commutable for the day

I wouldn't want to live in New Orleans if you paid me! Horrible, smelly, touristy, swampy place. It smells terrible and the humidity is brutal. You basically have to spend more than half the year hiding indoors in the aircon. Go for a weekend, by all means, have a great time, but live there? No thanks!

@Xiaoxiong

(But the no state income tax is really good, also no state sales tax!)

It really isn't - state taxes maintain a lot of services. So yes, more money in your pay check, but shit public services? Again, no thanks. There is a downside to these things that sound great at first glance.

They just don't have a state tax on earned income (I think there are 7 states currently like this). There are plenty of other taxes to support state services, it's just that as an expat the OP is unlikely to be paying them (business enterprise tax, real estate transfer tax, dividends, etc) or they are easy to avoid (tobacco, lottery). If OP is an expat who has only earned income, it's a real boon administratively not to have to fill out a third tax return (in addition to the UK self-assessment, if needed - like if she has a house rented out back here - and the federal return). As an expat she is also unlikely to be using any state services except education if her DD is going to public schools, and those are supported through property taxes, not through income tax.

San Diego would be great. I would also suggest Palos Verdes, it is in the LA area, close to the airport and has excellent schools. It I also beautiful and whole not cheap you get more for your money than other places along the coast because it is not the best place to commute from as it is isolated.

Ann Arbor was where I thought of when I read your brief and I see I'm not the only person.
We are in Illinois and yes Midwest winters are cold, but a bright snowy cold not grey and damp.
We go skiing every year in Michigan which is a very lovely state. ( we also go to pick blueberries in summer)
Detroit has fantastic museums and restaurants.

We have visited Santa Barbara a few times for the day (coastal cruises). It is a really lovely city. Not too big. Beautiful oceanfront. Nice city center with shops etc and a trolley going up and down. I would move there in s heartbeat.

Boston

The advice used to be go to New York. Negotiate a New York salary, live there for a year. Use that year to explore, then move to the area of your choice, taking your NY salary with you. I have no idea if that still applies or applies to your industry, but id go wherever I could get the best package, if the package is negotiable based on location.

Do some research around airlines/hub airports. You’ll want to live near a hub that has direct flights to all three office locations otherwise you will spend far too long in random airports waiting for connecting flights. Same for flights back to the U.K. if that is going to be important.

Austin is great, but is not offering as good value for money as it used to. It’s housing market - like a lot of places - is under pressure.

I’d think carefully about California/Arizona/Utah - saw an article recently about their weather patterns: 49deg forecasts. That’s just crazy… area already in drought and also concerns about the impact on the power grid.

I quite like Massachusetts and Rhode Island is next on my list to explore. I prefer a decent summer with a brutal winter over a brutal summer and an ok winter.

And, quite frankly, right now I’d be looking at a place where covid vaccination rates are high.

San Diego. Good weather year round; coastal breeze so never humid. Very accessible smaller international airport (so no hassle getting in/out) with a daily direct British Airways flight to Heathrow. Amazing coastline. Commuter terminal for flights throughout the US. An easy commuter train ride to LA.

Ann Arbor is nice. But I've only traveled there during winters and they can be really brutal.

Austin can be unbelievably humid during summer. And while it's liberal "for Texas" I wouldn't necessarily say that means it's actually liberal.

I lived in Boston for nearly 15 years, and while it has many plus points, I wouldn’t move back. It will fit your sailing, theatre, good restaurants/theatre vibe. It’s liberal and European in it’s outlook, easily walkable, but has really bad brutal winters and people that grow up there tend to stay there, it’s a really tough town to break into friendship wise. Also v expensive and traffic is horrendous. Also very divided socially, economically, racially.

Personally I would stay on the East Coast, makes flying to your work locations way easier and staying in the same time zone. Flying San Diego to Boston or Detroit would be tough and flying through 3/4 times zones. That’s a long ass flight.

I would probably base my search around the Philadelphia/Washington DC area. Right coast to get home to U.K., same time zone as your work locations, lots of airports for frequent flights, culture, restaurants, can get up to NYC easily for theatre, the weather, while humid in the summer has way less bad winters. Anywhere on the East coast will have humid summers and traffic is bad everywhere.

Good luck

Will add if your head office is in Detroit does that mean all zoom/conference calls will be held Eastern time? (also Boston is Eastern time). You may want to check. I would imagine people have to get up EARLY in the LA office to join calls. Factor in driving your DD to school etc when the work day has already started on the East coast would be tricky.

I think if your child is 11 they will probably get the best education from Boston.
We are from the UK (long time in the US now) and our children are growing up here. We spent some years in LA when they were small, which is a fantastic place to live but completely bereft of really good schools (public and private) and we are glad to be on the east coast now for the middle and high school years where the system is funded and the curriculum is stronger.

Just an FYI:
Texas is a Republican state but Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso are the largest cities in the state and all have Democrat mayors.

I've lived in all those cities (I'm Texan born and bred) and I can tell you that they all have their pros and cons. I personally don't care for Austin. It's overpriced with bad infrastructure and the locals are being pushed out due to high prices. I currently live in a Houston suburb that has the most culturally diverse county in the USA, much better schools and a relatively affordable real estate. Every one of the major cities have so much good to offer.

The cons to all of Texas: the freaking weather and property and school taxes! There's dry heat in West Texas that wants to burn you to a crisp and hurricanes and tropical storms in the gulf coast to tornadoes in south, central and Dallas. Personally, the humidity is slowly taking away my love for my state. As for taxes, no personal income tax but in some places the property tax rate can be as high as 3.75% on the appraised value of the home and that crap adjusts every single year. Add Homeowners Association Fees (HOA) and the costs add up.

Boston or Detroit.

Or Chicago area (suburbs or some parts of the city).

Frankly, Michigan is a beautiful state with superb opportunities for recreation, and it has a truly excellent state university.

The Virginia suburbs of Washington DC are also nice, and Virginia has some great universities.

The Hudson Valley north of NYC is also lovely, and NY state university system is great.

@mathanxiety

Boston or Detroit.

Or Chicago area (suburbs or some parts of the city).

Frankly, Michigan is a beautiful state with superb opportunities for recreation, and it has a truly excellent state university.

The Virginia suburbs of Washington DC are also nice, and Virginia has some great universities.

The Hudson Valley north of NYC is also lovely, and NY state university system is great.

Virginia is a nice place to visit, or pass through, but it is very conservative, with a history of racism and back-woods type behaviors.

I don't know when you visited Virginia, but that's really not true of many areas of the state now, especially northern Virginia. Fairfax and Arlington are most assuredly not backwoods. The state has flipped Democratic politically.

For various reasons I'd go East Coast (or a really nice part of Michigan)

Texas has a lot of issues. Very very republican and the gun laws have recently reversed so are even worse. It's an interesting place but I'd never want to live there.

@BiscuitLover09876 But texas isn't 'very very Republican'. The state as a whole is close to tipping over to being Blue, and all the major cities are a Democrat.

@knitnerd90

I don't know when you visited Virginia, but that's really not true of many areas of the state now, especially northern Virginia. Fairfax and Arlington are most assuredly not backwoods. The state has flipped Democratic politically.

I visit frequently. I live just outside DC in southern Maryland and I see it for myself every time we have been there. It's casual racism now, not as extreme as it was, but it is inherent, unfortunately.