Considering move within US - where would be a good fit for us?

[whichlower48]

We live in a suburb in one of the huge sprawling metroplexes and are considering a move. Our area has grown hugely since we moved here and it's just so busy, takes forever to get anywhere and it's starting to feel over expanded and more than we can handle. We've got every store and chain restaurant know to man within a 10 mile radius but we're craving something smaller, quieter and the holy grail of US living....walkability. We've been to a few places across the country and liked them but some feel too touristy to live there year round or the weather's too harsh in the winter or they have nice downtowns but they’re hours from an international airport! Ideally we’d live in the downtown proper, be able to walk out to bars and restaurants (but happy to get in the car for groceries, malls, chain restaurants, medical etc.) and be within an hour of an international airport for flights to UK.

If you’ve visited or live somewhere great, tell me about about the lesser known walkable towns and small cities where you can live day to day without having to be out of the house for 2 hours to run an errand but still be within easy reach of a bigger city / amenities. We’re open to most of the country,

Franklin, TN and Davidson, NC both come to mind as walkable downtowns with relatively manageable year round climates and good proximity to international airports. Also, both have large cities nearby for when you do want to go to the Mall, Costco, music and sporting events etc (although Franklin has its own thriving music scene)
Naples, Fl also has a lovely, safe downtown area but is a good 2 hours from Miami airport.
College towns in general may be a good place to start investigating, narrowing down by States and climates that appeal to you.

mmm, Tennessee's state politics would really put me off. Also Franklin is basically a Nashville suburb and priced accordingly.

There's loads of pretty towns in VA, though, that might suit. Charlottesville is more small city and very university oriented though a bit further from the airport. I like the Pioneer Valley in western MA but if you're not into winter, that might not do!

Do you have any other preferences -- education, climate, geography (beach/mountains), economics? Some small cities are harder job markets for various reasons.

Don't need schools, both work from home, I think realistically it's somewhere more east than west. I keep hearing good things about the Carolinas but we just don't know that part of the country at all so I think we need to go exploring there. We lived in NJ and it ticks some boxes for nice towns and close proximity to NYC which we enjoyed but property prices and taxes are a stumbling block there. We're in a no income tax state just now so that's a consideration on finances although not a deal breaker.

I think I read that Nashville and suburbs is one of the fastest growing cities in the country which is what we're trying to get way from. I don't hate the idea of MA, no idea where the Pioneer Valley is, will look into that.

Pioneer Valley - up from Springfield (not nice) through the college towns like Amherst, Northampton etc along the Connecticut River.

We are in an income tax state, but the better services we get make it worthwhile and it isn't a terribly huge amount.

Seconding the advice to look at college towns eg Urbana-Champaign IL, Bloomington IN, Madison WI, Charlottesville VA (already mentioned). Not always super close to airports, but typically full of grad students and postdocs from everywhere so there's typically a decent range of cuisines available and you can hear multiple languages spoken, which helps you feel like you're still in the wider world.

Are you in Austin by some chance? It’s crazy how much it has changed, but a lot of cities are going that way.

Ive toyed with upping sticks to somewhere walkable and I think it might be better to go for somewhere big, developed but historic and established rather than small and walkable now as it could so easily change in the future.

old town Alexandria in Washington is on my list to visit.

loving reading the suggestions. I’m not convinced about a small college town though as I currently live in one and scraping drunk students off your front lawn is all too common an occurrence here.

Looks like Trump will get in again.

UGH.

America is going fascist. So is Europe. 😭

Friends just moved from outside Houston to leavenworth WA. They are loving it. Snows but Not as cold as Canada, 2hrs to Seattle. Looks lovely and they’ve slotted in just fine

You likely can find a suburb of a large city that is fairly close to a large airport.
Much of the country will have extreme cold and hot weather.

If you're highly educated professional types you'll likely not be happy in some redneck podunk place.

Someone mentioned Bloomington IN and it is gorgeous but somewhat isolated. It's an hour drive to the capital city Indianapolis.

Austin, TX seems to be popular So is the Research Triangle.

PNW has some nice areas around Portland and Seattle.

Portsmouth NH. Lovely walkable city, an hour from Boston. Bit chilly in winter but gorgeous summer and fall.

I was going to suggest Madison Wisconsin. I haven’t lived there but everyone who lives there currently, or has in the past, loves it. It has a great outdoorsy lifestyle if that’s your jam. It’s got a well educated population due to the university. Also lots of culture. Not super cheap, but probably better than the major metropolitan areas. You might be able to afford the downtown, which wouldn’t be huge.

It’s 2 hours to O’Hare airport and the badger bus goes multiple times per day. It’s also about an hour from Milwaukee for a different airport option for domestic travel.

Also 2.5 hours from Chicago if you really need a big city moment!

Downside is the winter can be a bit tough, although recent years have given milder winters.

Also, I’d consider MIlwaukee but probably a bigger crime issue than Madison.

If you like the Carolinas, I’ve heard that the triangle area is a good option. Raleigh/Durham. Hot and humid summers but milder winters. Lots of young professionals. Purple politics in those areas, but red overall. Also Asheville NC for a very artsy feel.

What about Columbus, Ohio? Great city and the airport is a Delta hub. Or, just outside Columbus, Granville, a beautiful small college town, only a short-drive to Columbus.
Or, on the East Coast, a college town like, South Hadley, Massachusetts? Or what about gorgeous Ithaca, New York?
Or, somewhere I love, Providence, Rhode Island?

I've lived in the US all my life and have moved frequently, preferring smaller towns like you describe. One thing is for sure though, the overcrowding and bad traffic is everywhere. I moved to my holy grail a few years ago after having been away for awhile and I was so shocked and disappointed. Yes Trump is being elected soon and he's already said out loud he plans on a dictatorship. Even if somehow it doesn't happen his people are the majority. I can't even go on without getting upset so I'm just going to leave it at that. I'm trying my best to move overseas. I want to know what it feels like to not be afraid and on high alert all the time.

That being said I can't think of anywhere that's really walkable, the US isn't set up for that. You could drive into an area and then walk around though. Lots of smaller towns have very cute downtown areas, especially in the south and southwest. A "master plan community" would suit you though. I lived in one right outside Nashville, in Franklin, TN. Wilmington, NC would work too. Flagstaff, AZ, Santa Fe, NM, Maple Falls, WA, Cañon City, CO, Tyler, Tx. Northern California and New York state are full of smaller nice towns. Extreme weather is always going to be a part of the US and it's only getting worse so no point in trying to avoid certain areas for weather reasons. I never would have thought Texas would have extreme winters but now here we are. If you have kids I would homeschool, active shooter drills traumatized my kids and don't do anything in terms of safety. Sorry for the negativity, I hate being like that but I cannot keep quiet about how bad things really are.

Wow, so many suggestions thank you all. Have been to some of the places mentioned, some need investigating. We rated Madison WI and Wilmington NC, they are definitely on the right lines in terms of size and walkability. I actually don't mind the idea of a newer master planned community if it was possible to live within walking distance of the hub. There are lots of new open air shopping areas that get built to look like downtown areas but they're often in the suburbs and reliant on a car. Santa Fe is one of my favorite places I've been to in the country but I don't think I could live there. Gorgeous to visit though.

Basically I want the equivalent of a thriving, bustling British high street with shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants within a 5 min walk but there's a retail park 10 mins away by car and you can be in the countryside in 15 mins. I know I know........I'll start a new thread to ask whether we should move back to the UK.😆

There’s few thriving, bustling high streets in the U.K. now due to online shopping.
My sister is in Australia -she says the shops and shopping malls are heaving nowadays -weird!

I don't think you'll find anything like a high street that isn't a tourist trap, as the US just isn't set up that way to be walkable.

Maybe Colorado City in Colorado but still a tourist trap.

I wish I knew a town like you describe in the US, but, I'm afraid, that's just not how the US is set up. And if the place is like you're looking for, it's going to be an absolute tourist trap, all smoke and mirrors.

I wouldn't move to TN. I went to school in TN and I go back a fair bit. It's beautiful and bucolic and the politics are just atrocious. Great to visit though. Franklin is a tourist trap and the property prices are through the roof while services aren't keeping up. It has grown in leaps and bounds recently, but at its heart Nashville still is a small provincial town. It is quite insular, there aren't a lot of permanent transplants (lots of second/third/fifteenth homes of celebrities though) it's not a very European feel. People are very nice but it's the south. Expect to be asked which church you attend in a casual conversation on the regular. The airport is also not super great, not a terrible one, just small and not many international flights at all.

I love the Carolinas. It's also the south but Charlotte feels a lot more cosmopolitan than Nashville does. There are quite a few beautiful smaller towns and suburbs that might suit though and, overall, NC will have a bit less of the Bible-thumping crowd than TN (although don't be fooled, there will still be a lot). I saw Davidson mentioned above - it's beautiful and quite educated because of the Davidson College. It is also right by Lake Norman which is beautiful (and $$$). I wouldn't say the Main Street is quite like High Street but there are enough restaurants to maybe eat in a different one every few days for a while. And Charlotte airport is better than Nashville because it is a hub for one of the legacy carriers.

Honestly, instead of looking at midsized free-standing cities, I think you might be better off looking at the RIGHT suburb of the RIGHT big metroplex. The million dollar question would be which one that is, of course. I personally think the East coast is beautiful but I haven't ever lived there long term so I can't give very good advice about specific towns. I'm sure there are places in CT, MA and MD that could fit the bill of what you want. I know there are several places like that in VA, mentioned above. West Coast scares me because it seems there's always some kind of natural calamity befalling their cities and I'm the nervous kind, not fond of wildfires or earthquakes so I haven't ever considered that region.

I live in Midwest now, in Chicago area. It's not perfect but there is much to love about this area. Something like Barrington, IL https://www.barrington-il.gov/about/ or Geneva, IL https://www.geneva.il.us/ might appeal to you. Both are small, distinct towns that are actually Chicago suburbs so you get the best of both worlds - small town feel with all of the big town amenities, and not quite the crazy price tag of places on Chicago's North Shore (home to some of the most expensive zip codes in the US). Barrington is about 30min from O'Hare and Geneva is less than an hour. Both places have good k-12 schools and our state university is well rated (although I'd recommend sending the kids back to Europe for Uni because the prices here in the US are shocking even for state schools and stroke inducing for privates). The drawback is weather and some people would say the blue state taxes are oppressive. Taxes are considerably less than in Europe though (healthcare and education are out of pocket but thats everywhere in the US), winters aren't the greatest and the summers can be hot and humid.

My dream place would be just like you describe + somewhere on the ocean. Until I find it, I'll just stay in Chicago area for the kids education (blue state means our k-12 schools are MUCH better than those in TN and even NC although NC has wonderful universities).

Boston?

Harsh winters, though.

The SF bay area has cities like that, mostly on the peninsula side from about San Mateo to Mountain View, with a handful more in the east and north. But they're appallingly expensive unless you can get your hands on a time machine and buy a place twenty years ago.

@Snork11 Thanks so much, really interesting post.

How about Newark, DE? You would be abt 30 mins from Philadelphia airport, an hour to BWI and Amtrak into NYC and DC. It is a long time since I lived there, but it was a lovely town when I did.

Everyone says LA is all about the car but if you don’t need to commute there are a lot of places you can live and walk to shops/restaurants etc especially along the coast (Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Venice, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach). I live in one of these towns and only use my car on weekends to go food shopping, and even that I can walk to if I don’t need to buy a lot to bring home. Of course the trade off is cost but if you don’t need a big house there are options that aren’t eye wateringly expensive. Close to airport, great weather, plenty to do outdoors, you really can’t beat it for lifestyle

We lived close to Rye, NY for 4 years. Lovely high street downtown with lots of independent shops and restaurants. Great schools. Lovely pool and beach for residents. 45 minutes to Manhattan. Has a European feel, I met a lot of Brits who have settled there. Miss it!

I have a non-driving friend who seems to live a very happy life in Bellingham, WA.